There’s been a lot of discussion regarding the roll of a county administrator. As I understand it, the administrator would take over the operations of the county where the Board of County Commissioners would then serve a purely policy-making position. That sounds good to me on the surface, but there are many important and looming questions — all of which frame Tuesdays elections. What do you think?
{democracy:4}
The whole issue of a County Administrator seems to hinge on power, not organization. Yes we need a person in charge of the day-to-day management of the basic operation of the county. Then the Commissioners can put their time and attention to policy issues, crisis intervention and long term planning. But the hitch is this: Many people fear that a County Administrator would be “owned” by the power players in town, and if they could control the Administrator and perhaps one Commissioner, they could have their way.
I understand their fear. In a conversation I had with a power-insider who is pushing the Administrator idea, they told me “their” two possible choices for Administrator would be either Dave McDowell who’s the current County Treasurer, or Troy Tymeson, who’s the Finance Officer for City of CdA and just happens to be Tom Cronin’s son-in-law! Do “they” get to choose?
I don’t think having a County Administrator is a bad idea, though I think it should be more of a County Manager position, as Jai Nelson suggested to me. I think choosing the right Commissioners to control the County Administrator/Manager is the key to success in this area. And anyone who is “owned” by big money is not a good choice.
Comment by mary — May 26, 2008 @ 10:01 am
If we get the wrong administrator how would we get him/herout? I believe that the present Commissioners passed a vote making it more difficult to remove poor performing employees. I would only go along with the idea of an administrator as long as he/she truly works at the pleasure of the Commissioners. Then if we do not like the administrator we can vote out the responsible Commissioners. Also, would the commissioners start to work part time at full pay? What I like about our county is that we can pick up the phone and talk to a commissioner. I don’t think I would like to be routed to an administrative office…creating a disconnect with elected officials.
Comment by Mama Bear — May 26, 2008 @ 1:55 pm
Mama Bear,
If we had an administrator and you called a commissioner with an operational problem, the commissioner should route your call to the administrator. That’s why the position would have been created, to free the commissioners from the need to be involved with every day-to-day operational activity. Policy calls go to the commissioner; operational calls to the administrator or his assistant. I wouldn’t want any commissioner dabbling into operational issues if I were the administrator. If I were the administrator, I would expect to be held accountable for doing my job, BUT I would also expect to have commensurate authority to do that job. I suspect some commissioners would be reluctant to relinquish what they see as power (authority) to the administrator. Tough. That’s what the administrator gets the big bucks for.
Which all goes back to exactly what you alluded to: They have to pick the right administrator, one with the knowledge, skills, and abilities to do the job. It also has to be someone they trust to make and carry out operational decisions. If they make the wrong choice, they must be able and willing to terminate the administrator and hire a new one.
Comment by Bill — May 26, 2008 @ 4:44 pm
So much of this Administrator decision comes down to two issues: 1. How the Operational Chart is constructed, meaning where on the hierarchy of power/responsiblity is the Administrator? Who do they answer to? Who if any are on their peer level? and Who are they to supervise? 2. The rules of their approval and dismissal.
These are critical details that can drastically affect the question “Are you in favor of a County Administrator?”…well, it depends on how these details line up.
Comment by mary — May 26, 2008 @ 5:15 pm
Just for clarification, Dave McDowell is the Finance Director for the county and works for the County Auditor (me), not the Treasurer. I think Troy Tymeson is actually a brother-in-law with Tom Cronin, not a son-in-law.
A county administrator at this point could be hired by the BOCC to assist with the management of their Departments. The Idaho Code and Constitution does provide for several forms of option government and some include various roles and lines of authority for an administrator that would give them more authority. I think it would be worthwhile to probably again have a citizens committee look at the whole issue (as was done about 12 years ago) but hopefully with the commitment that whatever BOCC was in place would actually let the voters have a say on the plan.
Our current system can be clunky and inefficient at times and but those very same checks and balances between the various semi-autonomous elected officials can also be the citizens best friend at times.
To the best of my knowledge only one other county has an administrator (Cassia I think). Statewide I think a few variations of optional forms of county government have actually been to the voters but it has never passed. The option I like best is the Charter form which would allow the most creative type of plan.
Comment by Dan English — May 26, 2008 @ 6:00 pm
These county commissioners make $69,000/a year.If they keep giving themselves pay raises,then they can keep doing the day to day operational duties also.
Comment by kageman — May 26, 2008 @ 6:27 pm
Have fun tomorrow, Dan! 🙂
Comment by Dan — May 26, 2008 @ 6:52 pm
It is interesting to note that the legislature brought forward a constitutional amendment many years ago to allow for optional forms of county government but voters statwide have not taken advantage of it, especially the provision that would allow counties to regulate the commissioners to a part time policy makeing role only and delegate administrative authority to a hired administrator. Dan English points out only Casia county has voted to change their form of county government. This idea is not new and first surfaced when I was chairman of the Local Government Committee of the Idaho House of Representatives in 1976, over 35 years ago. The proposal came out of the political science dept of the U of I and was brought to my committe by governor. I did not hold hearings on it and tucked it away in my desk drawer, as I did not like the idea of moving the voters one step away from their local governance. I recall bringing it forward later for a hearing but so little interest was shown by the sponsors, I set it aside again. I am sure I was in tune with what Idaho citizens wanted their county government to be. Later after I left the legislature, the damned thing got voted on but apparently with little interest in using it. Now some people are clamoring for this worn out, discredited, unworkable process that would not provide any efficiencies as it does not apply to the offices of other elected county officials and would only shift the political attention away from the elected commissioners to a basically hired office clerk.
Comment by Gary Ingram — May 26, 2008 @ 7:49 pm
“These county commissioners make $69,000/a year.If they keep giving themselves pay raises,then they can keep doing the day to day operational duties also.”
the problem as i see it is that they get bogged down in the operational duties and spend no time on long term planning and policy, crisis management seems to be the general operational mode at the courthouse. there seems to be a reactionary perspective of what is happening now, but no vision to shape the future of the county. how long was the county without a planner after wichman left? did the foundation of the worley building suddenly deteriorate into a 100 year old structure? does the county even have a facilities management plan? what do currie, tondee and piazzza do all day long? and why do they still meet in the middle of the day?
Comment by reagan — May 26, 2008 @ 7:55 pm
This is an excellent dialog. Thank you all for your intelligent information, questions and observations!
Comment by mary — May 26, 2008 @ 8:16 pm
“…as I did not like the idea of moving the voters one step away from their local governance”
Bingo!
The noise aside that is the issue. Currie doesn’t have a clue you say? Vote him out. When can we vote out the burro-crats running the City of CDA? NEVER.
Comment by Pariah — May 26, 2008 @ 9:48 pm
Election day is a combination of fun, dread, and stress that everything will go well.
I’ll be saying the Election Workers Prayer tonight for sure–Dear Lord, may the best person win, but please may it be by a very wide margin.
Amen and good night.
Comment by Dan English — May 26, 2008 @ 10:43 pm