Unlike past veterans service committee ….

Unlike past veterans service committee meetings, the audience members were not given the option to speak during the meeting but were vocal in sharing their views and calling for committee chairman Lester Lewis to step down from his position. Petitions for the county to remove Rollie Thums and Lester Lewis from committee had also been delivered to the county with 63 signatures calling for Thums to step down and 114 signatures calling on Lewis to step down.

Tensions were heightened even before the formal start of the meeting as Lewis read a two page police report prepared on June 23 by Sheriff Woebbeking regarding Taylor County Veteran’s service officer Shellie Shaw’s concern that members of the county board “will likely try to have her killed.”

The report (see sidebar) details Woebbeking’s conversation with Shaw and that “she felt concerned since two separate veterans had informed her that supposedly County Board members are in a ‘Taylor County/Medford mafia’ and are in a ‘Good Old Boys Club’ and that she had to be careful.” In the report, Woebbeking stated that Shaw told him another veteran had indicated to her that Lewis “needs 50 Cal to the head.” Woebbeking noted this referred to a 50-caliber rifle round.

Lewis called on Shaw to address the allegations raised in the report including the continued allegations of harassment. Shaw had previously filed a harassment complaint against Lewis.

Shaw said harassment was in the form of Lewis, in his capacity as committee chairman, coming into the offi ce unannounced and in the way of talking with benefit specialist Nikki Sherman. “It was very disruptive,” she said.

“I never know when you will come in,” she said, suggesting that there are “lies and rumors” being spread about her.

“It is a form of defamation of character and it is getting very old,” Shaw said, objecting to Lewis reading the report and referring to it as an effort to assassinate her character.

“We need to stop until I can get my attorney here if this is how we are going to proceed,” Shaw said.

At that point, Lewis formally started the meeting with the introduction of committee members. The committee has not met since before the county reorganization meeting in April, and the expansion of the committee from a three-member one to seven members, including two community member veterans. Committee members are Lewis, Thums, Lorie Floyd, Susan Swiantek, Catherine Lemke, Steve Voss and Larry Peterson.

In introducing himself, Voss said that he saw the committee’s job as being one to enable the veterans service office to help veterans. “We need to get out of their way to help veterans,” he said.

Thums said there are a lot of untruths being heard about the county’s actions and intentions. He said that as county board members they have jobs to do. “Sometimes people don’t like us because we do our jobs and that is part of the game,” he said, and addressed the audience telling them he would not lie to them.

Rusk and Clark County Bills

Committee members voted unanimously to seek supplemental funding from the county general fund to pay bills from the Clark and Rusk County veterans service officers for time they worked in Taylor County while Shaw was on non-disciplinary administrative leave.

Shaw told committee members she was “walked out” of the office on April 19 and was out on leave for six weeks returning to the office on June 16. Shaw stated that while on leave she, at direction from the county, had to spend three hours with a forensic psychiatrist to evaluate her mental health. Shaw said she was concerned about the impact that bill and the bills from Clark and Rusk counties would have on her budget.

Shaw noted that her total office budget is only $150,000. “We don’t have a lot of funds to be used to support veterans,” Shaw said, expressing concern that these additional expenses would take away from their ability to meet veteran needs.

According to Lewis, the decision to place Shaw on administrative leave was made by the county human resources director and county’s labor attorney. “We weren’t informed ahead of time,” Lewis said, emphasizing that it was not a decision made by any member of the veterans service committee.

“When I heard about it, it was news to me,” Thums said.

“Shellie has rights, that is why we weren’t informed,” Lewis said of the reason the committee had not been involved with the leave.

Shaw said she wanted to make sure the money got back into her budget. She said that in her reading of the county code, the committee sets the budget but she is the one with operational authority over the budget.

County human resources director Nicole Hager stated the medical review bill was being paid from the contracted services line item in the county budget and was not being charged to the veterans service office.

Lewis noted the committee’s action would be to request the county’s finance and personnel committee to reimburse the veterans service office for the $2,585 charged by Rusk and Clark counties. A motion to do that passed on a voice vote with all members voting in favor.

Staffing hours

A request to bump the hours of both Shaw and Sherman from 35 to 40 hours per week met with a mixed reception from committee members based primarily on concerns about where the extra money to cover additional payroll would come from.

Committee members rejected the request, but Lewis said they are welcome to make the same request to the finance and personnel committee. Even if the veterans service committee had voted to approve the request it would have had to also go to the finance and personnel committee.

The committee did not take formal action on a request by Shaw to reclassify her from a non-exempt (hourly) employee to an exempt (salary) employee because that request was not on the agenda.

Shaw reported on the current caseload in her office. She explained that there is a direct financial benefit for veterans, and by extension the community as a whole, by maximizing the benefit local veterans are able to receive. She said as veterans get closer to 100% disability, they open up other benefits including education assis-

“It is a form of defamation of character and it is getting very old.”

— Shellie Shaw