Thursday, February 15, 2007

Commission hires Schmitt as new EM director

by Kenneth Lassiter

County commissioners made their choice Monday and tapped Doug Schmitt of rural McLouth as the county’s new emergency management director.

Commissioners offered Schmitt the job in regular session and he accepted for a starting salary of $40,000 per year with a $2,000 bump when his probationary period ends. The hire was also contingent on passing a background check. Schmitt accepted and commissioners voted unanimously to make the decision official effective Monday.

Schmitt comes to the county after five years with Barton Solvents of Kansas City. He was a plant foreman and truck driver for Barton and became well-versed in handling several hazardous chemicals. He has also been the Sarcoxie Township fire chief for the past year and has spent six years with that department overall.

Schmitt lives north of Rim Rock Farm with his wife, Lisa, and daughter, Whitney Van Dyke, 18, a junior at Oskaloosa High School. He said his combination of experience with hazardous chemicals along with his training in several fields of emergency management helped give him the tools needed to handle the emergency management director’s job.

“I’ve had first hand experience with almost every nasty chemical imaginable,” Schmitt said. “I’ve been through 12 different Federal Emergency Management Association classes on emergency management administration topics and gotten training through KU in other areas. Plus I had to have hazardous materials certifications for my job.”

Through work with the county, Schmitt completed his National Incident Management System training and has gone on to train county fire department volunteers in the system. During the October 2005 floods he worked with former county emergency management director Don Haynes and others in addressing the rising waters.

Commissioner David Christy said the three finalists for the job – Schmitt, Devan Tucking and Brian Ebert – were all satisfactory candidates but Schmitt’s performance in a second round of interviews Feb. 5 gave him the edge.

“All the candidates did a very good job but those three set themselves apart,” said Christy of the finalists.

“We asked 34 questions in the first round of interviews and then, in the second round, gave each person three problems. Doug did the most thorough job of answering those problems and that’s what set him apart. We gave them some very difficult scenarios with multiple answers and Doug went into the most depth in his responses.

“I liked the process we used. I think it assisted us in getting the person we need, because our needs are slightly different from Douglas or Leavenworth or Shawnee counties. I think we would have been happy with any of the final three but Doug just stood out.”

The next question for commissioners is where to put Schmitt, as Haynes had an office in the ambulance department, which he also directed prior to being terminated in December. While that problem is being considered, Schmitt will temporarily be stationed at a desk in the basement of the sheriff’s annex along with the 911 dispatch center.

Schmitt said he enjoyed his former job with Barton but looked at the county emergency management job as a good opportunity.

“I debated the idea when I heard it opened up because I was pretty comfortable where I was,” Schmitt said. “I talked to a couple of the fire chiefs and a couple other (county) department heads and they encouraged me. They said they thought I’d be good for the job. We’re here to take care of the community and I think I have the skills to bring in and help the county. I applaud the commissioners on the process they used because whoever got it could feel confident coming through that he or she was the best person for the job.”

A decision on the county’s cellular phone service provider was delayed by commissioners Monday as county clerk Linda Buttron reported the county was still awaiting updated prices on Treo personal data assistants from Cingular.

In other business Monday, the commission:

• Heard an update from Eloise Tichenor, planning and zoning director. Commissioners approved a change in zoning for John and Verla Wells from rural to suburban residential use on 3 1/2 acres of land along Westlake Road south of 74th Street.

• Heard an update from George Pogge, road and bridge superintendent. Pogge updated the commission on bridge projects.

• Signed tax change orders, reviewed and approved vouchers, signed a shared sick leave donation, signed a notice to the township board for a cereal malt beverage license and signed a cereal malt beverage for the McLouth Threshing Bee.

• Made an addendum to a sealed bid sale contract made with Michael Dodson on two lots in the Lakeside Village Campgrounds to remove the restriction requiring a permanent residential structure to be built on the lots within a year. This was done as campground regulations do not permit permanent residential structures to be built there. Similar changes will be made to other lots sold by sealed bid by the county in the campgrounds.

• Heard an update from Eileen Filbert, health department director. Filbert provided commissioners with statistics that showed the department served 52,740 “unduplicated” persons in 2006.

• Heard an update from Susan Newell, 911 director. Commissioners approved the purchase of a combination printer-copier-scanner from Logan Business Machines for a cost of $6,095. Newell also briefed the commissioners on a new 911 mapping system recently implemented. The system pinpoints 911 callers on a map when calls come in to the 911 dispatch center.

• Met in executive session with Newell and county counselor Jan Hayes for 20 minutes to discuss matters of non-elected personnel and attorney-client privilege.

• Heard an update from Cindy Williams, Meadowlark Extension District agent, and Sherry Seifert, 4-H program assistant for the county extension office. • Heard an update from Mary Underwood, county treasurer.

• Heard an update from Jim McGrath, county economic development director.

• Met with McGrath, Allen Wise of Sunflower Century 21 realtors, Tichenor, Hayes and appraiser Kathy Wagner in executive session for 30 minutes to discuss real estate issues. Commissioners emerged to decline an offer on the remaining 45 acres of the former industrial park property along 82nd Street just west of Meriden. They made a counter offer request of $105,000 for the property.

• Heard an update from Mark Richards, auxiliary services director. Commissioners approved a raise in call-in pay to $13 per call from $10 for auxiliary services employees called in for emergencies. The vote was 2-1 as commissioner Francis Grollmes voted against the move. His concern was that the move set a precedent for other departments and that employees knew what the pay was when they took a job in the department.

• Heard an update from Wagner.

• Met with Buttron, acting ambulance director James Tweed and Tani Ruff of the ambulance department. A payroll issue in the department was discussed and resolved by the recommendation of the county auditor.

• Met in executive session with Duanette Baker of geographic information systems and Hayes for 15 minutes to discuss matters of non-elected personnel.

• Heard an update from Chris Schmeissner, GIS and information technology director.

• Met with Schmeissner and Hayes in executive session for 15 minutes to discuss matters of security and non-elected personnel.