County Board continues talks over auditor, treasurer positions

Will the shape of McLeod County government change next year? County commissioners continue to hash out the answer.

At their Tuesday meeting (Nov. 17), commissioners didn’t take a vote on whether to combine the county auditor and treasurer positions and appoint current auditor Cindy Schultz to that post, after current treasurer Linda Radtke retires effective Dec. 31.

Instead, they assigned the county’s budget committee — consisting of Schultz, County Administrator Pat Melvin and commissioners Sheldon Nies and Bev Wangerin — to investigate further how a combined auditor/treasurer’s office might be structured.

County Attorney Mike Junge advised the board that the policy decision and how that policy would ultimately be implemented were two separate issues.

“You can’t ask your new manager what they’re going to do with their baseball team, because they don’t know who the players are,” Junge said.

“Mike’s right that it’s two different issues,” said Commissioner Ray Bayerl, “but you need information to make the policy.”

For more on this story, see the Leader’s Nov. 26 print edition.

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