By COLE REIF
Great Bend Post
GREAT BEND — Following three executive sessions and a recess in the regularly scheduled meeting Monday, the Barton County Commission voted 3-2 to adjust Phil Hathcock’s contract and remove his responsibility as County Administrator. Hathcock will remain as the county’s Director of Solid Waste and now the Director of Facilities.
After the resignation of Administrator Richard Boeckman in October 2016, Hathcock was elevated as the Director of Operations in June 2017, eventually becoming the administrator.
Commission Chair Jim Daily said
overseeing the landfill and serving as the administrator was a heavy workload
for one person.
"The landfill takes up a tremendous amount of time," said Daily. "He's
also the director of facilities, although never with the title, he's
always taken care of facilities. Due to the increased amount of work at
the landfill, it has been felt that he would better serve the county if
he put all of his efforts to those two areas."
After the vote passed, Hathcock walked away from his seat as the administrator
and joined the crowd for the remainder of the meeting. Daily referred to the change
of employment as an amicable agreement between the commission and Hathcock.
The commission was then under the impression that Assistant Administrator Donna Zimmerman would act as the interim administrator until another person was hired, but Zimmerman told the council she felt it was best if she was left out of the rearrangement, and resigned as assistant administrator, still retaining her position as county clerk.
For the time being, the county commission will perform
needed administrator duties and are prepared to conduct special meetings to do
so.
"This is going to be a priority, so we will get on this as rapidly as we
possibly can," said Daily. "We're going to try to get this taken care
so we're not leaving ourselves out in the open. We do need to have
someone steering the boat."
The employment agreement states Hathcock will be paid a yearly salary of $85,000
for employment as the Solid Waste Director and $15,000 as the Facilities Director.
Barton County Sheriff Brian Bellendir asked the commission if this was the best move, knowing the county would likely have to shell out an additional administrator-level salary to a new employee. When Hathcock took over as director of operations in 2017, it saved the county money by not having a full-time administrator.