RAPID CITY, SD — Yesterday, Ron Weifenbach, a Pennington County Commissioner posted an image to his public Facebook. The image was of a spreadsheet showing the payroll of every staff member at the library. This included full names of all employees, hourly and yearly wages, and positions at the library.
The purposes of this are somewhat unclear, potentially implying that the library is paying its employees “too much” or in some way mismanaging funds, however as Weifenbach does not make his point overt, this cannot be stated for certain. The payroll seems fairly average, with most associates earning a median of $24.49/hr and the library director earning a low six-figure salary ($148,786.30/yr), which all seem around the average pay for such positions.
A firestorm erupted following the post, both carried by members of the public, and the Commissioner himself. In the comments of the post Weifenbach stated “The library board has now implemented a full blown misinformation campaign in order to get more tax payer dollars from non city residents,” following “This has to be one of the most uninformed mis information [sic] campaigns I have seen. I am not sure but it seems like they do not want to try negotiate [sic] this so that being said [sic]”. However upon questioning from Library Board Chair Emily Tupa it remained unclear what misinformation was being spread on the issue.
Weifenbach throughout following posts refers to outreach to the public by the library, calling on patrons to contact the Pennington County Commissioners in order to show support for the Library a “smear campaign” as well as referring to them as “attacks” from the library. After several hours of exchange, Tupa wished to emphasize that she did not intend to instigate a fight, posting “This is not cruelty or a personal vendetta — this is how democracy works”.
Those wishing to approach County Commissioners on this issue may contact them here, and sign a petition attempting to restore lost funding here.
Ron Weifenbach was unable to be contacted for clarification at the time of writing.
