Linn County auditor Miller losing three of six GIS employees

Linn County Auditor Joel Miller had hoped for a compromise score of 4-2 with the Linn County supervisors, but the score will be 3-3 instead, the supervisors have concluded.

It might get to 3.5 or 3.75 to 3 in favor of Miller.

In their latest go-round, the auditor and five supervisors have been battling over where the best place is for six Auditor's Office employees who work with Geographic Information Systems, or GIS, as part of their duties.

Last month, the supervisors moved to snatch all six employees from Miller and move them under their purview, but the supervisors backed off after some of the six employees made it clear that most of what they do is work with customers on real estate transactions, not GIS.

John Harris, the board's chairman, then promised to work with Miller to come to a compromise, but Miller's wish had been to keep four of the six employees. Now, the supervisors have decided to leave him with just three.

Supervisors Linda Langston and Lu Barron on Wednesday said that the county's conservation, engineering and sheriff's departments have needs for GIS services, and so the new GIS office under the Information Technology Department needs three employees, not just two, to handle the work.

Miller said the supervisor's decision will force him to immediately hire a temporary employee to ensure that his office can complete work on real estate transactions in a timely way.

"We got to stay ahead of it, or it's pretty nasty on us," Miller said on Wednesday.

Langston and Barron said they want to see what the demand on Miller's office is in the months ahead, and both envisioned that they might support providing Miller's office with a half-time or 30-hour-a-week employee if his office shows that it needs the help.

Miller doubted that would happen.

"I contend it wasn't broke, and there was not a reason to do this," Miller said.

The move of three GIS positions from Miller's office requires the supervisors to hold a public hearing at their Aug. 14 meeting because the move involves a shift of more than 10 percent of Miller's office budget.

Dawn Jindrich, the county's budget director, estimated that Miller's budget would be reduced by about $332,000 a year with the move of three positions.

Up until March of this year, Miller managed about 50 employees. The supervisors then moved about 30 of those in facilities maintenance from Miller's purview to theirs and put them under the direction of Garth Fagerbakke, who lost to Miller by 25 percentage points in the November 2012 election for auditor.

Miller now is supporting a petition drive to convene a Charter Commission to look at changing the form of the county's government. One option would feature a professional county manager and would turn the supervisors' jobs to part-time ones, a change which Cedar Rapids voters approved overwhelming for Cedar Rapids city government in 2005.

Miller on Wednesday said the supervisors' move on his office's GIS employees is punishment for his support of the petition drive.