“That’s a Wrap”

by By AMY STOURAC news@vintonnewspapers.com

VINTON — Benton County Supervisor Gary Bierschenk capped off the last Board of Supervisor’s meeting of 2024 with the statement, “that’s a wrap,” marking the end of his service to Benton County as District 3 Supervisor. It was also the last meeting for District 1 Supervisor Rick Primmer.

Bierschenk was defeated in the Primary election in June of 2024 by Bruce E. Volz from Norway for the District 3 Supervisor seat. Primmer did not run for another term in the last election and the race for his District 1 seat was won by retiring Sheriff Ronald J. Tippett.

Volz and Tippett joined District 2 Supervisor Tracy Seeman to create the New Benton County Board of Supervisors this week, when they, along with all other Benton County elected officials and their deputies, were sworn into office in the Benton County Courthouse on Thursday, Jan. 2 at 8:30 a.m.

Except for a few swear words thrown around, the last meeting for the Primmer/Seeman/Bierschenk board was mostly uneventful.

The board voted to add Landfill employees to Auxiant insurance as covered by 28E agreement, and approved a Class B Retail Alcohol License for Kimm’s Sunoco Corp.

They also discussed and then approved a resolution for appointments and position changes in the Sheriff’s Office. The position changes and appointments included: Josh Karsten to Chief Deputy; Kyle Lynch to Patrol Division Captain/Second Duputy; a Jail Adminstrator Captian/Second Deputy (to be determined after the completion of the deputy hiring process); additional deputy sheriff positions (currently being hired); two promotable civil service positions; and the creation of a new mental health liaison.

Sheriff-elect David Upah, was present for the meeting to answer questions and clarify the need for position changes, particularly when it comes to managing the jail.

“I feel that we need a jail administrator. We’ve got federal inmates, we’ve got a lot going on back there. It’s hard to run everything when you’re not even on that side of the wall,” Upah said.

A resolution was also approved changing the number of deputies in the Auditor’s Office from three to four.

One item on the agenda was to rescind a previous vote to approve a resolution that would eventually allow county employees to cash in their sick leave upon retirement.

Benton County Auditor Hayley Rippell explained that the original resolution, which was signed in September, was never followed through on by the former HR Director, and the third-party vendor has had no contact with the county since the original vote.

During the discussion of this item, Primmer said he was hesitant to decide how to proceed with this, considering there was about to be a new board. The item was not rescinded, but the next agenda item, which was to approve the new employee handbook was tabled, so the new board could decide whether or not to proceed with this new employee benefit.

After a couple brief reports, and no public interest comments, the final meeting for this board was adjourned with Bierschenk’s parting “that’s a wrap” comment.