The Adobe Flash Player is required to view this multimedia interactive. Get it here.

Butler County administrator to resign

Tim Williams

Lakota considers cutting 69 teachers
2/13/12
Budget includes $476B highway bill
2/13/12
Lack of land bank may impact funding for Butler County
2/13/12
Obama unveils $3.8T spending plan
2/13/12
President wants to boost U.S. manufacturing
2/13/12
> More headlines

By Josh Sweigart, Staff Writer Updated 12:40 AM Thursday, November 19, 2009

Butler County Administrator Tim Williams is resigning next month as the county struggles to stave off a fiscal crisis.

Williams said Wednesday, Nov. 18, he’s leaving to take an executive position with a private-sector retail business north of Dayton.

“If this opportunity hadn’t come up, I wouldn’t be leaving,” he said. “I’d be at least around another year.”

Instead, Williams’ last day will be Dec. 11. Commissioners are scheduled to accept the resignation at a meeting today in Hamilton.

Williams took the county’s reins last year from former administrator Derek Conklin, who resigned when questions arose about whether he played a role in securing raises for his wife, a county employee.

Before that, Williams was assistant county administrator, though he spent most of his roughly 15 years with the county as finance director. He previously had worked for AK Steel Corp. for 22 years, he said.

Williams’ salary is $107,393 after a recent 10 percent pay cut that was part of the county’s efforts to deal with revenue shortfalls, according to county officials.

Williams leaves as county leaders struggle with a projected $6.6 million deficit brought on by declining sales tax and investment revenues during the recession. The first round of budget cuts — and increases — submitted by all elected county officials left them $5.3 million from that goal with little more than a month left in the year.

Commission President Donald Dixon called Williams’ announcement “sudden.” “The timing could have been a little better, but we wish him well,” Dixon said.

Dixon and Williams are confident the county can handle the challenge, especially with the recent hiring of Finance Director Pete Landrum.

Williams said he has dealt with numerous challenges in his 15 years — projects he didn’t agree with, political turmoil — but he refuses to take credit for any major successes.

“I’m not a decision-maker, I just work for three commissioners” he said. “I’m just a staffer and I try to do my job. I’m not a decision-maker, and change is for the politicians to take credit for.”

Share this article