The Cass County Board of Supervisors on Wednesday discussed the process of finding a new County Attorney at the end of their meeting. Cass County Auditor Dale Sunderman informed the board that there are two options to fill the vacancy.

If the board decides to appoint a replacement to fill out the term until the next election, they won’t be able to officially appoint that person until the office is vacated January 1, 2018. Current County Attorney Dave Wiederstein submitted his resignation effective on that date in response to the county changing the position to full-time. The board plans to get an official signed resignation from Wiederstein to approve at their meeting next Thursday.

If appointment is the route the board takes, then the public would have a 14-day window after appointment to submit a petition for a special election to fill the position.

The other issue that will need to be dealt with if they do appoint a replacement will be to change their status to full-time once they begin. When the decision was made to change the position to full-time the effective date was January 1, 2019 because that would line up with the next election cycle.  Auditor Sunderman said he believes an effective date would have to be agreed on with the new Attorney and officially changed by the board.

Board Chair Gaylord Schelling said they do intend to take up decision on appointment or special election at their next meeting on August 31st.