In mid-2019, the Carroll County Supervisors opened up the application process after receiving notification that long-time IT Director, Carl Wilburn, was planning to retire at the end of 2020 or onset of 2021 at the latest. During that process, a current employee and part-time IT technician, Louie Grote, applied for the position. When the interview committee selected a handful of candidates to continue through the process, the list did not include Grote. He believed the reasoning behind his exclusion was a form of age discrimination and filed a complaint with the Iowa Civil Rights Commission. The commission called for the two parties to enter into a mediation process, the outcome of which was an agreement reached that provided Grote with a monetary settlement of $95,000. Carroll County Supervisor Chair, Gene Meiners, says there is another part of this settlement agreement that needs to be stressed.
Meiners says it was third-party entities that moved the issue to a settlement.
Meiners says the key take away is that the county is not considered at-fault for this issue.
