County Board chair asked to step down

McLeod County Commissioner Ray Bayerl asked fellow Commissioner Grant Knutson to step down as board chair at Tuesday’s (April 8) board meeting.

Referring to his previously voiced disagreement over former County Administrator Nan Crary’s March 25 termination, Bayerl said, “I don’t agree with the road we’re going down. I would ask you nicely to step down as chair … If you’re not going to treat people fair and expose the county to liability.”

Knutson refused and Commissioner Sheldon Nies voiced his support for Knutson. Bayerl made a motion that Knutson be removed from the board chair position, but the motion died for lack of a second.

Bayerl elaborated that he felt the entire board should have been involved in the discussion over Crary’s termination. He also announced he would have a statement for the press at the board meeting’s end.

Then, the board closed the meeting to discuss ongoing union negotiations and labor issues. A closed session to discuss “labor negotiations” was on the agenda prior to Bayerl’s request.

The closed session included Bayerl, Knutson, Nies and commissioners Bev Wangerin and Kermit Terlinden. County Attorney Mike Junge was also present, as was attorney Frank Madden — the county’s legal representative on labor negotiations — and County Auditor Cindy Schultz. Schultz is the acting county administrator until a replacement for Crary is hired.

About an hour later, the meeting was reopened to the public. Nies said the board gave direction to its legal counsel about “how far they would go” in union negotiations.

The board recessed and Bayerl made his statement. “The last two weeks have been very difficult,” he said.

Bayerl added he was not upset over the 3-2 vote in which the commissioners representing Hutchinson districts ousted Crary. “I’m used to that as the way the board operates.”

He reiterated his statement that the board was not treating employees fairly and was opening itself to liability. Bayerl said he hoped other people frustrated with the board’s decision-making process would publicly express their views.

Bayerl concluded by noting, “I had a longer comment wrote out here, but for the good of the county, I’m going to keep that to myself for now. We’ll wait for the future and see how it works out.”

For more on this story, see the Leader's April 10 print edition.

(Jorge Sosa is a staff writer for the Hutchinson Leader. He can be reached at sosa@hutchinsonleader.com)