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Board amends county engineer contract wording, lowering termination threshold from 'unanimous' to 'majority'
Summary
After debate, the board voted to amend Section 10(a) of the county engineer’s contract to replace the word “unanimous” with “majority” for actions to terminate without cause; the motion passed on a roll‑call vote.
The Kossuth County Board of Supervisors voted to amend the county engineer’s contract language in Section 10(a), replacing the requirement for a unanimous board vote to terminate the contract without cause with a majority‑vote standard.
The change was the subject of extended discussion. One supervisor argued the unanimous requirement is an “extreme bar” that is unnecessary and that a majority standard aligns the authority of elected supervisors with personnel accountability. A colleague opposed lowering the standard, citing the long service of the county engineer and saying, “I have a huge issue with that because if something were being done wrong, I would say that we would be unanimous in in probably a termination” (Amber).
Following discussion the board called a roll‑call vote. The record shows three supervisors voted yes and two voted no; the chair announced the wording of the contract was amended for the current contract.
County staff and the county engineer were directed to prepare a written proposal of the final contract language for subsequent negotiation and to return with a finalized draft for the board’s file prior to July 1, when the new contract year begins.
The decision changes the formal threshold in the current contract language; any future substantive changes to terms — severance, effective dates or other items — still require written consent from both parties under the contract’s amendment provisions.
