By By NORMA LERNER / Niles Daily Star
CASSOPOLIS -- Cass County's chief assistant prosecutor received a pay increase by a unanimous vote of the Cass County Board of Commissioners Thursday night.
The raise for Jason Ronning, chief assistant prosecutor hired in January, was requested last month by Prosecutor Victor Fitz, who asked that the board increase Ronning's salary from $47,325 to $55,606 because of the important responsibilities of the position and that the higher salary would be more appropriate.
That request was tabled and went to a specially appointed committee to review the increase for board Chairman Robert Wagel of Dowagiac.
Ronning's new salary will be $52,057.
According to the County of Cass Wage and Salary Administration Policy, new hires start at the lowest rate of the set pay grade, which was 12 for Ronning.
In unusual circumstances, an elected official may request that the Board of Commissioners set a pay rate above the minimum rate, according to Commissioner David Taylor, D-Edwardsburg, who served on the special committee along with Commissioners James Sayer, R-Dowagiac, and Minnie Warren, D-Pokagon Township.
Taylor said it was the committee's recommendation that Ronning's pay grade be increased from Step One to Step Five at pay-grade 12. The increase is effective immediately and is not retroactive, Taylor said.
County Administrator Terry Proctor also reported that carpeting has been installed in the remodeled Board of Commissioners' meeting room at the 1899 courthouse at 120 Broadway Street. Other furniture is expected soon, and it is hoped that the May meeting can be held in the new room, Proctor said. The board has been meeting at the Edward Lowe Center for the Cass County Council on Aging on Decatur Road while the remodeling has been taking place.
It was also announced that a roast will be held for Commissioner Johnie Rodebush of Niles on April 17 at the Mathew's Conference Center at Southwestern Michigan College in Dowagiac. Cost of the program is $20 per person from 6 to 9 p.m.