Consultant Seeks Applicants for Lewis County Manager Position

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Recruiting company Prothman has posted a job description and application this week for Lewis County manager, a position advocated for by both the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce and a task force appointed by the Board of Lewis County Commissioners. 

“I’m hoping it goes far and wide so folks can see there’s some good opportunities in beautiful Lewis County,” Lewis County Commission Chairwoman Edna Fund told The Chronicle.

According to the job description, posted on prothman.com, the salary offered is $105,000 to $140,000, plus benefits. Applications are being accepted until April 15.

“This is a rare opportunity for a talented local government manager to utilize their experience and leadership to bring professional county management to Lewis County, providing high quality and effective services to its citizens,” according to the job description. 

Prothman’s posting describes Lewis County’s geography, history, cultural activities and entertainment, projects such as the restoration of the Historic Fox Theatre and recreation opportunities. 

The job description lists the manager’s duties as including supervision of staff, organization and planning, and advising the county commission. 

The manager would develop and monitor the county’s annual budget, provide recommendations to the commission on policy and administrative issues, act as a public information officer for the commission, evaluate performance of department heads, and conduct research. 

Commissioner Gary Stamper said the commission had input on the posting through the county’s human resources department. 

“I think we’re looking for someone to for sure oversee the departments … and that includes handling some of the detailed meetings that we have,” Stamper said. “I believe I sit on 14 other committees. It’s going to give me an opportunity to work on some of the issues.”

Candidates are expected to have a bachelor’s degree in business administration, public administration or a related field and seven years of experience overseeing county operations. Candidates with master’s degrees are preferred. 

“This is not a training position,” Fund said. “This is somebody that needs to hit the ground running.”

In addition to all that, the candidate must be a good fit in Lewis County, Stamper said. 



“It’s going to be a good process. It’s going to be very open,” he said. 

The county authorized an expenditure of about $20,000 to hire Prothman, but Fund estimated the search will come out under budget. 

“I hated spending the money, honestly,  but you know we want quality candidates and quality candidates are usually contacted by Prothman,” she said. “They certainly helped us a lot when we hired the fair manager.”

Meanwhile, One Lewis County, a political action committee formed by the Centralia-Chehalis Chamber of Commerce, has collected enough signatures to put a home rule charter process and freeholder elections on the November ballot. 

If voters approve a ballot measure to begin the process of writing a constitution to reorganize county government, fifteen freeholders will be elected to draft that document. 

One Lewis County has advocated for the creation of a five-member board rather than a three-member commission and codifying the position of county manager so it can’t be removed from the county’s budget. 

Amid public scrutiny, the Board of County Commissioners last year appointed a panel of county residents to study Lewis County’s government organization.

The group’s official recommendation, handed over by the “Blue Ribbon Task Force” in July 2017 was to hire a manager by the first of this year for $100,000 to $125,000 in base pay plus benefits. 

“We do clearly recommend that Lewis County appoint a professional county executive who is responsible for all appointed department heads that serve directly under you,” task force chairman Larry McGee said at the time. “We recommend you find the money in the current budget, although we know that’s not easy.” 

However a few months later as they began drafting the 2018 budget, the Board of Commissioners said hiring a manager would be difficult due to budget constraints. Both Commissioners Gary Stamper and Bobby Jackson said they didn’t think the move was financially feasible.

They also suggested reorganizing current staff to place someone in a similar position to a county manager; however, in January, the commission announced they would begin the process of hiring a manager.