Members of the blue ribbon task force discuss their final recommendation in favor of hiring a county manager in this early July file photo.
A task force charged with taking a look at ways to make county government run more efficiently met on Wednesday to finalize its recommendation of hiring a county manager at the beginning of next year.
The recommendation will be presented to the Board of Lewis County Commissioners next week.
The task force has been meeting since April to determine the pros and cons of pursuing a home rule charter, or hiring a manager.
In their formal recommendation, the task force will ask the commissioners to hire a manager at the beginning of next year.
“Starting out I didn’t think we would arrive at this conclusion in the beginning,” task force member Anil Puri said.
The task force was appointed by the commissioners after informal meetings were held by Lewis County residents earlier this year. The group discussed the possibility of pursuing a home rule charter, a process that could result in the reformation of county government to expand the commission into a council with more elected leaders who would have the guidance of a professional county manager.
The task force decided against changing the form of government to a charter, but has heard strong support from elected county officials for hiring a manager who would oversee department leaders and day-to-day operations in the commissioners’ office.
The task force spent time editing the executive summary, a job description and an implementation plan Wednesday.
The job description is similar to the one used to hire former chief of staff Larry Keeton, who worked in his role until 2007.
Under the edited job description, all appointed department heads who operate under the commissioners would report to the manager. The manager would recommend long-term plans of capital improvement with accompanying financial plans and a balanced county budget every year.
Essential functions would include developing and implementing a plan for economic development under the guidance of the commissioners, directing and coordinating the overall functions of county government under the board’s policies, procedures, goals and objectives, and the person would also be given the authority to act as a public information officer for the commissioners.
The task force chose not to recommend a salary for the new position, leaving that decision up to the commissioners, although they will include clarification stating the salary range should be similar to comparable counties.
During their research, task force chairman Larry McGee said there was no clear relationship between how much county commissioners make and how much a county manager would earn a year.
“What you see, it’s a scattershot,” he said of the information collected on pay.
McGee did say that 40 to 50 percent of managers are paid more than the commissioners they serve.
The task force will not recommend decreasing the commissioners’ salaries, which are around $82,000 each for the three-member board, not including benefits.
“The empirical data in comparison with other counties does not provide any evidence to decrease their salaries,” task force member Lee Grose said, with unanimous support from other members.
Tony Briggs, another task force member, recommended that department heads should be able to look through the job description to see what the person would ultimately be responsible for.
During a meeting with department heads last month, several stated that a county manager would only be successful if the person has a clear, defined role, something they stressed as the utmost of importance.
The task force will likely recommend the use of a search firm like the county did when hiring the current fair manager.
They also discussed the impacts hiring a county manager may have on staff morale and those who have not received pay increases.
“What I’m sensing is there is great sensitivity to that point within the staff and the (Board of County Commissioners),” McGee said.
Lewis County has for the last several years relied on reserves to balance its budget, last year using $1.9 million. Commissioners are seeking to balance budgets without reserves in 2018, last year announcing the county would cease its $375,000 in annual funding to area senior centers. Additional cuts are under consideration.
The task force was formed after a year in which former commissioner Bill Schulte was hit with his second hostile work environment complaint from a commissioners’ office staffer amid discord in the office. Additionally, there has been turmoil at the 911 Communications Center, which was placed under the umbrella of a new department after reports of understaffing and complaints from area police and fire chiefs.
