WESTMORELAND, Kan. — Pottawatomie County Commissioners are evaluating how they’ll move forward on the position of County Administrator.
The position became vacant last week after longtime administrator Robert Reece announced plans to retire. He’ll transition out of the job over the next six months. At Monday’s meeting, commissioners reviewed the job description and plan to review it again in a couple of weeks. As for a timeline to fill the position, Commission Chair Travis Altenhofen says it’s something they want to do right to find the right fit. He hopes they can have someone in place by this fall.
We’re not in a dire crisis. We don’t want to delay it, but we don’t want to move too fast to where we don’t necessarily make the right decision,” Altenhofen said.
The commission plans to revisit the job description at the July 29 meeting. Altenhofen explains the role of the county administrator is to fine tune the budget among other things.
“It’s a position that’s supposed to make things happen. If the board wants to see an objective completed, it’s the county administrator’s job to make it happen,” Altenhofen said.
Also during Monday’s meeting, commissioners approved the site plan for a new Green Valley EMS station to be located at the northeast corner of Highway 24 and Green Valley Road. Altenhofen says blueprints for the new station have been completed and that groundbreaking should occur within the next two weeks.
“Obviously construction will progress through the next following months. They’re expecting to be done with the project by mid-January, so we should be moved in by the first of February,” Altenhofen said.
In other business Monday, commissioners set an Aug. 12 hearing for requests in the 2020 budget from department heads. That hearing begins at 10:30 a.m. The proposed 2020 budget authority is $34.4 million in the general fund. That’s nearly a $4 million increase over the current general fund budget of $30.5 million. It includes a 1.737 mill reduction in the property tax levy, down to 28.246 compared to 29.983 in the current budget.
Commissioners will also present at this week’s joint meeting with the City of Manhattan and Riley County regarding code enforcement in the Blue Township Sewer District. That meeting begins at 4 p.m. Thursday inside the Manhattan City Chambers.
