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Home > Blogs > Butler County News and Issues > Archives > 2009 > June > 11
Thursday, June 11, 2009
County hires new finance director to ease fiscal turmoil
Butler County commissioners have high hopes for a new finance director they hired this morning, June 11, to help guide then out of a $6 million budget hole and bridle budget growth in recent years.
Pete Landrum, currently finance officer for Montgomery County Juvenile Court, will start the new job Monday, June 15.
But Landrum also comes with a price tag of $83,131 a year while commissioners are looking to furloughs, pay cuts and possibly another round of layoffs to heal their hemorrhaging budget.
Commission President Donald Dixon justified the hire, saying it will ultimately save the county money.
“In the private sector, we’d say this guy will pay for himself many, many times,” Dixon said. “It’s going to give us oversight and control of our spending programs.”
This payoff will be immediate, Dixon said, as Landrum will be involved in union contract renegotiations and bidding out a multi-million dollar contract for services at the county jails.
Commissioners say Landrum fills the position left vacant when former finance director Tim Williams stepped up to become county administrator and is lower than Williams’ former salary.
Landrum said he is familiar with Butler County’s precarious position, as Montgomery County just this week announced 2.5 percent across the board cuts aimed at filling a $7.6 million hole after a 3 percent budget cut at the beginning of the year.
“Every county around is dealing with the same thing,” he said.
But as for how he can reign in spending that some say has gotten out of hand in recent years, “Until I get diving into each individual budget, and what I can see and what I can recommend, that’s kind of hard to do from the outside,” he said.
Landrum has managed the Montgomery County Juvenile Court’s $30 million budget since 2007, his resume says. Before that, he was a budget liaison in that county’s office of budget and management, where he helped craft the county’s criminal justice budgets, including courts and the sheriff’s office, totaling more than $100 million.
Landrum holds a Master’s of Public Administration from Wright State University.
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Resolutions part 3 - More information needed
After catching wind of something going on between Butler County and Resolutions, Community Solutions, I put in some phone calls to a few local officials.
Here’s what they told me:
- The county is not planning to terminate the Resolutions contract. They are merely exploring their options.
- There were changes made in the county’s deal with Resolutions that were never voted on by commissioners. This includes an agreement for the county to take over utility payments at the jail in exchange for lowered prisoner boarding rates. The deal was struck by the former county administrator. (This has since been reported)
- There is still an outstanding invoice for roughly $180,000 for renovations to the Court Street jail done by Resolutions.
This raised more questions than it answered. What all does Resolutions do for the county? How does it get those contracts?
I put in another public records request:
I would like copies of the following documents and information. Please let me know how long you expect this to take and how much you expect it to cost. If any of this information exists in digital format, I would be happy to accept it that way.
A list of all contracts currently held between Butler County and Resolutions Inc.
Copies of the most recent rfp’s for these contracts, and all the bids received.
A copy of the contract for the renovation of the Court Street Jail, I believe that was with Resolutions. Please let me know if there were other parties involved.
A copy of any rfp or bids received for renovation of the Court Street Jail.
The total cost of renovation at the Court Street jail.
The date when utilities were switched to the county’s name at Resolutions. The total amount spent on utilities after that point.
Copies of the prisoner boarding agreements where rates the county pays Resolutions are spelled out. Copies of invoices for prisoner boarding over the past two years (I gather these are billed monthly).
Copies of all e-mails to and from all three county commissioners dating back to April 1, 2009.
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