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Planning and zoning changes approved CROW WING COUNTY BOARD Senior Reporter Crow Wing County's planning and zoning office is one of the county's departments with the greatest degree of public interaction and one of the areas that generates the most service-based complaints.
Commissioners voted Tuesday to make staff changes, approve a new acting department head and to hire an outside consultant. But the moves were not without concern for some.
John Sausen, assistant county attorney, relayed County Attorney Don Ryan's request to be heard on the county administrator's recommendations before the board voted on the issue. Ryan, who was on vacation and unable to attend the meeting, had concerns and appreciated being able to address those before the board made a decision, Sausen said.
Commissioners Paul Thiede and Rachel Reabe Nystrom said they didn't see a legal reason not to go forward with the recommendations, particularly on a temporary basis. Nystrom questioned Ryan's legal interest in what she took to be a board decision and a good restructuring opportunity.
"I think that is mysterious to say the least," she said.
Sausen said the county attorney's office works closely with planning and zoning. And in his own opinion, Sausen said it will be hard to evaluate a department that has been decimated by loss of multiple key employees through loss and now reassignment.
The recommendations the board approved came from County Administrator David Hamilton, who expressed surprise at Ryan's reaction. The move and other staff changes within the department came on the heels of the recent resignation of Bonnie Finnerty as county planner.
Hamilton said he met with Ryan before the county attorney's vacation and did not hear an objection at that time. While the move will bring tension, Hamilton said he couldn't see a legal reason for the board not to make the decision.
"I hope the board will put that aside and consider both proposals on their merit rather than on internal intrigue," Hamilton said.
With the restructuring, Hamilton will serve as planning and zoning's acting department head. Hamilton proposes spending time in the planning and zoning office each day through year's end to review the department's operation and culture.
Planning and zoning staff members Kristin Hansen and Sue Maske will take over Finnerty's planner's duties while Tracy Giza will move to the administrator's office, which expects to be shorthanded during an upcoming family leave. Hamilton reported Giza's duties will be reassigned to existing planning staff members.
By the end of 2007, Hamilton said the board should expect a detailed restructuring report focused on providing enhanced customer service.
The restructuring, included a recommendation to hire Mark Liedl - Culver's restaurant owner and former assistant county attorney - to create a summary document bringing all land use policy, plans and practices together. Liedl said at least eight county departments are involved in administering, interpreting and establishing the county's land use policies.
Liedl described the document as a practical guide to communicate a clear and consistent direction to the county's land use policies. Liedl will work for a $65 per hour fee not to exceed $25,000. Using his restaurant as an example, Liedl said the current county situation is like operating a eatery without a menu for customers or staff.
His proposal is to create a document that "incorporates these various rules, regulations, plans and staff policy decisions into an integrated, comprehensive vision of future land use."
Board Chairman Dewey Tautges said Liedl's draft proposal doesn't include anything about individual property rights. Liedl said he took that as a basic right enshrined in the Constitution. He described government's role in ensuring the public welfare and in the balancing act of making sure one individual's rights didn't infringe on the neighbor's rights.
Liedl said his role was not to make policy but to provide a tool and distill what is there in a format people can understand. A next step could be to create a land use policy, Liedl said.
Tautges said since he's been on the board, people have come forward with ideas to make them feel warm and fuzzy.
"If you want to feel warm and fuzzy go get yourself a teddy bear and leave our rights alone that's the bottom line - individual rights," Tautges said.
Liedl expects to have his report completed by end of 2007.
Hamilton has been adding direct department oversight to his duties since becoming the county administrator.
Hamilton assumed the interim parks director position following the 2006 resignation of the county's first parks director Mike Kearns. Hamilton also is land services director, an experimental position he created earlier this year to coordinate a grouping of land-related county departments.
In each case, Hamilton said he would take on the additional duties at no added cost to the county. With the addition of planning and zoning, Hamilton said he will have a recommendation in September to relieve himself of the parks director duties.
RENEE RICHARDSON may be reached at renee.richardson@brainerddispatch.com or 855-5852.
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