Toler to announce plan to cut board pay 50 percent;
Hire county CAO
By WALLY AIKEN
Illinois Valley News
Josephine County Board of Commissioners Chairman Dave Toler announced a press conference set for Thursday, Jan. 24, at 3:30 p.m. in the county courthouse Room 157 to unveil a plan for major realignment of county administration and management.
Toler’s plan would reduce the commissioners’ position to a half-time status with a 50 percent reduction in pay. This would save the county some $150,000 annually and that money would be used to fund a full-time manager position.
“This plan will save more money than the current 'three CEO' plan, and greatly improve management of our county government,” Toler said in the release.
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In theory, the plan would allow the professional manager to oversee the day-to-day business of the county while still being directly answerable to the commissioners. “You have three politicians micro-managing every little decision. Each management decision becomes a political issue; it’s a circus!” Toler stated.
Toler added that the combined administrative experience of the current commissioners would not qualify them to apply for the position of county administrative officer.
In a phone interview, Commission Vice Chairman Dwight Ellis said that he could not support the proposition. He stated, “It’s simply not fair to my family. This would impact my retirement as well.”
He said that the move by Toler came as a complete surprise to him. He said that they had not discussed the press conference at any time. He believes that if federal funding is re-established this year the first order of business would be to “dust off those applications” taken earlier during a search for a CAO.
There are also questions concerning what the effect would be on the commissioners’ staff. Currently there are three assistants, each having a 20 percent dedicated work assignment to a specific commissioner and 80 percent dedicated to general office assignments.
At this time, I.V. News has addressed these question via e-mail to Toler and has additionally been given an interview appointment with the commissioner tomorrow.
Watch this space for developments.
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