Commissioner: Minnehaha County auditor's performance 'unprofessional' and 'embarrassing'
Commissioner Joe Kippley said Tuesday morning he'd like to consider salary increases across the board for county elected officials, except, potentially, for County Auditor Leah Anderson, whose performance he said had at times been "disappointing" and "embarrassing."
Kippley made the comments at the Minnehaha County Commission meeting, as Human Resources Director Carey Deaver introduced the discussion on the 2024 salaries of elected department heads, which will have a formal vote next week.
More: Minnehaha County auditor responds to criticism of her comments on county's voting system
Anderson, who was sworn into the role in March, has had a contentious relationship with the commission both before and since the November 2022 election.
She ran on a platform of "secure and transparent elections," and was endorsed by and showed support for multiple figures who have claimed that significant election fraud has taken place across the country. That's led to the idea of hand counting ballots, which the commission responded to negatively when she discussed it in September.
And earlier this month she said she still wasn't sure she could trust the county's voting system on a call with South Dakota Secretary of State officials as well as ES&S, the county's Omaha-based election vendor.
But a major sticking point between Anderson and the commission has been her salary. When former County Auditor Bob Litz retired at the end of 2020, Citibank official Ben Kyte was appointed to the role, and was paid a salary of $114,400 in 2021, a figure that increased to $120,120 in 2022.
However, when Anderson was elected, her salary was set at the minimum base of $89,232. Both Anderson and many of her supporters have decried this during both official items and public comment at commission meetings for the past year.
And after a few of them spoke Tuesday morning, Kippley said when it comes to elected officials, "our oversight is somewhat limited," except when it comes to budgeting and salary.
More: Minnehaha County auditor says she’s not sure she can trust county’s voting system
“This is kind of our opportunity on an annual basis to review that, I don’t know if a performance appraisal is the right word, but historically this has been ... we’ve increased all the elected heads, we’ve had a good history in Minnehaha County of professional staff and elected heads."
But Kippley said he sees Anderson as a break in that pattern.
“Currently, we have an auditor that’s come in and I think even before she started the salary was a big item on her agenda," Kippley said. "I’d kind of venture to say that the only thing coming from that elected office more frequently than election conspiracy related items is her own salary, so those are kind of her two top agenda items.
“That’s what the people chose in that election," Kippley continued. "I was also elected, the five of us were elected, so we have equal standing to make some judgments on that. And I’m pretty confident that the people will make a different choice in the near future, so I’ll leave that aspect to the people."
Kippley went on to say that he had seen "a couple things that have been very disappointing to me, very alarming" and cited the recent call with ES&S where Anderson allowed a group of her supporters to listen in, only revealing their presence after nearly an hour of discussion.
"I would just note to all the other department heads, if that’s how you want to run a meeting, that won’t be looked upon very favorably by this commission," Kippley said. "That was very unprofessional, and not the way we do business, and quite embarrassing to the county.”
He said he's heard "grave concerns" from city officials about the upcoming April 9 election, and whether the auditor's office will be "competent and up to the task."
"Are they going to use the ballot counting machines that have been contracted to be used? I think those are all valid concerns, and basically decreases trust in our institutions and our elections," Kippley said. “So the irony of coming in and thinking you're going to kind of raise trust in elections by burning the institution down from within just kind of shows that it’s a spasm of populism of the moment rather than a vetted case for how to run a professional office.”
Asked for comment on the matter, members of the Sioux Falls City Council said they weren't concerned about the election itself, though they were clear they wanted to see contractual obligations fulfilled.
"We have a contract with the county and the expectation is that it will be fulfilled," said Councilor Alex Jensen. "I am looking forward to the election."
Councilor Rich Merkouris said nearly the exact same thing.
"If there is any indication that they will not execute the agreement, then we will have no choice but to pursue appropriate legal action," he said.
Councilor David Barranco praised the Sioux Falls City Clerk's office, saying they would conduct "an exemplary election, the results of which every Sioux Falls voter can trust."
Councilor Marshall Selberg went further, saying he agreed with the commissioner's assessment on the auditor's comments "being unfortunate and 'unprofessional,'" though he added "steps are being taken to assure everything is in place for a smooth election and at this time I have confidence it will be."
Kippley said he could go on, but refrained, asking Deaver to prepare two options for the next week: one that would see a 7.5% salary increase for all elected department heads, and another that would give all elected department heads except for Anderson the same increase.
Commissioner Gerald Beninga said he agreed with some of Kippley's comments, though he didn't specify if he agreed with Kippley's proposal, adding he believed Kyte's experience had been quite different from that of Anderson's.
“You’re talking about an individual who was running a multi-billion dollar company with thousands of employees, with government experience with bonding experience, with accounting significance, that’s not comparable to what the current auditor has," Beninga said.
Commissioner Jen Bleyenberg also asked Deaver to prepare an option where all elected department heads saw a 5% raise.
Anderson responds
In a statement Wednesday, Anderson said, "Commissioner Kippley’s inflammatory insults that were directed at me, are also being directed at the voters. But regardless, I will continue to work hard to make sure our elections are safe and secure and I will be transparent about the process."
Regarding her salary, Anderson said, "My comments at the Dec. 5 meeting about my salary, resulted from a commission meeting approximately a year ago. I was told by Commissioner Bender that I would need to ask for an increase in salary and that I had missed out on any chance of that for 2023. I should have been present for public comment at the discussion meetings in December of 2022. So fast forward to this year…I was doing exactly what I was told."
Anderson added it was "very important for the taxpayers of Minnehaha County to know how much more the prior Auditor, that was appointed by the commissioners, was getting paid in comparison to what I am getting paid."
She also reiterated her frustration at the cancellation of a training with ES&S that she said came from "questions that were raised by my Elections Coordinator and myself at a recent SOS Election Training workshop," and said the amount of people on the call with ES&S "felt like undo [sic] pressure and influence wrapped in a threat and likely was meant to intimidate us into not questioning them in the future."
About the group she invited without the rest of the participants' knowledge, she said, "Since I work for the people, I invited the people to be present in the room to only listen and not participate. My goal was to hold ES&S and the SOS office accountable and to get to the bottom of what is fact and what is fiction."
"In February, we will be issuing a report on our findings, training experience, resolutions of any issues found, and recommendations for improvements for the County," Anderson wrote. "I want to thank the County staff for their hard work in updating our precinct boundaries and making elections better for Minnehaha residents, as well as the County Commissioners for approving our recommendations. I look forwarding to keeping you up to date for each election we have in 2024, and how we can make improvements in all areas of accessibility, accountability, accuracy, auditability, reliability, security, and transparency."
This article originally appeared on Sioux Falls Argus Leader: Minnehaha commissioner calls auditor's performance 'unprofessional'
