Commissioner Don Dixon admitted governments often justify spending big taxpayer dollars hiring people because they claim the position will pay for itself, “but then nobody goes back and looks. We go back an look.”
“Obviously there is a benefit to it, but people always say the devil’s in the details so we’re going to be looking closely at that position,” Dixon told the Journal-News. “We’re going to be getting an update quite often to see that the position pays out, that it’s going to do what we think it’s going to do.”
The county has not had an asset and purchasing manager since November 2016, when Randy Quisenberry left for a job at the Council on Aging for Southwest Ohio. Commissioner Cindy Carpenter has said Quisenberry saved the county $70,000 within a couple months of being hired.
During the prosecutor’s office budget hearing last year, Chief Assistant Prosecutor Dan Ferguson said there is a 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.”
County Administrator Judi Boyko told the Journal-News that Hacker has the “experience and competencies” to tackle this job, which targets saving money and streamlining operations.
“I believe it helps our constituency by having efficient processes, ensuring there is no redundancy in services or duplication in contracts,” Boyko said. “Administration can serve as the clearinghouse for many of the goods, and services that are more universally applied to the county, like trash pick up, utilities, office equipment.”
Carpenter said Hacker “will be an asset that is sorely needed” as the county continues to work on right-sizing its facilities. There are many vacant spaces sprinkled across county-owned buildings after the Great Recession forced mass layoffs. And especially now, with COVID-19 forcing many employees to work remotely, space maximizing is a top priority.
“Implementing a new automated system for the parking garage, continuing to look at consolidating our facilities and there is a certain amount of money in the budget for courthouse repair,” Carpenter said. “That will keep him busy.”
Commissioner T.C. Rogers has always said he wanted the person “to make back his salary” and the facilities are also a priority for him.
“What we got, how much we need, how much the pandemic is going to (have an) affect, working with our office holders about how many people we’re going to allow to work from home if any,” Rogers said. “That’s how we discover our needs.”
Hacker could not be reached for comment but he is scheduled to report for duty March 29.
The county put the asset director and hiring an assistant county administrator on hold when finances were a concern early in the pandemic. Financial fears didn’t come true so the management team search continued. Boyko said she isn’t quite ready to start looking for an assistant administrator, a position that carries the same salary range as the asset director.
“I certainly will fill that position, now that we have the director positions filled completely I’d like for us to just take a breath,” Boyko said. “And for the team to work together cooperatively, collaboratively and assess where some voids may exist in the organization an then strategically fill that position.”
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