The Mower County Board is in the process of organizing a public meeting to address the possibility of combining the positions of County Treasurer and County Auditor into one elected office beginning Jan.

Wednesday, March 13, 2002

The Mower County Board is in the process of organizing a public meeting to address the possibility of combining the positions of County Treasurer and County Auditor into one elected office beginning Jan. 1, 2003.

At Tuesday’s County Board meeting, County Commissioner Dave Hillier said the personnel committee hopes to combine the positions in order to establish a finance department and maintain the same number of employees that already work for the treasurer’s office and the auditor’s office.

"If we combine the auditor’s and treasurer’s office, that will give us the opportunity to create a finance department and pool the duties into one position," Hillier said. "It would be the responsibility of the finance department to meet cash flow needs and review various contracts we have."

"We won’t eliminate any staff members, but we will change staff as the times change," Commissioner Richard Cummings added.

The board has set the meeting for 7 p.m., Mar. 21, but the location is still be decided.

The board also set the permit conditions under which Ed Bunne of LeRoy could mine lime rock, sand and gravel. The conditions included limiting quarry operation from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and allowing only the hauling of materials from the quarry from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturdays, limiting the permit to five years and limiting the maximum depth of the pit to 30 feet.

Though Bunne has not applied for a permit to dewater the site, regional groundwater specialist Jeff Green explained to the board that if he does, the Department of Natural Resources would require Bunne to supply information about the depth, diameter, pump level and depth of the well casing for all the wells within a half-mile radius.

At yesterday’s meeting, the board also approved a $50,000 grant to the Paramount Theatre for theater improvements.

Call Amanda L. Rohde at 434-2214 or e-mail her at amanda.rohde@austindailyherald.com