Baldridge has served as first assistant Webster County attorney since November 2014, and now replaces Jennifer Benson whose last day with the county was Jan. 14.

Kolacia has turned down the position, Supervisor Mark Campbell said.

“After a very long process here, in which we were attempting to do what we thought was the right thing and everything just went south, I’m going to recommend we go back to our initial proposal,” said Supervisor Bob Thode Tuesday, making the motion to appoint Baldridge.

Thode and supervisors Keith Dencklau and Mark Campbell approved the motion unanimously, with Nick Carlson and Merrill Leffler absent.

Kolacia spoke to The Messenger by phone after the meeting.

“After speaking to family and friends, and members of law enforcement in my community, I declined the appointment for Webster County attorney,” he said. “I look forward to continuing to be the Boone County attorney.”

Baldridge is eager to continue working with the attorneys and staff in the Webster County office.

“Naturally I appreciate the appointment from the members of the Board of Supervisors that were present today at the meeting. I look forward to working closely with them,” Baldridge said. “I look forward to working with the law enforcement agencies throughout Webster County, and throughout the state of Iowa.

“I appreciate the support of the staff in our office through this process,” he added. “I’m really proud of the work we’re doing there.”

At last week’s board meeting the supervisors voted 4-1 to offer the job to Kolacia, with Leffler voting no.

Leffler said at that meeting he’d gotten a lot of feedback from the legal community that was not in favor of Kolacia’s appointment, and that he’d like to preserve the status quo until the election in November.

“I would prefer to find an option to just let things stay the same and let the public vote on this in November since we’re kind of in this mess,” Leffler said. “I also have to weigh what the community has asked me to do, not just go strictly by this committee.”

A subcommittee was formed, interviewed the five applicants, and gave its recommendation. In closed sessions on Jan. 30, the supervisors interviewed Kolacia, Baldridge and attorney Charles Kenville in person before voting to offer the appointment to Kolacia on Feb. 6.

“I appreciate the process they went through. I know it was a lot of work for them,” Baldridge said. “At the end of the day, I understand they have a job to do and they have to look out for what they believe to be the best interests of the county. I’m glad they made the decision they did.”

Including Baldridge, there are now four attorneys in the county attorney’s office. Baldridge said he wasn’t sure if a fifth attorney would be hired soon.

“I’m not sure if that’s something we’ll do right away or if we’ll wait to see how the rest of the year goes. It’s something I’ll have to communicate with the board about,” he said.

At the Jan. 30 meeting, supervisors met in closed session for about 45 minutes. For the bulk of that time, they were joined by Kolacia and Webster County Human Resources Director Ted Vaughn.

Afterwards, the supervisors invited Baldridge into a closed session which lasted about 15 minutes. Supervisors then spoke with attorney Kenville, of Webster City, for about 20 minutes. Kenville declined to close the session while speaking with supervisors.

Following the interviews, the supervisors discussed the possibility of reconvening the Webster County Compensation Board before setting the date of Feb. 6 for a potential vote on an appointment. The Compensation Board sets the upper limit for salaries for county elected officials for the year.

The Compensation Board did not meet in that week.

On Feb. 6 the supervisors offered Kolacia the job at the current salary, which will be $106,651 in the 2018-2019 fiscal year.

As first assistant, Baldridge’s salary was 85 percent of the county attorney’s.

Baldridge has worked in the office since August 2013. Before that he worked in private practice in Fort Dodge after receiving his law degree from Creighton University in Omaha, Nebraska, and passing the bar exam in September 2012.