Kane County animal control salary stays near six figures

Round one of a battle to lower the salaries of Kane County administrators went to board members with a priority of keeping the status quo Tuesday during a contentious debate about hiring a new animal control director.

The sudden resignation of the former director, Mary Lawrie, followed shortly after she was placed on a forced administrative leave. County officials have never disclosed the reason for Lawrie’s suspension. In hiring her replacement, county board members on the Public Health Committee questioned the effectiveness of the job description for the director. It’s the same job description that resulted in Lawrie’s hiring in 2007 when not a single veterinarian applied for the job. The county currently contracts out for veterinarian services at an additional cost to taxpayers.

On Tuesday, Kane County Public Health Department staff presented a salary study and rationale for the job description to support the requirements of the position and its near six-figure salary. Animal control director positions in surrounding counties are in similar ranges, according to the study presented. That resulted in some members questioning the job description itself.

For instance, one “essential function” listed in the job description is the monitoring of “animal control policy issues affecting the county and its residents on the local, state, national and international level.”

“You really think that we have to worry about international policy issues?” board member Bonnie Kunkel asked. “It just doesn’t seem to me that that’s something that’s necessary.”

Health Department Executive Director Paul Kuehnert answered that H1N1 began as an international problem before it came to Kane County.

“But I’d say the preponderance in that effort is really a focus on the state,” Kuehnert said. “There are bills in every legislative session that relate to animal control.”

Kunkel continued with an onslaught of questions that appeared to be aimed at what tasks an animal control director directly performs that justifies the suggested salary. Board member Tom Van Cleave interrupted the questions to call for a vote on filling the position with the job description and salary as suggested by Kuehnert. The committee voted to a rare 3-3 tie, forcing Committee Chairman Jeanette Mihalec to vote. She voted to fill the position with Kuehnert’s guidelines and a salary between $75,000 and $95,000.

Kunkel was not satisfied with the result.

“We have to take special care in replacing people,” Kunkel said. “The county recognized years ago that we have problems with revenues. But whenever somebody leaves we’re told they are very important and need, not just to be replaced, but replaced at the same salary we paid in our steak days. These are not steak days; these are salad days. Is there really justification to pay the amounts suggested?”