After months of wrangling over titles, duties, responsibilities and more, only a new salary and a pool of applicants remain before Shawano County’s next administrative coordinator is hired.
Members of the executive committee approved the revised job description Feb. 19. Julie Hasser, human resources director and interim administrative coordinator, said the position will now be forwarded to consulting firm Cottingham and Butler for evaluation and placement on the county’s wage scale. After that, and approval by the county board, the job will be posted, and applications will be accepted.
A vacancy was created in November when Jim Davel resigned a couple months before his planned retirement.
In giving the the new job description one final review, supervisors said they liked the tone of the document, but County Board Chairman Tom Kautza threw a wrench into the discussion, apparently changing his thoughts on the job.
In meeting with county board leaders and county administrators from Oconto and Marinette counties, those officials favored a county administrator instead of an administrative coordinator.
“They each have administrators, and to sum it up, we’re doing this totally wrong,” Kautza said.
Administrators in those counties are under contract, and a majority of the board can terminate their employment at any time.
However, at the committee’s Nov. 12 meeting, Kautza voiced his support for a low-key role for the coordinator.
“It doesn’t have to be a big, high-level position,” he said then. “I think the biggest thing that’s needed around here is one individual to go to all the committee meetings and put it together.”
After getting pushback from others on the committee about an expanded title, Kautza changed tactics.
“If nobody else wants to go that route, I still say we should add in that the administrative coordinator should do the annual review with the committee of the department heads,” he said. “And if this is going to stay as an administrative coordinator position, we should add in the job duties that they have the full budgetary control. That’s how you give this person some authority and some control.”
“Well, then you’re going back to the old one, in all honesty,” said Hasser. “That’s the majority of what we eliminated.”
Kautza said the county needs a better hiring process and the right individual for the job.
Hasser said she, too, was at the meeting with Oconto and Marinette officials.
“That works really well for their counties,” she said. “The thing that we need to focus on here is what is best for Shawano County.”
She said the budget is already under the jurisdiction of the finance director, who works with it every day.
Kautza said if the county kept the title administrative coordinator, it could add or delete duties to the role. A title of county administrator has certain duties and responsibilities determined by state statute, including having all department heads report to them.
Supervisor Tess Serrano asked about the earlier discussions when the committee chose to have no one directly reporting to the coordinator.
Kautza eventually gave in and voted with the others to approve the job description.
DID YOU KNOW?
According to the Wisconsin Counties Association, three forms of the executive branch in county government exist: county executive, county administrator and county administrative coordinator.
A county executive has the most power. An elected position, he or she appoints and supervises department heads, appoints members to boards and commissions and submits an annul budget. He or she can also veto county board-approved ordinances and resolutions.
A county administrator is the chief administrative officer of a county who coordinates and directs all administrative and management functions of county government. The county administrator also appoints and supervises department heads, appoints members to boards and commissions and submits an annul budget. A county administrator answers to the county board and can be removed by the board.
An administrative coordinator is similar to the county administrator but does not have appointment authority and is responsible for coordinating, rather than both coordinating and directing. His or her duties are similar to those of a city or village administrator who works under a mayor or village president.
