Bill Mason
Lansing
To the editor:
Both candidates for the Leavenworth County 1st District Commissioner greatly concern me. Mr. Goetz (Democrat) has publicly stated said he will work to eliminate the county administrator position. Mr. Holland (Republican) stated he would eliminate the county administrator position unless the public voted otherwise.
I appeared before the Commission in 2007 to advocate and support establishment of the county administrator position. Leavenworth County needs a professional administrator to be the commissioners’ chief of staff, the staff coordinator, to prepare and manage the county budget, and perform other tasks as permitted by Kansas Statutes and as assigned by the commissioners. The administrator relieves the commissioners from the routine administrative tasks and brings professionalism to the management and coordination of the county staff.
The commissioners established the position in late 2007 by commission vote rather than by general election. By establishing the position through commission vote, the position is not permanent and thus can be eliminated by another commission vote – and this is what concerns me!
Note: the current administrator was hired after an extensive personnel search and recruitment effort. She started working at the courthouse in April 2008.
I spoke to the commissioners at their regular meeting on Aug. 5 to express my concerns on the vulnerability of the administrator position.
Commissioner Tellefson said they too were concerned about the statements. He indicated that neither the position nor the current administrator was going anywhere. He also cited several operational efficiencies, accomplishments, personnel realignments and reductions, and budget savings attributable to the administrator. Commissioner Graeber appeared to agree with Commissioner Tellefson on all points.
Although Commissioner Flower was not present during all of my comments, he later emailed me that “he totally agreed with me on the need for the position"...."it is an absolute must for this county to grow and move forward”.
I expressed my opinion that we elect smart, responsible officials to make smart, responsible decisions – even if they are contrary to public votes on an issue. Commissioner Tellefson agreed with this philosophy and stated he too had stated during his campaign that he would not support the county administrator position if the issue were defeated in an election. I do not know how he voted in the commission for the position – I assume he did not vote- possibly abstaining. However, he is now supportive of the position and the administrator; to the extent he carries a piece of paper listing the administrator’s accomplishments and savings.
I then expressed that before the general election the commission should formalize and document the commissioners’ functional evaluation of the administrator position, highlighting those efficiencies, operational improvements, personnel changes, position reductions, and budget savings. This functional evaluation would be a county historical document to useful counter statements and actions to eliminate the position. I also recommended that if the commissioners could not do the initial functional evaluation, that a professional business consultant should be contracted to do it.
Watching the commission proceedings on Aug. 5, I compared it to what I saw in meetings in 2007. In 2007, there was a lot of fumbling around by the commissioners, questions between them about what about this, about that, what is the status, etc. On Aug. 5, I saw none of this. If there were questions, they were directed to the administrator. All questions were answered succinctly, and by the actions of the commissioners, were exactly on target.
As for Mr. Holland. I think he spoke before he had the experience to speak. He has never served in public office and therefore lacks knowledge in the duties and responsibilities of the commissioners, the relationships and workings of the other elected county officers, the county staffs, the work force, and especially the administrator. With his statement, Mr. Holland has responded to and sought the support of the Leavenworth County Anti-Anything crowd. If elected, perhaps he should read the performance evaluations of Ms. Morgan, and the functional evaluation of the administrator position. Then he should serve four or five years to learn the job before he makes rash statements and starts changing things.
As for Mr. Goetz, I see him as a disgruntled, ex-county employee who was riffed and told to either resign or be fired (his words quoted in the Leavenworth Times on Oct. 21 2008), an action he, his friends, and other riffed employees blame on the administrator. Totally wrong. The administrator works only within the authority and direction of the commission. We do not need a county commissioner with Mr. Goetz’ agenda.
