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Monday, April 29, 2019

Anoka County - What exactly is Sivarajah up to, and should it be quelled? And what of her facilitators on the Board? What's up? A nearly pulled off money grab by one tasked to meet a fiduciary duty owed the public?

Others know more than I do about comings and goings in the county, and pay levels; which can be reasonable or excessive under circumstances. Hence when one in such a position takes time to write an LTE it is incumbent on us, as voters, to read and understand.

In that spirit, hometownsource.com has a good one:

Letter: Anoka County needs full-time administrator -
Apr 28, 2019 0

To the editor:

Shortly after Jerry Soma was appointed county administrator, rumors about his absence from the office began. It was known that the Somas purchased property in Arizona where they winter. They also sold their home in Anoka County and purchased one in Pine County, [...]

Soma’s $149,000 salary is in addition to his pension, providing over $250,000 annually in total Anoka County income. From Jan. 1, 2018, through early April 2019, Soma used 656 hours of flexible time off.

Commissioner Rhonda Sivarajah has been the board chair during this period; under her direction, the board allowed the administrator’s position to effectively become part time.

[...]Sivarajah wants to trade her $70,000 per year commissioner job for the county administrator job at a salary of about $174,000. Like Soma, Sivarajah sold her home in Anoka County after purchasing a $500,000 cabin in Washington County. In order to claim residency, the Sivarajahs transferred to themselves a $200,000 rental property owned by their limited liability company and have claimed this property as their homestead.

Sivarajah has previously worked for the county, and would acquire benefits as county administrator that would take into account this prior county employment.

[...] The salary the county is offering would attract a good candidate who would be willing to work full time on the county’s needs rather than “part time” for full-time pay as with Mr. Soma, a pattern Commissioner Sivarajah apparently desires to continue for her own benefit.

Marsha Van Denburgh

[italics added] The excerpt is substantial and the story looks shabby.

Yet - Follow that link, read the entire thing. It is short. It is concise. It is massively troubling.

So skids greased for Rhonda to get a big cashflow boost, almost done without any actual scrutiny, lots of money, not lots of care, no how, for how much is sought for how much actual ongoing work?

And that surely seems why the hiring process is being constrained to those already on the payroll (getting the shot to be bigger, bigger, bigger player(s) on the payroll - friends help friends). Pubic money is not Monopoly money; it's real.

The County Board should get real too.

___________UPDATE___________
The letter author has previously run for Board Seat District 1, hence, it seems the incumbent holding that seat might want to exercise due fiduciary care in all of this.

You'd think so, wouldn't you. And that search committee, what do you suppose -- if Jim Kordiak, as a past board member, (i.e., fully schooled on county affairs from long and dedicated service),were to seek an interview, would he get one, and would it be pro forma or real? The IRRRB recently had its fan load up about questionable personnel practices where a person strangely hired resigned, so what should happen here?

_________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Links: A related earlier Crabgrass post noted other opining. Strib. Earliest crabgrass notice and posting was triggered by a prior LTE concern for this stuff.

A saga of greed and impropriety? Or just the County Board being well motivated fiduciaries as we and the law expect?

____________FURTHER UPDATE_____________
Opening words about LTEs sometimes having informative value - another one.

Does she REALLY still reside in Anoka County, or should she resign the board seat and correct voter rolls if she in fact is residing in Washington County?

Being Administrator has no residency requirement. Board service does. Or should. You have to reside in the district you represent. So is it more than money being chased? You tell me. All I know is what I read from the papers. I can detect the odor of stale fish. All of this seems ripe for an AGO. Or even an AG inquiry. When Ramsey's mayor left town, she resigned. It seems clear, and there was a judge a while back who had residency requirement problems, staying on the Hennepin County bench while moving out of county, papering up something that was factually false. It got Strib reporting. Duties regarding that stuff is not a mystery.

_________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Schulte and Robyn West seem the most aggressive other board members in promoting Rhonda from a residency requirement to where there is none. What did they know and when did they know it?

Did the prior administrator, Soma, resign to create a vacancy for Sivarajah knowing a residency situation might exist? What did he know and when did he know it?

It simply looks awful, and all the perps should stop. Straighten up and fly right, that is the cliche, isn't it? Even an appearance of impropriety should be avoided to maintain trust in governing officials and government.

_________FURTHER UPDATE___________
Kasarov was the judge with the residency juggling. It resulted in a published per ccurium Minnesota Supreme Court opinion.