NEW ULM — After discussion, by a 4-1 vote Tuesday, Brown County commissioners approved the appointment of Brown County Sheriff’s Investigator Jeremy Reed to chief deputy sheriff as of Oct. 1.

Action came on a motion by Commissioner Scott Windschitl, seconded by Tony Berg to set Reed’s salary at $42.28/hr., Grade XXI, Step 9, plus on-call pay of $60/holiday and $55/day on weekends.

Commissioner Dave Borchert cast a dissenting vote, saying the salary ($94,352.40 annual salary excluding overtime) close to what retiring chief deputy Steve Depew was earning was too high.

Borchert earlier supported a resolution to pay Reed less, at the Grade 21, Step 6 level that failed 4-1.

Brown County Human Resource Director Ruth Schaefer said the resolution to pay Reed at the Step 9 level was determined by his experience and education that includes a masters degree in criminal justice.

Reed began his law enforcement career with the New Ulm Police Department in 1996. He has been Brown County Sheriff’s Office investigator since 2018.

“I think we have a good candidate. It may be on the high side, but sometimes you get what you pay for,” Windschitl said.

Reed’s leave of absense request from his current investigator position to assume the appointed chief deputy job from Oct. 1, to the end of Sheriff Jason Seidl’s current, elected four-year term of office with reinstatement to a position of like seniority, status and pay if available at the same salary he would have received if leave was not taken, and the position was not abolished, failed by a 3-2 vote. Commissioners Berg and Jeff Veerkamp voted in favor of the leave request.

Reed said the request was made to provide job security for his family for leaving a union position to work with sheriff Seidl.

“I think we could be opening a can of worms,” Borchert said about the leave request.

“I think we need to consider keeping Reed as a veteran employee,” said Berg.

Commissioners earlier approved Chief Deputy Sheriff Steve Depew’s resignation effective Sept. 20, motion by Borchert, seconded by Veerkamp.

Depew began Brown County employment as deputy sheriff/court security officer on Sept. 26, 2018 and was appointed chief deputy sheriff Jan. 1, 2019. He gave his resignation Sept. 10, after 28 1/2 years in law enforcement.

Commissioners unanimously approved:

• Hiring a temporary substitute Heartland Express bus driver from an eligible candidate list for unfilled routes up to Dec. 31, 2021 due to an employee’s leave of absence, to avoid scheduling conflicts and overtime, motion by Windschitl, seconded by Veerkamp.

• Submission of a $30,000 grand application to the Families First Children’s Collaborative on or before Oct. 1, motion by Windschitl, seconded by Borchert.

Grant funds are available for organizations to expand prevention and early intervention services to at-risk families and children.

The grant request would help support the universal contact home visiting program (a home visit offered to every Brown County family after they deliver, adopt, or are new to the area with young children), and follow along program (a screening tool that helps families monitor if their child is meeting developmental and social emotional milestones from age 4 months to age 3, and connects families to early help resources if needed).

• Set a 9 a.m., Thursday, Nov. 4, hearing in the law enforcement training room for a preliminary engineer’s report for County Ditch 44 improvements, motion by Veerkamp, seconded by Dean Simonsen.

Public notices will be mailed to petitioners, property owners, and political subdivisions likely affected by the proposed project in the preliminary survey report at least 10 days before the hearing.

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