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Monday, June 4, 2012 – 5:00 p.m.
Courthouse Annex, 79 Jackson Street, Zebulon, Georgia
(Time Revised)
1. CALL TO ORDER Chairman Doug Mangham
2. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE Chairman Doug Mangham
3. APPROVAL OF THE AGENDA - (O.C.G A. 50-14-1 (e) (1))
4. NEW BUSINESS
a. Consider rescinding Board approval given on May 29, 2012 to extend the period for receipt of County Manager applications to June 30 with readvertisement of the position and new advertisement on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.
If5. ADJOURNMENT
Agenda subject to revision.
This meeting was attended by all five commissioners, County Clerk Teresa Watson, and County Attorneys/ and acting Interim County Managers Rob and Tom Morton. To date, there have been 27 applications received for the county manager position that is being advertised here in Pike County. All applications had to be postmarked by June 1st.
Chairman Doug Mangham said that at the time of the May 29 meeting, the county had not received many applications for county manager. Since that time, he said that the county has received 20 something applications and he thinks they have enough to pick from.
Commissioner Tamera Jarrett disagreed and said that the bigger the pool, the better the chance we may find the right one. She said that she doesn't have a problem waiting four more weeks
Commissioner Carol Bass agreed saying that she had reviewed the applications extensively and found some candidates that she thought were great until then she found something on the Internet that made them go to the discard pile. She said that there were not many candidates left after she discarded those she thought were unsuitable.
Commissioner Tommy Powers said that he went through the 27 applications and found at least five that had pretty strong qualifications and he did not think he was worthwhile to spend the money to continue advertising.
Commissioners were advised that a 10 line advertisement in the Sunday edition and online editions of the Atlanta Journal Constitution would cost $429 to run one time. (If they advertised for a month, it would be $429 times four.) [Note from the Editor: I am a little alarmed that some of the commissioners are more concerned about spending $1700 on an ad that could directly affect Pike County's future and yet it seemed so easy to spent $77,000 on a metal roof for the Courthouse.]
Commissioner Don Collins said that the county extended this deadline once already and it wouldn't be fair to applicants to extend it again. He would like the commissioners to submit their top five candidates so they can start interviewing for the county manager position. He said that if commissioners go through the interview process and don't find someone who meets their qualifications, that would be the time to readvertise. He said that he has selected the ones that he would like to see interviewed. He said that there are some candidates who do not have the experience level that he would like to see but was interested in seeing how candidates took from their former lives and applied that experience to this position. However, he said that he didn't want the county to go through a learning experience and doesn't want to see an applicant from our immediate area unless they have "outstanding qualifications". He thinks that we've had more applications from our county than we ever gotten before, but he thinks that they [those from our area] come with "precognizant ideas" or "precognition which might not be in the best interest" [of the county]. He wants to see a candidate that has no ties to the county. "We need a fresh set of eyes and a fresh brain," he said. He suggested picking the top five candidates that would be submitted to Human Resources so a list could be tallied for interviews.
Commissioner Jarrett said that she did not think there is an issue of fairness in extending the deadline date because commissioners did not mind doing it at the last meeting. She reiterated that she thinks a bigger pool of candidates would be better to find the right one for the county. "I really would like us to put a lot of thought and consideration into finding somebody for this [a county manager for Pike County]." She went on to say that the county has received a lot of applications from people who work in this field with one or two years in a job position. While this is typical of people who work in this field, she cautioned fellow commissioners on this job search. Commissioner Collins echoed that sentiment by saying that he had heard at one time that the average length of time that a county manager stays in one position is two years.
Chairman Doug Mangham said, " I agree that we need to pick these [candidates], interview them, and if we don't find one we'll start over."
Commissioner Bass asked why the applications need to go through Human Resources instead of the county clerk. She asked if it was because the county clerk had an application in for county manager. County Attorney Rob Morton advised that the county clerk's job duties do not include applications for county manager. He advised that this job search would typically it would involve Human Resources and the county manager. Mr. Morton advised that he could work with Human Resources on this job search because he is not an applicant. Commissioner Bass' response to the suggestion of picking the five top candidates for an interview was simply: " I can't come up with five but if that's what you want to do..."
Commissioner Powers made a motion to rescind prior board approval given on May 29, 2012 to extend the period of receipt for County Manager applications to June 30 with readvertisement of the position and new advertisement with the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Motion was approved in a 3-2 vote with Commissioners Bass and Jarrett voting against it. County Attorney Rob Morton made a point of clarification which determined that 27 applications were postmarked by the original deadline.
Discussion of a deadline for commissioners to bring their top five picks to Human Resources. The suggestion was made to do this by Friday in order to discuss this in Executive Session at Wednesday's regular called meeting. However, Commissioner Jarrett said that she thinks commissioners are being rushed on this and didn't care if this was done at a special called the meeting or at the evening meeting in June. She said she had reviewed applications but wanted to have enough time to get this careful consideration. Mr. Morton suggested reviewing applications and bringing them to the morning meeting on June 13 so this can be discussed in Executive Session.
Motion to add an item to the agenda on the regular called meeting of Wednesday, June 13 for commissioners to submit a list of top five choices for county manager to be tabulated and discussed in Executive Session. Approved 5-0.
Motion to adjourn at 5:17 p.m.