Work from prior FEMA events reportedly not complete

Freeborn County has reportedly not yet been reimbursed for more than $500,000 from Federal Emergency Management Agency events during 2013 and 2014.

Administrator Thomas Jensen said the cause of the lack of reimbursement could stem from inaction on the part of Freeborn County Ditch Inspector Winston Beiser — who has a role in the process — or other factors.

“It’s unclear where the hangups are,” he said.

Jensen expects to have more information on the matter in about 2 1/2 weeks.

The shortfall was discussed Tuesday at a Freeborn County Board of Commissioners meeting that included an approximately hour-long performance evaluation of Beiser. The commissioners had been slated to go into closed session for the evaluation, but Beiser requested it be open.

Jensen said Freeborn County employees are concerned Beiser is causing staff to dedicate too much time to invoices, is not sufficiently using the ditch data system and has not accurately reported the status of local compliance with buffer strip requirements.

The county board has reportedly had three conversations regarding work hours Beiser has logged, and they are continuing to increase, Jensen said.

Highway Department Engineer Sue Miller, Information Technology Director Scott Woitas and Auditor/Treasurer Pat Martinson have expressed concern their departments would no longer be able to provide support services for ditch inspection, which is estimated at more than 50 hours per week.

Jensen deemed using county tax dollars to help ditch inspections “inappropriate,” and suggested the board explore options to alleviate the situation.

The board voted to place Beiser under Jensen’s supervision.

Beiser said he looks forward to working with Jensen on  day-to-day tasks. He presented the board with files that show a substantial increase in work orders and invoices from 2012 to 2017.

“Take a look, if this doesn’t represent four to five times more work in ’17 than in ’12,” Beiser said. “Would I do this job being paid what some people think I should be paid at the rate in 2012 to do this much work?

“Everybody can have an opinion on how much I’m worth. But you know what, if a drainage inspector never made $50,000 in this county, they never did this much work. This represents 2017. I don’t have a problem with you guys asking me if I am worth it. I ask you, am I worth it?”

Beiser said there was a “very minimal amount of administrative time,” in small FEMA projects in 2013 partially due to him rupturing his Achilles heel.

Beiser said in 2013, he was new in his position and other people conducting important tasks were also inexperienced.

“We didn’t know the playbook,” he said, adding the drainage data system did not exist at that time and there were no electronic invoice services. He said Miller began to help him with FEMA work in 2014, which “helped him tremendously.”

“I did the best I could do at that time with the tools I was given,” he said.

Miller said staff time has been spent locating invoices from Beiser because they were not available. She said the problem could be alleviated if Beiser used the technology afforded to him.

Miller expressed concern the reputation of Freeborn County could be called into question because of the length of time it has taken the county to undertake emergency repairs, adding Beiser has been told he needs to focus on FEMA work.

“If it was a 2014 FEMA event and it takes us four years to make that emergency repair, is it really an emergency?” Miller said. “At some point in time, those points become a questionable fact for FEMA to say, ‘is that an appropriate use of emergency management dollars,’ and that goes to the integrity of all of Freeborn County, whether that’s the drainage authority or Freeborn County.”

“I don’t want the integrity of the work done in Freeborn County to be called into question.”

Miller expressed concern the county could be audited because of the length of time the process has taken and said Beiser needs oversight.

She said staff have provided support, assistance and guidance to Beiser, but that has fallen on “deaf ears.”

District 2 Commissioner Dan Belshan said staff need to communicate properly with each other to resolve conflicts.

He said the ditch systems Beiser oversees are self-supporting, with farmers paying for ditch cleanup, and he formed his judgment for Beiser based on positive feedback from farmers.

“We’re making a big deal about somebody that probably (District 1 Commissioner) Glen (Mathiason) and I deal with more than anybody on the board,” Belshan said.

“I don’t have a problem with our drainage inspector, what he’s been doing.”

Belshan noted Beiser has undertaken FEMA work that previous ditch inspectors have not had to address.

“I think that we’ve improved a lot over the years with communication with the landowners, as we’ve seen today,” Belshan said, adding Beiser is costing the county the same amount as his predecessors, but he is conducting more work.

“I’m not hearing things that Tom (Jensen) is bringing up, things like that,” he said. “I’m hearing good things from the public.”

Beiser said the issues stemmed from FEMA and wished Miller would have assisted him in 2013. Miller then spoke up from the back of room and disputed Beiser’s statement.

“I did,” she said. “I have been doing FEMA events for 20 years for you as a county board to help out our community, and I offered. I stepped up. I volunteered. It was disregarded.”

Beiser said they had a difference in opinion on the matter and expects work regarding 2016 area flooding to be wrapped up this year.

“We’ve learned a lot,” he said. “The team has really been helpful.”

Jensen said the board needed to realize that among staff, “the frustration level is nearing the point of heads going off.”

Commissioners approved a $48,500 grant from the Board of Water and Soil Resources that requires an $83,000 to $84,000 match from Freeborn County. The grant is meant to address alignments, slope grades on tile lines and GPS points on private and county tiles.

Beiser said the county would be spending the matching money even without the grant and said the matching dollars were based on how well the grant was written.

Freeborn County Geographical Information Systems Coordinator Tim Fulton said Beiser’s estimation of the cost of the grant in staff hours was “incorrect,” adding he thought the cost would be higher than Beiser’s estimated figure.

Fulton said staff have tried to help Beiser out, “and it’s not working. And that keeps taking up our time over and over and over again to help out the community with other projects. It’s just getting to that point of what can we do more?”

Woitas said if Beiser used the ditch data system more, it would eliminate the increasing amount of paperwork Beiser undertakes, adding the department has spent hours attempting to get Beiser to use the system so other departments have access to the information.

Beiser said he would welcome help but denied that using the drainage data system would eliminate the paperwork.

Mathiason said Beiser needs to become more efficient. 

“It just seems like maybe you’ve got that many things to do, but I think you need to work on doing some of them a little quicker,” he said.

Beiser declined to comment after the meeting.

In other news, the board:

• Authorized the annual road striping project to Traffic Marking Service for more than $127,000.

• Authorized the 2018 base stabilization with magnesium chloride contract to Freeborn County Cooperative for more than $229,000.

• Authorized the 2018 annual supply washed sand for ice control contract to Ulland Brothers Inc. for $9.35 a ton.

• Approved out-of-state travel for transport deputy Jeremiah Mickelson for training from May 6 to May 12 in Socorro, New Mexico.

• Increased the startup cash in records cash drawer from $50 to $300.

• Placed Statewide Health Improvement Program Coordinator Lana Howe on full-time status.

• Approved a request by Verizon Wireless to construct a telecommunications facility.

• Placed Jon Mickelson and Bruce Moore on full-time status.

• Set an 8:45 a.m. May 1 hearing date to accept petitions by the Department of Transportation to make minor alterations or changes to County Ditch 15 and County Ditch J22.

• Proclaimed April as Child Abuse Prevention Month in Freeborn County.