It appears that the search will soon be on for a new Sunflower County Economic Development Director.
In a budget work session held last week, the Sunflower County Board of Supervisors mentioned that they would be hiring a full-time county administrator who would take on the administrative responsibilities currently being performed by Chancery Clerk Gloria McIntosh, plus other unspecified duties.
Then in a subsequent budget session on Monday, the county lawmakers made a formal announcement that current Economic Development Director Fred Washington will be taking on the position of full-time county administrator and thereby leaving the economic development position vacant for the time being.
Before closing out of Monday’s session, President Riley Rice said, "We decided to hire Mr. Fred Washington as county administrator for a salary of $90,000 beginning October 1, 2020. All of his duties are the ones that are state mandated."
Rice said that it was the decision of the board not to advertise the position. "Because the state also said that we have the authority to hire him without advertising," said Rice. Attorney Johnny McWilliams verified that the board is not legally required to advertise any of their open positions.
Rice said no decision has been made, as of yet, on who will fill the economic development position but stated that it would be on the recommendation of the economic development board.
During the budget discussion on Monday, prior to Rice’s statement, it was mentioned that the new county administrator was going to need a vehicle. McIntosh stated that she had added a $40,000 budget line item to purchase the vehicle.
However, District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald suggested that since the county leaders had purchased the vehicle Washington is currently using as the economic development director, why not just transfer that unit to the county administrator's position and add a budget item to economic development so the new person can choose the type of vehicle that they want to use.
The other leaders were in agreement with that, but when this reporter asked if that meant that Washington was going to be the new county administrator, District 3 Supervisor Ben Gaston said, “I wouldn't print that because we really haven't talked about the county administrator, other than we need one.”
Gaston then added, “But, if we’re going to hire a county administrator, I would strongly recommend that you advertise and go for the most qualified person."
At that point, Rice told The E-T that they were going to go into closed session to discuss their intent. "We're going to discuss it in executive session. When we come out, Mr. Recardo, we'll let you know. If we make a motion we'll make it during open session," Rice said.
In other business,
On a 4-1 vote, the lawmakers decided to reduce the total number of assistant road manager positions from five to three. District 1 Supervisor Glenn Donald was opposed to the change and suggested keeping all five positions and assigning a person to each district.
However, County Road Manager T. J. Fairley said three is enough. "I always said five road managers was too many," Fairley said.
The change becomes effective October 1 with the start of the new budget.
After the votes were cast, Donald attempted to make a subsequent motion to revert to the original setup with a road manager on the north end, a road manager on the south end and three assistants, but that motion failed for lack of a second.
As part of the budget discussion, the county lawmakers are proposing a three percent across-the-board pay raise for county workers.
Additionally, it was proposed that the county maintenance director’s salary be increased to $58,000; the justice court clerk’s salary raised to $43,000 and the administrative assistant to the county administrator gets an increase from $37,000 to $40,000. It passed on a 4-1 vote with Gaston voting no.
Donald had originally motioned to hire McIntosh as the assistant county administrator to assist the full-time county administrator on a year-to-year renewal, but his motion failed due to lack of a second.
During both budget sessions, there was much discussion about salaries, pay raises and overtime in the sheriff’s department and it included talk about past and present practices.
At the end of Monday’s meeting, McIntosh told the board members that she has the necessary information to do her calculations to see if any millage needs to be added and that she could possibly have something ready for review at their first Monday meeting, but if not, it should be ready by their August 10 session.
