Purcell disputes salary increases of three Cape Girardeau County employees

A Cape Girardeau County commissioner is claiming three county employees received salary increases without public discussion. However, a fellow commissioner said the increases were approved during the budgetary process that was open to the public.

District 2 Commissioner Jay Purcell said Thursday that after reviewing salaries more closely he believes three county employees received raises well above what most employees received, as much as 15 percent compared to about 3 percent.

He said those salary increases -- for emergency operations director Richard Knaup Jr., public works director Don McQuay and prosecuting attorney office manager and supervising secretary Kristi McGowen -- were not discussed or debated at the commission level.

"While I have been advocating to cut expenses so that we can create a smaller more efficient county government, my fellow commissioners are voting themselves and their friends and cronies raises," Purcell said.

District 1 Commissioner Paul Koeper said the salary increases were recommended during a salary committee meeting Sept. 28.

The committee, which is made up of county elected officials apart from the commission, studied the issue for a year and determined that several employees, including Knaup, McQuay and McGowen, were underpaid, he said. The recommendations were approved by the commission earlier this month.

Koeper said the salary adjustments were open to discussion during the budget meetings and that the public had the right to ask questions at that time.

"I studied [the budget] for two months, always asking questions of the department heads," Koeper said. "I assume all commissioners ask appropriate questions of the department heads."

Furthermore, Koeper said he disagrees with Purcell's comment regarding salary increases based on friendships.

"Yes, I do have friends and understand friendship and work ethics," Koeper said. "I also understand compensation for the work and duties you are expected to perform. In the private sector, normally if an employee's duties are increased, or to be competitive in the open market, sometimes you have to adjust wages accordingly."

Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle said that without the increases in pay recommended by the salary committee, some of those workers could have left to work for another higher-paying county or business. Swingle said Purcell should have studied the raises more closely.

bblackwell@semissourian.com

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