Board affirms raise scrutiny

SANDPOINT — Bonner County commissioners affirmed on a split vote Tuesday to vet hefty raises proposed for three deputy clerks.

The move to have the county’s Job Evaluation Committee examine the raises was passed on a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Lewis Rich dissenting.

“This is a political attack against the clerk,” said Rich, referring to county Clerk Marie Scott.

Scott awarded the raises to members of her auditing staff during the budget-setting process. At the time, the board was acting under faulty legal advice that it could only acknowledge the pay hikes and had no authority to approve or deny them.

Further legal research of state code and the state Constitution found that the board does indeed have the authority to approve the pay hikes.

The board considered 20 pay raises in the clerk’s office on Tuesday, but the vast majority of them were step increases, which are smaller than the grade increases sought for the auditing staff.

The affirmation follows the board’s decision last week to vet the raises through the committee, a process that’s been in place since 2002.

Treasurer Cheryl Piehl argued that last week’s action violated Idaho’s open meeting law because the item was described too broadly on board’s agenda. She renewed the claim on Tuesday.

Piehl further contends that sheriff’s officials’ pay raises were not properly vetted, nor was at least one raise awarded to a deputy clerk who works for the board.

“I just want to make sure everyone’s treated equally,” said Piehl, who is on the Job Evaluation Committee.

Rich shares the sentiment that departments are being treated differently.

However, commissioners also voted to have grade-increment raises at the sheriff’s office run through the committee. Nielsen has also pointed out that Sheriff Daryl Wheeler was never made aware of the vetting process upon taking office and came to the board with his own parity comparisons to justify the hikes.

Commission Chairman Cornel Rasor and Nielsen also disputed that the open meeting law was violated.

“It’s not political at all,” Rasor added.

Nielsen also disputed that the move was politically motivated.

“We’re following a process and policy,” said Nielsen.

Assessor Jerry Clemons recommended that the board require all incoming department heads and elected officials to acknowledge in writing that they are aware of the policy and know its contents.

“The problem is that the new board can change all this,” said Clemons.