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Sedgwick County Preparing To Replace County Counselor Yost

Deborah Shaar
/
KMUW

Sedgwick County is moving toward permanently replacing its county counselor.

Commissioners put Eric Yost on paid administrative leave nine days ago.

Commissioners hired a new interim county counselor Friday to handle the county's legal work during the transition.

Mike Pepoon will earn a salary comparable to the level he was at when he retired from the counselor’s office in 2015.

Yost makes about $141,000 a year. Deputy County Counselor Karen Powell, with a salary of about $123,000, was appointed acting counselor last week. Pepoon’s salary is set at about $147,000 a year.

Commissioner Michael O’Donnell said Pepoon’s temporary employment could last a few months.

"He doesn’t want this job long-term, but he knows the office and he knows most of the employees. I think he’s able to hit the ground running on an interim level," O'Donnell said after Friday's special commission meeting.

Yost was accused of violating attorney-client privilege in the past year and was excluded from recent commission executive sessions.

Commission Chairman David Dennis said the county will look for a permanent replacement for Yost.

"We have to start advertising here in the near future, but I doubt if the decision is made before the new commission is seated," Dennis said.

Pepoon is expected to help the county resolve personnel issues that were defined in a county-ordered review completed this week.

A report on the personnel review was presented to the commissioners during an executive session meeting on Wednesday. O’Donnell said about 50 people were interviewed during the investigation.

The attorney fees for the outside counsel who handled the personnel review have not yet been submitted.

“In the end," said Commissioner Richard Ranzau, "I think it’s probably going to be hundreds of thousands of dollars, but we’ll see."

The commissioners approved Pepoon’s salary package by a 3-2 vote, with Commissioners Ranzau and Jim Howell opposing.

Ranzau said he wanted the county to hire an attorney without any connection to current commissioners.

Howell said he was opposed because the contract came with some benefits and didn’t appear to be for a temporary position or on a month-to-month basis.

Follow Deborah Shaar on Twitter @deborahshaar. To contact KMUW News or to send in a news tip, reach us at news@kmuw.org.

Deborah joined the news team at KMUW in September 2014 as a news reporter. She spent more than a dozen years working in news at both public and commercial radio and television stations in Ohio, West Virginia and Detroit, Michigan. Before relocating to Wichita in 2013, Deborah taught news and broadcasting classes at Tarrant County College in the Dallas-Fort Worth, Texas area.