LETTER TO THE EDITOR, Carolyn Huddleston, Seward County

At the beginning of the year Brock Theiner left his job as the Director of the Landfill and became the Assistant Administrator. The budget for Administration had been written to include him. Personnel costs were budgeted as $270,000. But when the Commission was making cuts in February, they removed funding for the Assistant Administrator position. The amount budgeted for personnel in Admin. dropped to $165,440, and it was my understanding that Theiner was going to return to work at the Landfill.

That didn’t happen.

Theiner has continued as the Assistant Administrator. However, the Landfill has been picking up 100 percent of the cost of his salary and benefits since March. I have documentation of all this as well as what is known about Theiner’s duties. He oversees 10 departments. Some of his work has been directly related to Landfill operations, but the vast majority of his time went to other matters.

A number of statutes and Kansas Attorney General opinions pertain to the use of Landfill funds. See the boxes.

In an open meeting June 1, Commissioner Todd Stanton brought up the issue of funding for the Assistant Administrator position, and questioned whether it was lawful for Theiner’s pay to be drawn from Landfill funds. He shared relevant statutes, and tried to get the Commission to look into this, but not a single one of the other commissioners would even second his motion to ask their attorney for an opinion.

On June 1, Commissioners Vazquez and Louderback claimed they needed time to process all this. Well, they’ve had over a month. Yet no one has put the subject back on the agenda for further consideration, so they are apparently fine with what is going on. June 1, again on June 15, and most recently, July 6, every commissioner except for Stanton approved the payroll, and Theiner’s pay has continued to come from the Landfill.

The total amount the Landfill has put out for Theiner’s pay and benefits since Jan. 1, up to and including the payroll of July 6, 2026, is $66,715. A number of us believe that this is a misuse of public funds, and we are waiting to see if the Seward County Attorney concurs. Like Earl Watt wrote in a recent editorial, the commissioners shouldn’t be above the law. If laws are being violated, they should get charged. Again, assuming the County Attorney agrees there is a problem, what happens here will carry a message that is very important across Kansas. Can Commissioners do whatever they want with impunity? Friends, I hope not.