Kris Miller
Hiawatha World

New Brown County Commissioner of District 2 Lucas Heinen was sworn in by Brown County Chief Judge John Weingart before the start of Monday’s county meeting.

The other re-appointed members of the county government were Commissioner of District 3 William Pollock, County Attorney Kevin Hill, Sheriff John Merchant, County Clerk Nikki Lee and Register of Deeds Nellie Brockhoff.

Heinen was sworn in on a 3-0 vote, with Heinen taking Commissioner Richard Lehmkuhl’s place as chairman; the previous chairman before Lehmkuhl was Commissioner Pollock.

The reason for the swearing in ceremony before the meeting was due to jury docket matters that had to be addressed due to the Brown County Courthouse being closed on Monday, Jan. 6 due to weather.

When the public comment space was open, two Brown County citizen spoke up during the public comment section. Derek Letsinger and Annette Hoskins praised the Brown County Planning Commission for putting together the zoning regulations that would prohibit wind energy development in Brown County.

Brockhoff spoke with the commissioners about her concern regarding how she needed to change the payscale and that she overlooked on how the clerks’ treasurers’ and the register of deeds’ pay was the same and was split up. She requested that the commissioners rectify the issue and that the deputy clerks should not be shorted and thanked the commissioners for their time.

When it came to the personnel policy regarding the personnel salary and wage structure, Pollock stated that he would still be opposed to the policy and asked Heinen if he read anything about the policy; Heinen said he did not and asked if the information about the policy was available before being approved or if more discussion could take place. Lehmkuhl stated that the decisions regarding the payscale and other parts of the policy were already made before the meeting.

In the end, Heinen and Lehmkuhl voted in favor of the personnel salary and wage structure motion, while Pollock voted against it.

Towards the end of the meeting, Pollock expressed wanting security at the Brown County Courthouse to be changed and be less strict. He suggested that the commissioners spoke about the security during an executive session. In response, Heinen requested to table the discussion as he expressed in wanting work with commission topics in where everyone gets a chance to speak and that the people who needed to be involved are present regarding the topic.

Lehmkuhl also discussed that assistance with the county budget was needed because next year would be more difficult, budget-wise. He recommended Galva-based Lloyd Group assisting with the budget, but Pollock argued that the Lloyd Group was not worth the cost. Lehmkuhl suggested that they should ask other elected officials how they felt about the Lloyd Group’s services.

Heinen also asked more questions about commissioner protocol and discussed other commissioner practices before the meeting was adjourned.

Other items of discussion:

• All three commissioners voted for the Horton Headlight to be the official Brown County newspaper for legals for 2025, at $2.20 per column inch; the Hiawatha World bid was $2.25 per column inch.

• All three commissioners voted to have Citizens State Bank, Morrill & James Bank, Bank of Blue Valley, State of Kansas Municipal Investment Pool and Investment Banks and GN Bank to be the designated official community banks for Brown County.

• All commissioners voted to approve a Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP) Waiver.

• All commissioners approved a motion to appointed Heinen as Northeast Kansas Environment Services; Heinen nominated himself and took over the position that was previously occupied by former Commissioner of District 2 Lamar Shoemaker.

• All three commissioners voted to have written notices about the zoning regulation opposing wind energy development sent to cities in Brown County; Planning Commission member Bill Vonderschmidt gave a report on what happened during the public hearing that took place on Friday, Jan. 10.

Below is a short gallery of other members being sworn in: