Commissioner Dieter says $100K salary fits dual roles of new HR and finance position

Officials are proposing a new position in St. Joseph County government, director of human resources and finance, that would be paid $100,000.

When it came to the St. Joseph County Council for a vote April 11, council Democrats balked at the original salary proposal of $120,000, which would have made it among the highest in county government.

But county Commissioner Derek Dieter, who proposed the new position, argues that some other Indiana counties are paying as much or more. The salary was then adjusted to $100,000 at the council meeting after a proposal from council Republican Joe Thomas.

“I wanted to table it,” Democrat Diana Hess said. “I still have a lot of concerns. Why couldn’t we wait until budget time?”

The council approved the new position 5-4, voting along party lines.

Then, on Tuesday, county Commissioners Carl Baxmeyer and Deb Fleming voted to table what would have been the final vote on the position. Dieter was absent. Baxmeyer, the commissioners' president, later told The Tribune that Fleming had questions about the position. And he himself had missed the recent council meeting where it was discussed, so he suggested postponing the issue until the next commissioners meeting.

Dieter argues that the new director would actually be doing two jobs. Aside from human resources for county employees, the director would oversee all financial aspects of departments that report directly to the commissioners. Baxmeyer said that doesn't include departments that report to elected officials, such as the auditor, clerk, treasurer, assessor, recorder, sheriff and prosecutor.

Many county departments have their own staff member who handles finances, but, Baxmeyer said, employees wouldn't be eliminated because of the new position.

“The position needs to reflect the importance and risk involved in over $22 million annually in healthcare, risk, liability, insurance, benefits and settlements that flows through this county annually,” according to a letter on behalf of the commissioners and legal staff to council members. “This risk portfolio is complicated, more so because we self-insure. We employ multiple outside advisors, but in our opinion we need one high level executive employee who knows the full picture and reports to the executive branch daily. The council approves spending for the multiple funds, the auditor’s office does a tremendous job tracking the $22 million annually through the funds, but the executive branch needs its own daily professional managing the execution and compliance.”

Dieter said it requires a competent person, and the salary has to “compete with the private sector.”

The county’s current human resources director, Kimberly Karkiewicz, was paid $67,893 in 2022, according to state records via gateway.ifionline.org. She could apply for the new position, Dieter said.

In general, he said that certain county staff have been “grossly underpaid.”

Officials say the position is considered “budget neutral,” because it would take advantage of the savings since, in February, the county decided to eliminate its board of voter registration and transfer the duties — and the board’s four deputies — to the county’s circuit court clerk’s office. The savings would come from eliminating the two board positions and from moving from six to four deputies for voter registration.

Feb. 1, 2023: Commissioners move voter registration to county clerk's office

Dieter said the new director would also mean that the county could rely less on independent financial consultant Steve Dalton, who the county pays on a consulting basis and who assisted in crafting the new position.

The council had discussed the position and salary in prior meetings. But Hess, citing another reason she wanted to delay the vote, pointed out that a revised job description didn't come to the council until a day or two before its meeting. By then, Hess said, the duties had “changed tremendously.” She said she was then surprised to hear that it wasn’t just a new job, but a “restructuring” of the department.

That's because, while officials were considering the new role, the benefits coordinator in human resources left for a job in the private sector. Because a replacement for the benefits coordinator wouldn’t be hired, it leaves behind a $46,000 salary.

“Since I’ve been here,” Dieter said, having been elected a commissioner in 2020, “human resources wasn’t operating as it should be.”

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Asked what the impetus was for making the change now, he said it was among various other changes where he saw a need, such as the switch in security that he led this winter in the County-City Building.

“It just made sense,” he said.

South Bend Tribune reporter Joseph Dits can be reached at 574-235-6158 or jdits@sbtinfo.com.

This article originally appeared on South Bend Tribune: St. Joseph County new human resources finance director $100,000