Kosciusko County Council heard again from two former township assessors seeking assistance from the county Thursday.
At a Feb. 12 council meeting, former Tippecanoe Township Assessor Dorothy Biesemeyer and Turkey Creek Township Assessor Patty Gammiere asked the council for jobs in the county assessor's office or minimal salaries with benefits until the end of their terms in 2011. The council took no action on the request Feb. 12.Township assessors' duties were eliminated by new state legislation effective July 1, 2008. After the elimination of their duties, Biesemeyer and Gammiere worked in the assessor's office because the state stipulated that counties retain elected township assessors until the end of 2008 to help with the transition.
County Assessor Laurie Renier terminated them at the end of the year and hired two other applicants to work in her office. Both Biesemeyer and Gammiere presented budgets to the council for 2009.
Since their duties had been eliminated, the budgets consisted mainly of their salaries. The council rejected their budgets during budget hearings in September.
Thursday, Biesemeyer and Gammiere repeated their request to the council. Since they're still elected officials, Biesemeyer and Gammiere said they are not eligible to collect unemployment.
Biesemeyer told the council that both she and Gammiere have worked as township assessors for the county for more than 20 years.
"We put our heart into our jobs and a lot of our lives," she said.
Gammiere told the council that since County Assessor Laurie Renier chose not to hire her and Biesemeyer, she has been having trouble paying for insurance.
"It has been a very stressful time," Gammiere said. "I am not here for a job. I'm here for some benefits, insurance that I believe I've earned."
Council President Harold Jones and councilmen Brad Tandy and Robert Sanders told the former assessors they sympathized with their plight, but that the council had no power to help them.
"We can't tell the assessor how to run her office," said Sanders. "We're the fiscal body for the county."
Jones said he and other council members had been reviewing the Biesemeyer's and Gammiere's request, but he did not want to vote on any action until the full council was in attendance. Thursday, councilmen Larry Teghtmeyer and John Kinsey were absent from the council meeting.
Gammiere said she felt the council did have the power to grant benefits for she and Biesemeyer until the end of their elected terms.
"I find it incredible that you guys can't do anything," she said.
