ELLSWORTH, Maine — Hancock County officials have decided it is time to hire a full-time administrator who can function as a supervisor to most of the county’s employees.
What’s more, they have created and funded such a position in the county’s 2015 annual budget, which went into effect on Jan. 1. Interviews are ongoing, county officials said Wednesday, and they hope to have someone hired and serving in the new role by March 1.
Steve Joy, chairman of the county commission, said that the county has been considering hiring a chief administrator for some time. But he said that, up until now, he has been reluctant to create and fill the position because of the cost involved.
The county has budgeted $70,000 in salary for the position for the year, not including the benefits the new administrator will receive, he said. But even with this added cost, county taxes are expected to rise only 1.4 percent, from $5.16 million to $5.23 million.
In the past several years, he added, the county has reduced spending in its annual budget.
Joy said he thinks that creating the position will help streamline county government. The new administrator hopefully will have valuable professional experience as a personnel supervisor and with finance, he said, and will be able to work with elected county officials to help supervise employees in various departments.
“Over the past couple of years, it has gained some traction,” Joy said of hiring an administrator. “It’s a position that we hope will return its value.”
The new county administrator will function as the county clerk and will have direct supervisory duties over the chief financial officer position, held by Phil Roy, and over the county’s personnel director, county officials said. Cynthia Deprenger, the county clerk, will become the county’s personnel director when the new county administrator begins work.
One key benefit of hiring a county administrator, according to Joy, will be to provide some continuity in county governance as commissioners and other elected officials come and go from office. He said the county always is looking into whether it makes financial sense to consolidate some public sector services at the county level, and that a county administrator would be the ideal person to pursue and oversee implementation of consolidation projects.
Services that could be consolidated at the county level include assessing, emergency service dispatching, or even animal control, Joy said. If municipalities decide they want the county to take over some of these services, and if the county can do so for the same cost or cheaper, than it makes sense to have a top administrator to oversee the resulting transition, he said.
“I’m not trying to get control. I’m trying to save people money,” Joy said. “I think the continuity of [having] an administrator is a big deal.”
Deprenger said Wednesday that most counties in the state already have chief administrators or managers. Counties that have adopted their own charters have managers while those that rely on state statute have administrators, she said, but they essentially are the same thing.
Joy and fellow Hancock County Commissioner Percy “Joe” Brown said this week that though they favor hiring a chief administrator, they did not think Hancock County needs a charter.
According to Deprenger, Maine counties that have an administrator or manager include Androscoggin, Aroostook, Cumberland, Kennebec, Knox, Lincoln, Oxford, Penobscot, Piscataquis, Sagadahoc, Somerset, Washington and York. She said that Franklin, Hancock and Waldo are the only three that still have a county clerk functioning as the top general administrator in county government.
