Scott Forbes, former Webster County emergency management coordinator, will continue to serve in that role part-time as the Emergency Mangement Commission searches for a new full-time coordinator.

Forbes’ contract rate is $75 an hour for five to 10 hours a week as needed, the Webster County Board of Supervisors heard Tuesday.

“With Scott’s resignation, the commission felt it necessary to retain some services,” said Matt Bemrich, mayor of Fort Dodge and chair of the Emergency Management Commission. “We have some open grants, as well as if there were a catastrophic event or an emergency where his skills were needed, if we need the resources he has built up over his time as coordinator, we would bring him back in on an hourly basis.”

A committee, which includes Fort Dodge and Webster County human resources personnel, has been formed to hire a new director, Bemrich said.

The commission is a standalone commission, separate from the county board, said Supervisor Merrill Leffler.

“This is only coming to this board because we hold his payroll and health care,” Leffler said.

The commission is funded through both the county, and the towns in the county, Bemrich said.

Bemrich said he and Webster County Sheriff Jim Stubbs, who is vice chair, can handle some of the day-to-day operations such as paying bills while a new coordinator is sought, “so we’re not paying $75 an hour just to sign off on a check or something.”

“I know there were questions on why $75 an hour. He is working another full-time job, he’s going to be doing this on his off hours from that job,” Bemrich said. “That’s what he offered; I didn’t believe it was unreasonable, and I don’t think the commission believed it was unreasonable.”

Forbes will report his hours to Bemrich or Stubbs, Bemrich said, and he doesn’t believe it will become a high dollar amount.

From January to December 2017, Forbes had a yearly wage of $52,100.86, according to county published documentation.

Forbes resigned Oct. 26 to take a job in the private sector.

He became the Webster County emergency management coordinator on May 4, 2015. Prior to that, he held the same post in Hamilton County for six months. He was a Fort Dodge firefighter from 1999 to 2012.