NEW ULM — In an effort to lure more assistant county attorney applicants, Brown County commissioners unanimously approved a 10% salary market adjustment Tuesday.

Approved on Commissioner Scott Windschitl’s motion, seconded by Commissioner Jeff Veerkamp, the adjustment effective Feb. 28, 2020 is in addition to market adjustments of 6% and 12% at three years service (level 2) and 12% upon six years service (level 3) approved in September 2018.

“The impetus with this was the (assistant county attorney) opening we’ve had for a month. We’ve spent $3,000 on advertising for the job and had just one application when we offered $65,000 (per year)” said Brown County Attorney Chuck Hanson.

“We hope this will help us retain county attorneys. This is still within our salary plan,” Brown County Administrator Sam Hansen said.

Brown County Board Chairman Dave Borchert said recruitment and retention is challenging with labor shortages, but that he thought the salary hike was reasonable.

Commissioners also unanimously approved:

• Proposed Brown County fee schedule revisions, motion by Commissioner Windschitl, seconded by Commissioner Borchert. No public comments were heard at a public hearing.

• The purchase of a $4,149 Garrett PD6500i metal detector for the Brown County Sheriff’s Office from Streichers, motion by Commissioner Windschitl, seconded by Commissioner Tony Berg. Another quote received was for $5,220.25.

An existing sheriff’s office metal detector is more than 20 years old and does not detector metal as well as a new one. The purchase was approved in the 2020 county budget. The current metal detector will remain in inventory.

• A $4,514 37-acre, hay ground landfill property rent bid from Sondag Services, motion by Commissioner Berg, seconded by Commissioner Windschitl. Other bids were $2,020 from Mark Manderfeld and $1,480 from Mitch Beranek.

• A $6,020 bid for 30 acres of tilled ground landfill property rent, motion by Commissioner Veerkamp, seconded by Commissioner Berg. Other bids were Berg Bros. $5,580; Sondag Services $5,400; Gregg M. Klinkner $5,070; and Pierson Farms $4,500.

• Brown County Probation Director Les Schultz reported 2019 was a year of change in his Probation Statistical Report.

The Brown County Teen Court program ended Dec. 31, but the probation maintains a mediation program and has personnel trained to handle simple mediations, until official training becomes available, Schultz reported.

In October 2019. Brown County Probation took over truancies from Human Services after receiving a $180,000 two-year Office of Justice Programs grant. The program focuses on pre-truants and truants who have been in Court and ordered into the truancy program.

Brown County Probation received two awards. Jane Schmid received the Minnesota Corrections Association (MCA) Outstanding Achievement Award for her work on the MCA Board, setting up probation agent adolescent training.

Les Schultz was named National Association of Probation Executives Probation Executive of the Year. The award goes to probation directors who have demonstrated professional leadership in corrections.

Fritz Busch can be emailed at fbusch@nujournal.com.