The position of county administrator as it exists, is not as was described in the ballot initiatives in 1998 or 2002. We had budgets that were significantly smaller than today’s. Those initiatives would have put a single non-elected person in charge of the county’s day-to-day operations.
Our administrator currently directs courthouse staff not directed by other elected officials, and does not give any direction to the other elected officials.
We have conferred no power to this position except as specifically authorized in the administrator’s job description, available to the public upon request.
I still meet with the public just as I did my first 14 months in office, holding session two times weekly.
Every month since before I took office, the three commissioners meet and at least two of us sign off on EVERY expenditure made in that month. That’s 9 to 11, three-inch binders full of receipts that are reviewed by the commission, not the administrator.
My job, the time I spend and the responsibilities have not changed. We hired a person to make the government more efficient; to eliminate waste; to help us keep taxes as low as possible without cutting essential services; to help us attract new economic opportunity.
The administrator has, by her recommendations, saved all of us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Specifically the administrator has:
n Through reorganizations in 2008 and 2010 eliminated 31 full-time employees and six part-time employees. All but a few were assimilated back into county government when other people retired or left for personal reasons. The 2008 reorganization saved more than $800,000 in salary and benefits. (Since then people have been hired, but a significant number of those hires were as “contract employees” without benefits, and only for the amount of time that we need them – less than 1,000 hours annually).
n Refinanced county debt at a lower interest rate.
n Directed the implementation of a multimillion dollar communication upgrade that was unavoidable due to federal actions and mandates. That effort was accomplished with millions of dollars in savings from the original 2007 proposals.
n Directed completion of one Emergency Medical Station under budget, and has a second essential station in the works.
n Accomplished a myriad of other smaller initiatives.
The county administrator was integral to, and led the effort to develop a financial package that brought the Consolidated Patient’s Account Center (CPAC) to Leavenworth, which will next year, bring 400 new jobs to the VA Campus.
These are facts, not speculation or emotion.
Hiring a person to help us run the county more efficiently was a good thing. Changing the form of government would have been a bad thing. The commission did a good thing here, and should keep the position in order to best run the county. I am for eliminating waste and creating jobs. This action did both!
J.C. Tellefson is a Leavenworth County Commissioner.
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The position of county administrator as it exists, is not as was described in the ballot initiatives in 1998 or 2002. We had budgets that were significantly smaller than today’s. Those initiatives would have put a single non-elected person in charge of the county’s day-to-day operations.
Our administrator currently directs courthouse staff not directed by other elected officials, and does not give any direction to the other elected officials.
We have conferred no power to this position except as specifically authorized in the administrator’s job description, available to the public upon request.
I still meet with the public just as I did my first 14 months in office, holding session two times weekly.
Every month since before I took office, the three commissioners meet and at least two of us sign off on EVERY expenditure made in that month. That’s 9 to 11, three-inch binders full of receipts that are reviewed by the commission, not the administrator.
My job, the time I spend and the responsibilities have not changed. We hired a person to make the government more efficient; to eliminate waste; to help us keep taxes as low as possible without cutting essential services; to help us attract new economic opportunity.
The administrator has, by her recommendations, saved all of us hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Specifically the administrator has:
n Through reorganizations in 2008 and 2010 eliminated 31 full-time employees and six part-time employees. All but a few were assimilated back into county government when other people retired or left for personal reasons. The 2008 reorganization saved more than $800,000 in salary and benefits. (Since then people have been hired, but a significant number of those hires were as “contract employees” without benefits, and only for the amount of time that we need them – less than 1,000 hours annually).
n Refinanced county debt at a lower interest rate.
n Directed the implementation of a multimillion dollar communication upgrade that was unavoidable due to federal actions and mandates. That effort was accomplished with millions of dollars in savings from the original 2007 proposals.
n Directed completion of one Emergency Medical Station under budget, and has a second essential station in the works.
n Accomplished a myriad of other smaller initiatives.
The county administrator was integral to, and led the effort to develop a financial package that brought the Consolidated Patient’s Account Center (CPAC) to Leavenworth, which will next year, bring 400 new jobs to the VA Campus.
These are facts, not speculation or emotion.
Hiring a person to help us run the county more efficiently was a good thing. Changing the form of government would have been a bad thing. The commission did a good thing here, and should keep the position in order to best run the county. I am for eliminating waste and creating jobs. This action did both!
J.C. Tellefson is a Leavenworth County Commissioner.
