Carrie Smith is the new Becker County administrator (2024)

DETROIT LAKES — Becker County has a new county administrator: Carrie Smith on Tuesday agreed to a contract that pays her about $152,000 a year and puts her at Step 8 on the county’s 10-step pay schedule, according to Becker County Board Chairman John Okeson.

The employment contract went into effect Tuesday, and includes other basic features such as county-paid health care, Okeson said.

Smith, who was hired about two years ago as the county’s human resources director, has also been serving as interim county administrator since February, when the county parted ways with former administrator Pat Oman.

In December, Oman listed his Becker County salary as $141,800, in an application for the Fort Meade, Florida, city manager position.

Also on Tuesday, the board authorized Smith to begin the process of hiring a new county human resources director.

In other action on Tuesday, the County Board:

Authorized Environmental Services Administrator Steve Skoog to apply for a state grant that would let the county start a deconstruction training program. It would include both classroom and hands-on training on how best to dismantle a building in order to reuse the salvaged material.

The grant could also be used to operate a reuse center to sell salvaged construction materials to the public.

If a new building is constructed to house the program, the state prefers that it be built with salvaged — not new — materials.

The state has made a total of $2 million available for grant requests. It’s not clear how much of that the county will apply for, but the county matching share will be 25% of the grant.

Skoog was not available for the Tuesday meeting, and the grant application deadline is June 20, so the board agreed to authorize the application. But commissioners agreed they will need more details about the cost and overall plan from Skoog before they will commit to accepting the grant if the county is offered one.

Board Chair John Okeson said Skoog was aware of that but had asked for authorization to apply to meet the deadline.

Several former commissioners spoke at the open forum on Tuesday. Gerry Schram of Frazee thanked Commissioner Barry Nelson “for standing up for township (rights) over zoning. Townships are a really well-run unit of government and I think most of you know that.” It shouldn’t be that difficult for the county zoning office to develop a template listing individual township zoning rules, Schram said.

Don Skarie of Detroit Township congratulated Carrie Smith on being hired as administrator and thanked her for pushing for civility on the County Board.

“When you sat in that chair in February and said ‘stop,’ it stopped. Thank you,” Skarie said.

He also congratulated Environmental Services Waste Educator Sandy Gunderson for 34 years of service to Becker County. “Sandy has been a model employee,” he said.

And he asked commissioners not to forget the issue of nuisance or problem property owners living in seriously run-down housing in rural residential areas, such as one on Little Floyd Lake Road.

“There’s no way in our ordinance to handle these buildings, so I hope you’ll look at that,” in the ongoing revamp of the Becker County comprehensive plan, Skarie said.

In the commissioner reports part of the meeting, Commissioner Erica Jepson noted that there have not yet been any nominations for Outstanding Seniors for the Becker County Fair, and the deadline is June 30. “Make sure to recognize a senior you know,” she said.

Commissioner David Meyer said the Becker County DAC board toured the Hubbard County DAC, which runs three stores in Park Rapids — a thrift store, an art store, and the Depot, for larger items like furniture, windows and equipment.

“They’re well-established and it works for them,” he said. But the director there recommended that the Becker County DAC not build a thrift store in Detroit Lakes, which was hard for some of the Becker County DAC board members to hear, Meyer said, since they are looking at doing just that — both to raise funds and to provide employment to DAC clients.

The Dancing Sky Area Agency on Aging, which serves seniors in Becker County and elsewhere, is looking at a $500,000 budget shortfall next year, due to the loss of federal American Rescue Plan Act (COVID-19) funding, according to Commissioner Barry Nelson. The Dancing Sky Agency “was hard hit,” Nelson said. “It will affect their program.”

Also, a funding formula adjustment that sends $2 million more to seniors in the Twin Cities and less to seniors in Greater Minnesota will hurt seniors served by the Dancing Sky Area Agency on Aging, Meyer added.

Dancing Sky serves 20-some counties in northwestern Minnesota, including Otter Tail, Becker, Hubbard, Mahnomen and Clay. The funding formula shift will mean about $200,000 less each year for Dancing Sky Agency.

The Becker County Recreational Advisory Committee wants operator training made available to those who operate the tram on rails at Dunton Locks County Park, said Commissioner John Okeson.

The tram carries boats across the spit of land dividing Muskrat Lake and Lake Sallie, and more operator training will help “avoid issues they had in the past,” Okeson said.

He and Mitch Lundeen, a supervisor at the county Natural Resources Management Department, have been pricing out docks and are getting close to the $12,000 budgeted by the board for two wide dock systems, one on each lake, to allow pontooners to lighten the load for the tram by getting off, walking across the spit of land, then getting back on their pontoon. The price quotes are about $1,000 shy of budget, and they are working with the dock manufacturers to get to the budgeted amount, Okeson said.

Bowe covers the Becker County Board and the court system for the Tribune, and handles the opinion pages for the Tribune and Focus. As news editor of both papers, he is the go-to contact person for readers and the general public: breaking or hard news tips, story ideas, questions and general feedback should be directed to him.