Costs, concerns nix surveyor job

A local farm manager and an area surveyor are back to square one.

When Pathfinder Co. Inc. farm manager Ron Schultz and Gary Siedschlag, a surveyor from Yutan, approached members of the Dodge County Board of Supervisors for help Wednesday morning, supervisors told them there was nothing they could do.

The two were looking for help because Dodge County Surveyor Marvin Winkelman is recovering from a surgery and unavailable to help find a section corner for a farm south of Nickerson located near the river.

Schultz said the farm was sold at auction on Oct. 3, and the section corner needs to be located before the sale can continue.

“We’ve hired a surveyor but we’re having a problem finding the section corner,” Schultz said. “We have a situation where we need a decision made. That’s what prompted me to call Fred.”

Schultz said he called Dodge County Clerk Fred Mytty to have the item placed on the agenda to ask the supervisors to name a Dodge County deputy surveyor.

Siedschlag said the problem is complicated because there are two adjacent land owners involved with this section corner.

“I need to get the project done,” he said, asking

supervisors to deputize him to complete the official work for the county.

“I have done some corners for Marv in the past,” he continued. “I have GPS equipment. He’s just signed off on that before.”

Pam Swanson, Winkelman’s assistant, said he supports the proposed special appointment of Siedschlag.

But Dodge County board chairman Bob Missel said that since Winkelman is an elected official, he has to make the appointment to name a deputy surveyor himself.

If Winkelman has simply signed off on work Siedschlag has done in the past, supervisor Dean Lux asked why Winkelman couldn’t just sign off on this project, but the surveyor said this isn’t a simple project.

“I have a lot of time in this for Dodge County,” Siedschlag said. “This isn’t an easy corner. It’s in a river bottom. There are a number of different things that make this one unique.”

But Supervisor Paul Marsh said there are some financial issues here.

First, salaries for elected officials are set Jan. 15 before any potential candidate would file to seek that office during an election year.

Marsh, chairman of the county board’s finance committee, said a deputy of an elected official makes about 65 percent of the annual salary of the elected official.

“The surveyor makes $6,230. Sixty-five percent of that is $4,049.50. Now, divide that into 24 pay periods. What do you get?”

$168.73.

“That’s not very much at all,” Marsh said.

Dodge County Attorney Paul Vaughan said state law gives the county surveyor authority to name a deputy.

But Marsh said there could some backlash from other county office deputies if supervisors would set a salary for a deputy surveyor higher than 65 percent of what the elected county official gets paid.

Then Vaughan gave them the bad news.

“The county board is without the authority to do what you want,” the county attorney said. “If (Winkelman) is thinking about this, I’d be happy to talk with him.”