The Marshall County Commissioners took action Monday morning to advertise the open position of Marshall County Highway Administrator.
Laurie Baker announced her resignation from the position earlier this month. Her last day will be Dec. 29.
Commissioner Kurt Garner said he read the job description and noticed that the candidate could hold an engineer’s license. Commissioner Kevin Overmyer and Commissioner Mike Delp both agreed that hiring an engineer is not necessary.
Commissioner Delp added that he’d like to see more managerial experience to help Highway Supervisor Jason Peters with decisions at the highway department. He noted that they should revisit the way the responsibilities are listed for the highway supervisor and the highway administrator.
“I think we need to make this job description clearer on who’s responsible for whom at that highway department,” said Delp. “The road crew, I think, is pretty understandable on who’s in charge of that. Maintenance I don’t believe is and I just think we need to be on the same page on how that’s going to go forward, in my mind.”
Commissioner Garner said the job descriptions can be read in several ways, but the matter at hand is the fulfillment of the impending vacancy of the highway administrator position. He made a motion to advertise the position and keep it open for two weeks. Commissioner Delp seconded the motion and the matter passed with a unanimous vote.
Applications will be accepted until Tuesday, Dec. 5 and interviews will be held shortly thereafter. The commissioners are hoping to get someone approved by their mid-December meeting so the training process can begin. If the position is not filled in a time frame where Baker can help with the transition, the commissioners may hire her as a contract employee until training is complete, if Baker is agreeable to the request.
