Unclear job description cited in reappointing Smith|[1/4/06]

Published 12:00 am Wednesday, January 4, 2006

The lack of a clear job description is what swung the vote on the Warren County Board of Supervisors to retain John Smith as county administrator Tuesday, said two supervisors whose votes were either in doubt or changed over the weekend.

&#8220He didn’t have a job description on the table as to what his job should be,” District 2 Supervisor William Banks said after the 4-1 vote to retain Smith for a second year.

Banks, elected Nov. 22 in a special election, had not taken a public position on the administrator post until casting his vote.

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&#8220All he knew for sure was that he’d be handling the budget,” Banks said of Smith, hired from a City of Vicksburg Post after the retirement of long-time county administrator Rick Polk.

District 3 Supervisor Charles Selmon, who had said in an informal meeting last Thursday that he was not inclined to vote to retain Smith, chalked up his backing of Smith to &#8220a considerable amount of prayer.”

&#8220We started off assuming what he was asked to do without spelling out what it is,” Selmon said, adding the administrator &#8220gets pulled in five different directions sometimes.”

Smith, appointed after serving as city auditor for 18 years, said he is looking forward to 2006.

&#8220I’m just thankful for the vote of confidence from the board has placed in me,” Smith said, emphasizing agan that the board &#8220has to provide direction on handling personnel issues.”

Discussion had simmered for the past month over the role of the position, which pays $73,500 a year.

District 4 Supervisor Carl Flanders, elected board president on a 4-1 vote Tuesday, voted against Smith in 2005 and again Tuesday, citing an inability to persuade Smith to oversee personnel and help initiate performance evaluations of county employees in addition to managing the county’s finances.

&#8220It’s important to have a strong and powerful county administrator,” Flanders said after the meeting Tuesday, adding that completing tasks and delegating responsibility are aspects he was looking for in a new county administrator.

&#8220We need diversity of talent and not a glorified accountant. That’s what we’ve got. But that’s just part of the culture on the board. It’s part of my Don Quixote-like battle here,” Flanders said.

Outgoing board president and District 1 Supervisor David McDonald explained his vote to retain Smith as keeping with his interpretation of the unit system of county government.

&#8220We don’t have direct control over employees who work under elected officials in county government,” McDonald said.

District 5 Supervisor Richard George said he was &#8220happy to have retained John’s services” as county administrator, but declined comment on his vote against Flanders as board president.

In choosing Flanders for the role, which carries only the function of chairing offical board meetings and making occasional speaking engagements, the board continued a tradition of rotating the post each year. Now, all members, except Banks, have occupied the president’s chair.

&#8220I appreciated the opportunity to represent the board and its interests in 2006,” Flanders said after the meeting.

In his first term among more senior board members, Flanders has frequently rankled others by asking them to reconsider longstanding practices. One point he said he will continue to push is having the whole board consider appointments to various commissions instead of having individual supervisors take turns making appointments and other members voting in support.

&#8220If you ran a company that way, you’d be out of business real fast,” Flanders said.

&#8220Flanders has nothing stopping him to be a great leader,” Selmon said, explaining his vote. McDonald said he voted for Flanders because he had the necessary three votes anyway, but said he believes the best person should be considered yearly for the post and not locked into a rotation.

&#8220It’s not about growing as a leader, it’s about representing your constituency,” McDonald said.