County to reinstate compensation board

LEE COUNTY – The Lee County Board of Supervisors has freshened things up going into the new year, including refreshing the county’s Compensation Board.
Compensation Boards were made optional under an Iowa law passed in 2024, however, language in the new law allows supervisors to stand up the commission with a simple majority vote. Without that, the board would be responsible for the duties of the compensation board.
Supervisor Denise Fraise said she didn’t see the need for the board.
“I think the compensation board is a waste of time, honestly,” Fraise said in voting against a motion from Supervisor Ginger Knisely to establish a Compensation Board.
“I’m going to be voting no on this. Department heads are capable of advocating for themselves. I don’t think any of them are going to give themselves a 40% raise,” she said.
Two years ago, the compensation board issued a recommendation based on the current Back the Blue law that gave former Sheriff Stacy Weber a raise of approximately that amount. The raise then triggered a 10% across the board increase for all county employees. That raise, Supervisor Chairman Garry Seyb said at the time, brought county employees up to a wage that they should have been at had they been receiving appropriate raises all along as the compensation board had been recommending.
Knisely said she would prefer an independent group handle the compensation responsibilities.
Supervisor Tom Schulz, who was elected as the new Chairman of the board for 2025, said either the board does the work itself or they stand up the Compensation board.
Seyb, who was re-elected to another four-year term in November, said he’s had other previous Compensation Board members, including the past chairman, ask if the county was going to put the Compensation Board back in place..
Seyb said the state needs to revisit the Back the Blue law because it still had potential for increased salaries for the sheriff’s department.
Supervisor Chuck Holmes said the county board has a history of ignoring recommendations from the Compensation Board and there are hard feelings there.

“It’s my understanding we don’t ever follow their recommendations anyway and a lot of them feel put down by that," Holmes said.
Lee County Recorder Nancy Booten asked that the compensation board be reinstated, saying the Supervisors could be subject to political pressures.
However, Lee County Attorney Ross Braden said he doesn’t think the board is necessary.
“The code section does provide that (supervisors) could take over those responsibilities. But I’m more than capable of managing my own budget and coming to you folks when I feel a raise is in order,” Braden said.
Fraise and Holmes both voted against Knisely’s motion that was seconded by Seyb. Schulz, Seyb, and Knisely all voted in favor of resetting the compensation board for a 3-2 vote. The county will now have to advertise to fill several positions on the board.
In other action, Schulz has was unanimously voted in as the Chairman for the 2025 year.  Fraise was unanimously chosen as the Vice Chair. Fraise was Lee County Auditor until she was sworn in as supervisor last week after defeating Ron Fedler and Joey Herren in the general election.
In a substantial change for the public, all regular meetings will now be held beginning at 4 p.m. on Mondays rather than the 10 a.m. meetings.
Fraise said she had heard from constituents asking for a meeting time change so the public had greater access to the board.
Holmes moved to change the meeting time to 4 p.m. after a brief discussion and the motion was approved unanimously. The board discussed moving the location around, but Schulz said that has been experimented with in the past and has not generated substantial public interest.
Schulz also said holding the meetings at night could end up costing the county more money as non-salaried staff would be paid for the time for required attendance.
It was the first regular board meeting of the newly composed board.