Commissioners reappoint four department heads; salary decision for appointees tabled to personnel committee

The Lincoln County Board of Commissioners voted to reappoint four county department heads for 2025 and agreed to defer a decision on their annual salaries to the personnel committee.

The board reappointed the highway superintendent, the noxious weed superintendent, Region 51's emergency management director and the county veteran service officer after a motion to reappoint those individuals passed by roll call.

Commissioners then opened discussion on setting 2025 salaries for those positions. The county's budget message published in September had set a 2.5% cost-of-living adjustment for employees; commissioners debated whether to follow that established figure. Some members noted that many of the county's appointed department heads received larger increases in the prior year (roughly 9% in total, a combination of a larger COLA and merit additions) and said the board should be cautious about repeating that level of increases during the current budget cycle.

Veteran Service Officer Thomas Gann spoke during the discussion and asked that he not receive an increase this year while commissioners completed a comparative wage review of neighboring counties. "I'm requesting not to get a raise," Gann said. Commissioners thanked him and noted they would review comparative data prior to making salary decisions.

After discussion, the board voted to table setting salaries and asked the personnel committee to analyze comparable wages and return with a recommendation next week. Commissioners noted the National Association of Counties (NACo) county wage tool and county comparisons would be used as reference materials.