In August, we implored the Archuleta County commissioners take the time to carry out a transparent and thorough hiring process to find a professional, experienced county manager who can set a positive, professional tone for the county on a daily basis.
While the hiring process is moving forward, we’ve so far been left with more questions than answers on several aspects of that hiring process.
The commissioners held a series of executive sessions relating to the county manager position. We didn’t them state that anyone other than the commissioners and county staff were going into those executive sessions, leaving us to wonder if they were interviewing unnamed candidates or simply discussing what that position should look like moving forward.
Then we began hearing talk that there were finalists and Tuesday’s meeting agenda came out.
The first iteration of the agenda we saw listed an executive session for personnel matters “to discuss the two finalists for the County Manager position.”
We began making phone calls and scouring the county’s website and Facebook, trying to figure out if we’d somehow missed the announcement of the finalists and who they were.
The next day, we noticed the agenda had changed.
We still hadn’t determined if and when the county had declared finalists, so we were surprised to see that the agenda had been amended to include a decision item relating to the selection of the county manager.
We made more phone calls, still confused as to how we could have missed the announcement of the finalists two weeks prior (as dictated by state law) and remained clueless about it for the entire two weeks.
During the meeting, when it came time for the commissioners to go into executive session, Commissioner Warren Brown finally addressed the matter, stating the county had not selected two finalists.
The commissioners then proceeded to come out of executive session and name a sole finalist, but stated no offers would be made for 14 days.
Let’s just say we’re not convinced the commissioners hadn’t narrowed the field down to two finalists prior to the meeting, and we’re not calling the process transparent.
We just hope if this finalist is ultimately hired, that he’s a strong fit to help lead the county.
The Pagosa Area Water and Sanitation District (PAWSD) Board of Directors, on the other hand, has been very open with its search for a new manager who will take over for Justin Ramsey when he retires, which we commend.
The PAWSD board recently named its finalists, then carried out interviews with and discussed its finalists in primarily open fashion, only conducting a portion of its discussion during an executive session.
We can’t imagine that was comfortable or easy for the majority of people involved, but it was very interesting to hear the questions and responses, as well as to see what stood out about each candidate.
If and when the board makes a decision, which could be this evening, thanks to PAWSD’s open process, we know a lot more about about what to expect in the future and why the board is moving in that direction, regardless of which candidate is chosen.
Randi Pierce
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