(Spirit Lake)– The Dickinson County Board of Supervisors today (Tues.) approved the hiring of a full-time assistant in the County Attorney’s Office. Steve Goodlow, the county’s head prosecutor, told the supervisors the process of finding a quality candidate was exhausting…
“When I came on board we had three attorneys working in the office. Mid November we went to one…me, and the search was on and has been on every since. After what we, the office and the staff had gone through we made the decision that there are certain qualifications that the new assistant county attorney would need to have in order for us to move forward, so the search was on. We probably talked, actually talked to maybe 15 different candidates. A couple just didn’t want to move, that would have been qualified. Many we could not afford them. Some, since I was only just trying to find one person to help me instead of having three attorneys, I didn’t feel like I had the time to mentor and teach, which is not something I’m opposed to doing, but we just don’t really have the time with what we’re doing right now to do that.”
Goodlow says the County’s Compensation Board was reconvened last week to reconsider wages for the office. He requested the supervisors rescind a motion previously made and to go with the revised increases recommended by the Compensation Board. The supervisors voted unanimously to approve the request. Goodlow then introduced the board to a candidate for the assistant position, Kevin Maughan, who’s from Monroe county in southern Iowa. He addressed the supervisors via Zoom…
“I’ve been practicing for almost 35 years and been magistrate for almost 26 years. Kind of looking forward to some new opportunities, a change in scenery, and hopefully this can all end up being a good relationship.”
The supervisors voted unanimously to hire Maughan as a full time assistant county attorney at an annual salary of $119,830.His first day on the job in Dickinson county will be May 31st.
