It left some commissioners with strong words about Walgreens during the regular commission meeting Tuesday at the Davison County North Offices in Mitchell.
“I think we’re just done with them personally,” Weitala said. “You look at that bill, and it’s just horrific.”
The county met with representatives for the Mitchell Walgreens in April, but Weitala said much of the price decisions on drugs were made at the corporate level. Records earlier this year showed the county paid nearly $36,000 to Walgreens in 2014, which was the most the county jail paid to any one entity, including hospitals and ambulance providers.
Weitala said some prescriptions run as much as $900 per order for the county.
“We’re just looking at the overall expenses,” she said. “Between medical and dental, we’re getting the ‘go to the jail and get your body fixed’ thing.”
Davison County Sheriff Steve Brink, who oversees the jail as part of his duties, apologized for the costs, which he described as out of hand. He said he didn’t realize what the county is spending on medicine.
“The more I think about it, the more upsetting it is,” Brink said. “It upsets me that something like that could even happen. It’s almost criminal.”
Davison County Jail Administrator Don Radel said the county doesn’t have a contract with Walgreens, but has a verbal agreement for the company to be the jail’s primary provider for medicine.
Weitala said she’s not sure how the county ended up in this situation, but wants to fix the problem.
“It’s over now with those past bills,” she said. “We don’t make any money off the jail to begin with, so for this to go unchecked as long as it has is just unacceptable.”
Lewis Drug, for example, would deliver the medicine to the jail and fill orders on Saturdays, which is currently done by Walgreens.
“It’s not a question of the service,” said Commission Chairman John Claggett. “It’s the price point.”
County approves raises, vacation plan
After tweaking a proposal presented last week, the Davison County Commissioners have approved raises for numerous county employees.
The proposal’s increase was lowered from 3.7 percent to 2.8 percent, for a total increase of $128,404 to the payroll. The commission voted 4-1 to approve the raises, with only Commissioner Brenda Bode voting in opposition.
Commissioners Weitala and Randy Reider consulted Monday with study leaders Jeff Bathke and Susan Kiepke to revise the overall amount of raises to be given. The tweaks included lowering the raises proposed for the auditor, treasurer, register of deeds and state’s attorney, although all four positions will still receive increases in pay compared to their current wages. Weitala and Reider also decided Bathke’s combined position as emergency management and planning and zoning director is worthy of a raise.
Commissioner Denny Kiner said the figures were substantiated by data and worth putting into place as soon as possible. One of the key aspects of the salary schedule is to put minimum and maximum starting wage figures in place, so there will be less haggling over what a new employee makes.
“We need to hold firm on this,” he said. “It sets the standard that we’re going to go by.”
The raises are effective for the first pay period of September, which starts Sept. 4. The raises will be included in the 2015 budget, and cost-of-living raises are still expected for 2016. Along with the increases in pay for some employees, the county is changing its protocol for how vacation time is administered for new employees with less than one year of service time. Those employees will now receive 3.25 hours of vacation time per pay period, instead of earning vacation time at the previous rate of 1.6 hours per pay period. The change allows employees to earn two weeks’ vacation time faster, instead of being capped at one week. New employees will still not be allowed to take vacation during their first six months, unless they have a special exception.
Bode said she received numerous calls from concerned citizens who are upset with the raises, especially for elected officials.
“I got very negative comments,” she said. “I do understand when taxpayers say that they know that the wage is when they ran for the position. I don’t really have an answer for that.”
Claggett said he feels it’s important to keep up, and that it comes down to the amount of time people put into the position.
“For the public, it’s a perception piece more than the reality piece,” he said.
Bode said she voted no for the raises because she felt she had to represent the comments taxpayers made to her.
“The focus shouldn’t just be on the money,” Bode said following the meeting. “There’s so much more that needs to be done as far as making our employees better, through training and development. That’s where our focus needs to be.”
Commissioners also discussed the way they could improve year-end reviews between employees and supervisors, and also to meet with department heads as a group during the Aug. 11 meeting to clearly explain the policy changes.
