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.
On Dec. 28, 2020, the Carroll County Board of Supervisors opened their last meeting of the year with a closed session to discuss potential pending litigation per Iowa Code 21.5(1)(c). There was discussion following that and a vote on entering into a settlement agreement with more details to come once the issue was formally resolved. Last Friday, the party involved reached out to Carroll Broadcasting. Louie Grote, who worked in a part-time capacity for the county for around 20 years as an IT technician and also as Director of Veterans Affairs, says an issue arose after a May 2019 announcement that IT Director, Carl Wilburn, was planning to retire within the next year or so. The supervisors opened the application process to fill that role upon his retirement and Grote was one of the applicants.