By Sara StrongThe Luverne City Council Monday night went into executive session to give City Administrator Greg LaFond high performance marks for his annual review.With that, LaFond received a 3.5 percent raise and a step increase, making his annual earnings $83,345.60. The raise is retroactive to March 2. He was hired at $74,000 last September.The Council also decided to make a $1,850 annual payment to LaFond’s life insurance policy.Council members cited LaFond working many weekends and early and late hours as reasons for the raise.LaFond said of the performance review, "There are a lot of things going on in the city besides this law enforcement controversy. I think this council and city staff share a similar vision."Councilman David Hauge made the motion, and Councilman Pat Baustian seconded it.Hauge said, "He is always thorough in his research and timely in whatever we ask of him."LaFond and his personality have been blamed for the controversy over shared contracts between the city and county.He’s taken heat from the public in local coffee shop talks, in visits to his office and in letters to the editor in the Rock County Star Herald.LaFond said he is open to criticism and welcomes people questioning his work.He said he has simply done his job since coming to the city in the way he’s researched costs to city residents. "This effort was precipitated by the nearly $400,000 decrease in Local Government Aids received from the state of Minnesota," LaFond said in an Aug. 17 letter to the mayor and council.He said he stepped on some local political toes by asking questions and forming opinions early on.For example, he wrote that the county administrator and the former city administrator amended the property assessment agreement without approval of the governing bodies.LaFond also expressed concerns about special committee meetings not following the state’s open meeting law.Most of the problems with his style came about after the city wanted to reduce its funding of dispatch and law enforcement services."We questioned whether it was equitable to require city taxpayers to finance 60 percent of the operating expenses associated with the Sheriff’s Department and the dispatch center," LaFond wrote in the letter."We note that by state law, the Sheriff must provide 911 service and basic law enforcement services to all residents of the county regardless of where one lives."What those basic services would be, and that LaFond calculates county tax collections in city contributions to the budget is still a point of contention.LaFond, and the City Council, questioned whether the city should be charged for jail inmate room, board and medical costs because those are county obligations as well.The county has said LaFond is difficult to work with because he sends flurries of numbers and proposals, but LaFond said he was open to changing approaches. LaFond said in his letter, "All of the options were summarily rejected including an option that proposed binding arbitration by a panel of five experts."Hauge said, "We’re making some controversial decisions and he’s the point man. There’s plenty of blame to go around and he’s high profile so he gets it."