Stevens County accepts Planning and Zoning director's retirement, approves backfills and staff reorganization plan

The Stevens County Board of Commissioners accepted several personnel actions at its April 7 meeting, including a planned retirement, a resignation, and a decision to pursue a reorganization option to address workload.

County Administrator Rebecca Young presented a letter of retirement from Planning and Zoning Director Bill Kleindl and the board accepted the retirement effective June 30, 2026. Commissioners acknowledged Kleindl's years of service and an award he received at a recent feedlot conference. The board immediately approved advertising to backfill the Planning and Zoning and Environmental Services position.

The board also accepted the resignation of Deputy Andrew Messner effective April 3, 2026 and authorized backfilling the deputy sheriff position. The approval included a $500 employee referral bonus for successful referrals, consistent with county policy.

Young summarized issues discussed at an 8:00 a.m. work session the same day about workload and case sizes and presented three options with associated fiscal costs; after brief discussion the board voted to pursue option 1/A for reorganization and restaffing to address the workload concerns. The minutes show unanimous votes on the personnel items and the reorganization direction.

Next steps: Departments were authorized to proceed with recruitment and implementation planning; specific timelines and fiscal details for reorganization were not recorded in the meeting minutes.