Danielle Noble of Peckham & McKinney presented a draft recruitment brochure and updated job description for the Ouray County manager search during the July 9 work session and asked commissioners for feedback on final edits before the county opens the filing period.

Why it matters: the county manager is the county’s top executive and the job description and brochure define duties, reporting relationships and expectations for emergency availability, budget leadership and department oversight. Commissioners said precise phrasing matters for future governance and for candidates’ expectations.

Key edits commissioners requested: several commissioners agreed language should preserve flexibility about who performs chief financial duties. "We might want to leave just a ‘may serve as the chief financial officer’" said Commissioner Patrick to keep options open if the county later separates the finance director role. Commissioners asked that the brochure and job description use permissive phrasing ("may") rather than mandatory phrasing ("appointed budget officer") and remove or revise any sentence that asserts the manager will necessarily be the budget officer.

Emergency operations language: commissioners flagged multiple passages that implied the county manager would "manage emergency operations" or serve as incident commander. Commissioners asked staff and the recruiter to craft language that clarifies the manager’s on‑call availability and responsibility to provide resources and departmental coordination for the Emergency Operations Center (EOC) while not asserting the manager would automatically be the incident commander. "The county manager has to make sure that they are providing, virtually or physically, the resources needed to make that EOC work," one commissioner said; commissioners directed Danielle and county counsel to produce revised wording that emphasizes coordination and oversight rather than operational incident command.

Other changes and clarifications: commissioners asked that the brochure explicitly mention grant administration and procurement in the budget and finance duties, and that the deputy county manager be added to the list of direct reports in the job description. Several commissioners recommended adding a line on modernization and workflow efficiencies as part of the manager’s responsibilities. The consultant said the filing period would run through Aug. 20, with candidate screenings and executive‑session selections scheduled for September and in‑person finalist interviews and meet‑and‑greet events in October.

Next steps: Noble said she will revise the brochure and bring it back for final approval the following week so the county can open the recruitment. Commissioners asked staff to draft specific emergency‑operations wording for review and to remove mandatory budget‑officer language in favor of permissive phrasing where appropriate.

Ending: commissioners approved the timeline for advertising and agreed that final brochure and job‑description edits will be returned to the board for approval before the filing period begins.