Henderson County Fiscal Court Clerk Kurt Wiesen will take on the new role of deputy judge-executive on July 1.
Judge-Executive Brad Schneider recently appointed Wiesen to the new role through an executive order, and the Fiscal Court approved a resolution June 25 setting Wiesen’s salary at $65,000 per year.
This role allows Wiesen to fill in for Schneider for any extended periods the judge-executive may need to be away from office.
Wiesen will also take on the added responsibility of procurement—properly putting out bids for jobs and equipment and ensuring that advertisements of goods or services is handled correctly, he said.
Both Wiesen and Schneider said a more focused approach in procurement will lead to cost savings. Wiesen said he’s also going to establish better relationships with vendors so that when the county does advertise for a need, there are credentialed businesses out there seeing it.
Wiesen’s role relating to Fiscal Court meetings, including putting out agendas, writing minutes and assisting during the meeting, will be handed over to Human Resources Director Angela Comer. Comer will remain HR director, but will take on the additional responsibilities specific to fiscal court meetings. She will get a $4,000 bump in pay, bringing her yearly salary to $63,000, she said.
In other Fiscal Court news, Coroner Bruce Farmer alerted the court that a retiring medical examiner in the Madisonville office could have some negative effects locally.
He said if no replacement is found for the Madisonville medical examiner, the coroner’s office would need to transport bodies to the Louisville medical examiner’s office and two deputies would make the trip—instead of one that goes to Madisonville—because there is no help to unload bodies at the Louisville office.
That would decrease the help locally and “it’s going to put a bind on us for now,” Farmer said.