Cliff Mayo, right, Finney County commissioner, speaks Monday night about his experiences with the use of a County Administrator and the five member county commission. Listening are Dan Waydziak, Butler County commissioner, center, and Mark Schreiber, county study group chairman.
About 40 people turned up for a forum Monday night hosted by the Emporia Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau about moving from three to five county commissioners and hiring a county administrator.
Cliff Mayo, Finney County commissioner; Dan Woydziak, Butler County commissioner; and Randall Allen, executive director from the Kansas Association of Counties, participated on a panel to discuss the two issues. Both Finney and Butler counties have five commissioners and a county administrator.
Mark Schreiber, chair for the chamber study group that looked at Lyon County’s government, said the process of recommending a county administrator and moving from three to five county districts started about two years ago. The group studied eight counties and learned what made them run efficiently. Based on its findings, the group made the recommendations to the Lyon County commission, circulated a petition and got the issues put on the November ballot for the public to decide.
When it came to the two issues, the panel members said, they made the county governments run more efficiently and provided better representation for the county residents. Woydziak said Butler County expanded from three to five commissioners four years ago.
“Our people are happy with five commissioners,” he said. “They feel there is a better representation in the rural areas.”
Woydziak also said that having five commissioners has advantages.
“It makes for much livelier discussion,” he said.
Butler County also has a county administrator. Woydziak said that government in this day and age is complex.
“There are just so many things that you need to stay current on,” he said. “Good county administrators are critical, and it has helped us greatly.”
Mayo said Finney County also has five commissioners and a county administrator.
“We feel like the five-man commission is working very well,” Mayo said.
Mayo agreed with Woydziak about the efficiency of a county administrator.
“Some of the technical things coming down the pike are getting complicated for commissioners,” Mayo said.
Allen said the goal of moving to five commissioners and hiring an administrator is in the interest of efficiency.
“I’m sure there’s no one in that room who doesn’t have the goal (of improving) in mind,” Allen said. “That’s not to say a (three-man) commission doesn’t work. It does. But it can always work better.”
There are nine counties in Kansas with five member commissioners, Allen added.
“We get at the Association more and more calls from people around the state of people who are interested in five member boards,” he said. “The conversations are different when you have five people. You get more viewpoints and more diverse conversations.”
Allen said having a county administrator improves efficiency but should be done with caution and only if there’s a consensus on the issue.
“The worst thing that can happen is the environment isn’t welcoming and there is resentment toward that position,” Allen said.
The audience had several questions following opening comments. One person questioned how a county administrator made government more efficient.
“I feel that they quite frankly do the nuts and bolts,” Woydziak said. “He does the research, and we still make the decisions. The decision process doesn’t change, just the process of how we get the information.”
The difference between a manager and administrator also was pointed out. Woydziak said he wouldn’t recommend a manager because a manager has too much authority. A county manager would have the authority over departments where an administrator doesn’t. With an administrator, the commissioners retain authority.
“The commissioners are still in the driver’s seat,” Woydziak said. “We as a five-member commission have a professional administrator who does not get involved in day-to-day operations.”
Panel members agreed there were drawbacks including more paperwork, more money and longer meetings.
“Naturally you’re going to pay more salaries for commissioners,” Woydziak said.
Comments
We allow registered users to post comments on this Web site. To learn more about our posting policies please read our User Poster Agreement Policy.
Use the comment form below to begin a discussion about this content.