>County commissioners not comfortable with Deputy County Manager tile, job description

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County Attorney Jim Forture reviews the job description for Deputy County Manager, currently held by Virginia Beams (left).

 During a specially-called meeting to discuss the deputy county manager position on Thursday, January 13, Interim County Manager Tim Whalen told the county Board of Commissioners that the job description in question for the assistant or deputy county manager had never been formally adopted.

“So we’re back to square one,” said Chairman Eddie Freeman.
At this point, Commissioner Raymond Ray moved that Whalen and Human Resources Director Bill Gay look at the job description and make a recommendation to the board regarding the definition and duties of the position. Ray made this motion after learning that Whalen and Gay had not been involved in defining the original deputy county manager job description.

Chairman Eddie Freeman cautioned the Gay and Whalen, though, to “Look closely and make sure all I’s are dotted and all T’s crossed because it would have a real effect” on the way in which the county government operates.

At the beginning of the meeting there was discussion on whether the job title should be deputy county manager or assistant county manager.

Commissioner Chipper Gardner said he had looked through the job descriptions and was more comfortable with the title of assistant. “Assistant county manager reflects better what duties I’d like to see in the position,” Gardner said.

Ray then added that the way he understood it, that the assistant, assistant to, and deputy county managers were stepping-stone training positions used in order to raise a county manager through the ranks of the government and that the board of commissioners had skipped some steps when appointing Virginia Beams directly to the position of deputy manager.

The consensus of the meeting seemed to be that the commissioners were uncomfortable with the title of deputy, especially since the (unadopted) job description spelled out departments and duties specifically attributed to the deputy county manager, seemingly attributing half of the county government into the deputy manager’s control.

Fortune said, “I don’t think we’re not trying to create two county managers, we’re trying to create a position to take over in the event that we don’t have a manager.”
“I think this is part of cloud of confusion that’s been hanging over this whole thing because the commissioners were involved in appointment, and because [the job description] lists specific departments that will be directly supervised. It’s as if you took the county government and divided it down the middle,” Gardner responded to Fortune’s statement.

Fortune said he did not think that was the intent of the ordinance or job description that provided for the position of the deputy county manager; he suggested that it was merely to establish a chain of command in the event the county manager was unable to perform the duties of the county manager.

The commissioners present expressed that they would like to see the deputy manager’s duties as carrying out directives given by the county manager.

Of the county commissioners present – Ray, Gardner and Chairman Freeman, none opposed Ray’s motion for Gay and Whalen to make a recommendation to the board about how to proceed with the job title and description of duties.