The commissioners approved hiring Scott Timmer and revised the job description on Monday. He is expected to start July 26. The job description was not posted, but County Administrator Judi Boyko said she offered him the job “after introduction from a source.”
“After meeting with Mr. Timmer and evaluating his skill set, I thought there was benefit to the county in some of the voids that we have been experiencing in our staffing,” Boyko said. “It has always been my intention to hire an assistant county administrator premised on finding the right person and, equally important, was finding a candidate who would complement the team of department directors we’ve built to date.”
Commissioner Don Dixon said “the opportunity became available” when the majority of Fairfield city council decided to conduct a search for a new city manager in May, rather than automatically promote Timmer, “somebody said why don’t we take a look at him and that’s how we got him.”
According to the revised job description Timmer will be responsible for helping Boyko develop “long-term strategic plans, policies and procedures and performance measurements to enhance county programs and services.” New to the position description is the emphasis on economic development and direct involvement with the Butler County Port Authority as its administrator — a position that has been vacant since August.
Timmer has been with the city of Fairfield for nearly five years, starting in August 2016 as financial services manager. He was promoted to finance director in September 2018, and assistant city manager in January.
The Fairfield resident is a 2006 Hamilton Badin High School graduate and holds a bachelor’s degree in accounting from UD and an MBA with a focus in public administration from Ohio Dominican.
Timmer told the Journal-News he hopes to bring a lot to the table at the county level.
“Some of my more valuable assets are my ability to take something from beginning to end and do so at a very high level,” Timmer said. “I’ve always been very result-oriented; and a lot of the projects and initiatives I’ve taken on, I try to take things from a day-to-day look and apply both that in-the-weeds versus big picture analysis to it.”
The county actually started looking for an assistant county administrator almost six years ago when Charlie Young was at the helm. They said the county is just too large and complex not to have a No. 2 . After more than a year, and no consensus by the three commissioners, the search went on hiatus in 2017.
When Boyko was hand-picked by the commissioners in 2019, they gave her full autonomy in filling out her management team. She intended to hire an assistant administrator and asset and purchasing director last year, but then the coronavirus pandemic descended.
When early projections had the county potentially losing $20 million in general fund revenues, Boyko put her candidate search on hold but everyone agreed last fall it was time to jump-start the process. Dixon said Timmer will be a good fit.
“We always knew we needed somebody, but we could never find anybody that we felt would fit all around in the skill sets and abilities, to multitask and to just blend in with the rest of the team,” Dixon said. “It’s not like we haven’t been looking, we just never found that person. This is an opportunity we felt we could get somebody with those talents and skill sets and has proven he can do it.”
Boyko is responsible for a total county budget of $395 million, the 600-some employees and 14 departments under the commissioners’ direct control and interacting with 15 independent boards.
Commissioner T.C. Rogers concurred on the new hire.
“As the seventh-largest county in the state of Ohio, and as a recognized leader in development and county operations, I have an expectation for high-performance,” Rogers said. “I am thrilled to bring talent to our organization.”
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