“If we find the right person for the assistant administrator/other stuff I’m ready to bring them on board now,” Commissioner Don Dixon told the Journal-News. “That’s how much work we’ve got up here. It’s a struggle really, she does it but it would be not as hectic if we can put some support under her.”
Under normal circumstances Boyko is responsible for a total county budget of $416 million, the 600-some employees and 14 departments under the commissioners' direct control. She also interacts with 15 other elected officials and seven independent boards.
The commissioners asked all elected officials and departments that rely on the general fund to cut a collective 7.4% from their budgets for this year and next. Boyko cut $689,638 out of commissioners' budget. The bulk of that, $563,075, was for salary-related items.
The commissioners budgeted for the assistant county administrator and a director of assets and procurement this year. The county was also without a finance director for three-and-a-half months before Angel Burton was hired in May.
Commissioner Cindy Carpenter said she backs filling both positions.
“I haven’t stopped advocating for that because there’s simply too many complicated or challenging issues that need in-depth review,” Carpenter said. “The county administrator can’t be working at a high level in our office which has 600 employees and managing our assets which are worth half a billion dollars, and still dig down and write reports on issues where we need comprehensive review.”
The salary range for the asset director is $84,219 to $124,800. The county has not had an asset and purchasing director since November 2016, when Randy Quisenberry left for a job at the Council on Aging for Southwest Ohio. Carpenter said Quisenberry saved the county $70,000 within a couple months of being hired.
During the prosecutor’s budget hearing Chief Assistant Prosecutor Dan Ferguson mentioned there is a real problem with decentralized purchasing in the county. He told the Journal-News filling that post is critical.
“You’ve got a lot of very complex purchasing requirements pursuant to Ohio bidding statutes and statutes that pertain to requests for proposal,” Ferguson said. “When every office is trying to do their own purchasing, they are not purchasing experts so they miss things and we catch it at the 11th hour.”
Commissioner T.C. Rogers also supports making both hires because “people forget that we’ve been really thin on personnel in the commissioners' office for that last six years.”
Boyko budgeted for hiring the asset and purchasing director mid-2021.
Staffing at the Butler County Care Facility continues to be a challenge, according to Human Resources Director Laurie Murphy. She said they received 143 applications for positions and thought they had hired 29 people, but several never showed up or left after a day.
The commissioners hired a temporary agency while they try to replace former administrator Chamika Poole, who resigned last month. Dixon said it’s “double, triple true” that hiring for the facility during the pandemic is difficult. He said the jobs are really hard and people don’t want to put themselves in harm’s way.
The county has also been trying to fill the development administrator position to handle both the port authority and land bank. Former executive director port authority Mike McNamara left in August and the county decided to revert to having one person in charge of both entities.
Development Director David Fehr said he received 56 resumes and conducted five interviews. He said he is still looking.
“We’ve got to have the right person, we don’t want to make a bad hire because long term that doesn’t help the county,” Fehr said. “If it takes a little bit longer on the front end that’s fine, because we want a good match.”
About the Author