Comments follow recent employee review

By Chad Koenen

Publisher

An employee review for Henning Police Chief Mike Helle dominated much of the discussion throughout last week’s regularly scheduled Henning City Council meeting. The employee evaluation, which was kept open to the public at Helle’s request, included some city council members and the mayor to critique Helle not spending 100 percent of his time working for the police department as he has spent time helping other departments like the utility staff over the past years when those departments were short staffed. 

During its regularly scheduled meeting last Monday night, four people spoke in favor of the job that was being completed by Helle with several of the people offering sharp criticism to the city council members following the employee review.

One business leader spoke shared that when several staff members quit in 2022, Helle stepped up and kept the city running by volunteering to work on the utility side, as well as maintain his role as police chief. He has continued to help on the utility side to share his knowledge of the community, all-while continuing to serve the town as the police and fire chief. He said pushing the buttons of an employee who is willing to step up and help where needed will simply make him want to leave the city, as opposed to wanting to stay and working in Henning. 

Another business leader also spoke in favor of Helle and said if he has a question or needs any information he contacts the police chief. He said it doesn’t matter if Helle is wearing his uniform or not, and doubted that crime went up just because he wasn’t wearing his police uniform as much as he has in the past.

The council also heard from another resident and a former city council member who spoke highly of the work being completed by the longtime police chief.

Some of the sharpest rebuke came from Sara Booker who offered a rebuttal to many of the criticisms offered by the city council concerning wages, PERA and insurance during Helle’s employment review. 

Booker said the League of Minnesota Cities states the job classification for work comp goes towards the premium rate, not whether the employee is covered for the specific job they are completing. The premium the city pays for work comp goes toward the higher rate, even if a person performs several tasks in the city. As a result, Booker contended Helle would be covered under the city’s insurance policy even if he completes work for the city utility department, or the police department. 

She also said only one person has all of the certification and qualifications to complete all of the work for the utility department and questioned the council as to whether decisions were being made prior to the city council meetings.

As far as PERA, Booker said a person can work fewer than 100 percent of their hours for the police department and collect PERA. She said the person would just need to track their hours and report it differently for PERA if they complete work for multiple facets of the City of Henning. 

She implored the city council to work together and not repeat past mistakes that could drive quality employees to leave the city. Booker read from the minutes of several city council meetings dating back to 2022 when a number of city staff members quit in mass, including current city council member Jessica Strege. In her address to the council Booker said several city employees stated at the time they were leaving, not necessarily due to better pay, but due to what they termed as mismanagement and negative working conditions. 

“I would also like you to know that history is repeating itself,” she said. 

  At the end of the her address to the council, Booker asked that the city council move forward for the betterment of the citizens of the community. 

“I would just ask that the council decide to move forward in its legal authority as prescribed and try to be productive in the best interest of the community,” she said. 

During his monthly report to the council, Helle said he has been talking to the Otter Tail County Sheriff’s Office to figure out a solution for covering the City of Henning when he is off duty. Due to the nature of the job, Helle said it is hard for him to have a set schedule as crime and calls can come in at any time. 

City councilman Scott Hart went ever further and asked the council how Helle should keep track of his time if someone, for example, shows up on his doorstep to report a domestic assault. He asked if Helle should write that time down and keep track of it to report to the city, or should he just respond to the call as he has in the past, which could then lead to him deviating from his set schedule. 

“My initial thought is we go back to whatever it was before you started pitching in on the utility side. However you handled it back then,” said Henning Mayor Jesse Hermanson. “I feel like we are getting stuck in this all or nothing thing a little bit. You are reluctant to give us a schedule because you deviate from it a lot because of the nature of your job. I understand that. I guess rather than getting nothing and (having) no idea of what you are doing or your basic hours it is better than nothing.”

Helle said he could provide a general idea of when he would be on duty to the city hall, but asked what happens if he isn’t accessible during that time or not in the city and whether he would be disciplined for not following the general scheduled hours.

City attorney Thomas Winters interjected and said the discussion concerning issues with the schedules or with city personnel should be handled by the personnel committee,  as opposed to a city council meeting. 

The city council said it would refer the questions raised during the city council meeting to the personnel committee.