By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Students in Danielle Feist's Jobs for America's Graduates - Kansas (JAG-K) class at Great Bend High School wanted a lesson in local government. Barton County's department heads delivered during Tuesday's county commission meeting. The lesson started when Feist invited Commission Chair Barb Esfeld to speak to the class last month.
"Her job is not necessarily to teach about county government," Esfeld said. "She could go right over that to state and federal, which you hear of more and in government classes, but she's taking the time to teach the students about local government, which is generally where you have your first experience."
Feist took over the JAG-K program midway through last school year. The program is designed to provide a pathway to academic success and graduation.
"JAG-K is an elective course where students gain career and life skills, among those being leadership development," Feist said. "Tuesday's Commissioner for the Day experience was a perfect opportunity to participate in and observe leadership in action."
Prior to Tuesday's meeting, JAG-K students Kenton Grauerholz, Trista Riley, McKayla Smith, and Trason Stevens, along with Cambria Konrade and Eli Hutchinson, toured the Barton County Jail. Then they took over the commission meeting for a mock vote on cell phone policy for county employees. Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir made the decision difficult.
"An elected official is not subject to any personnel policies by the board of county commissioners," he said. "This stems from the Nielander decision in 2001 by the Kansas Supreme Court. Therefore, whatever you decide to do, I'll effect my own policy as I see fit. By extension, I would say this applies to any elected official."
Smith, acting as chair, asked Bellendir who paid for the phones. Bellendir said, if pushed, he could ask the commission to purchase county-issued phones for his deputies since any phones used by his office could be collected as evidence in certain instances. He laid out real concerns of officer safety when needing to communicate sensitive information without it going over the police radio.
The student commissioners also heard from Jim Jordan, the elected county treasurer, and County Appraiser Wendy Prosser and County Counselor Patrick Hoffman, both unelected.
Prosser outlined similar concerns. Her office does not have the budget to purchase county-issued phones, and her employees often work in the field where they have been subjected to threats of violence and animal attacks.
Jordan, in a more controlled environment on the first floor of the Barton County Courthouse, said personal phones are not allowed during work hours in the treasurer's office.
"If there's a customer in front of one of my employees in the office, and there is a cell phone and it goes off, the first thing they do is (check it)," he said. "'Oh, it's Sally. She's cooking pancakes. Oh look, she put a smiley face on it. Let me answer her back. Meanwhile, the customer is there waiting. There are no cell phones allowed in our office."
The civics lesson continued. Riley asked Bellendir if the Nielander decision protected his budget.
"The Nielander decision said the county commissioners get to control the sheriff one time a year: they get to say how much money I have," the sheriff answered. "They get to set my budget every year. That is how the county commissioners control elected officials. They set our budgets. That said, in the Nielander decision, the county commissioners cannot tell me how to spend my budget or effect any personnel policies I have."
Bellendir went on to explain that as an elected official, he answers to the people of Barton County, not the board of commissioners. Further, given the complex nature of law enforcement, it is important that position be independent of the policy-making side of county government. The same can be said for other elected officials such as the clerk, treasurer, and register of deeds.
"Those, historically, were the most important functions of county government," Bellendir said. "That's why those offices are still elected to this day. They are so important that the citizens, on a local level, should have a say in who is taking care of their money, who is enforcing their laws, and who is taking care of their elections. Those offices are so important that people still have a right to vote on them."
Esfeld asked the young commissioners if it would be a good idea to elect an appraiser.
"The problem with electing an appraiser would be her job security," Bellendir answered. "Let's say the state comes out and says this property is going to be worth more next year. She goes out and raises everybody's property values and their taxes go up. If she's elected, do you think she's going to get elected next year?"
"But she's doing her job correctly," Esfeld said. "That's one of the areas we've worked so hard to protect."
After some thought, the young commissioners voted 6-0 in a non-binding county-wide phone policy that included some restrictions.
"I think phone usage should be put to a minimum in the workplace," Stevens said, "only for work purposes and some personal matters."