Walworth County will hire consultant to help fix the bookkeeping in the auditor’s office

During Tuesday’s (May 24th) meeting of the Walworth County Commission, at the request of County Auditor Deb Kahl, the commissioners approved hiring the current Perkins County Finance Officer as a consultant to help straighten out the books in the Auditor’s office, at a cost of $40 per hour plus expenses.  She will be able to access Walworth County’s books remotely after being in-person at first.  Kahl said she is highly recommended by Legislative Audit, Connecting Point, the software people, and the Department of Revenue. She uses the same bookkeeping system and software as Walworth County.  She will start in July.

Walworth County 4-H Ambassador Eli Hamre asked the Commissioners to help sponsor this year’s Teen Leadership Conference at South Dakota State University in June.  The Commission approved the requested amount of $500 from the 4-H Extension Fund.

Walworth County Emergency Manager Jeff Jensen said the Sound the Alarm event on Saturday, May 21st was a success, with over 100 smoke detectors installed in homes around the county.  He told the commissioners that this was the Red Cross’s 6th event in the past 3 weeks, with the largest number of smoke detectors installed.  The Red Cross left smoke detectors with each of the county fire halls for residents who might have missed the event and would like one installed.

Jensen wanted to remind people to be mindful of not tossing out lit cigarettes.  A fire this past Sunday morning in Walworth County is suspected to have been started by a discarded cigarette.

The commission approved Resolution 22-09 read by Jensen for the Wildland Fire Designee, adding Commissioner Kevin Holgard and Commissioner Justin Jungwirth, with the other contacts being the Sheriff and Chief Deputy, the Emergency Manager, and Rural County Fire Chief Curt Rawstern.

Highway Department:

The commissioners approved the authorization to advertise for gravel crushing in the Hoven area.

They approved advertising for asphalt surface treatment by contract.  Bids will be opened on June 23rd at 10:15am.

Highway Department Superintendent Gary Byre mentioned wanting to utilize KLJ Engineering to assist in developing plans for asphalt surface treatment under an existing Contract for Service, which is on file. 

Also at Tuesday’s meeting:

Dylan Zabel was introduced as the new part-time deputy in both the Register of Deeds and Assessor’s offices, and Brenda DeToy was added to the Register of Deeds bank account.

County Auditor Deb Kahl told the commissioners that there is now a box in the front entry for flag disposal, provided by the South Dakota Association of County Officials.

Commissioner Duane Mohr had some final landfill numbers from the recent Walworth County Clean-Up Days.

Walworth County Commission regular meeting dates in June will be the 9th and 23rd.