Delta County commissioners approve draft administrator contract, appoint negotiating team amid public opposition

Delta County Board of Commissioners voted June 10 to approve an amended draft employment contract for the county administrator and to appoint a two-person negotiating team to complete negotiations with the candidate.

The board approved a page-by-page set of contract changes proposed by personnel and finance committees, including a $7,500 lump-sum severance payment, a provision requiring repayment of that severance if the employee is rehired into a supervisory role within three years, a proposed starting salary of $93,000 with up to $3,000 merit increases at six and 12 months, and limits keeping the final salary within a previously established $90,000–$100,000 range. Commissioners also agreed to changes to vacation and insurance benefits, and to evaluation and goal-setting timelines for the new administrator. The board named Chair John Mellner and Commissioner Christine Williams as the county’s negotiating team.

Why it matters: the contract sets pay, benefits and precedent for future senior-hire severance language and rehiring conditions. Several members of the public criticized the board’s handling of the administrator search and urged the board not to rehire a former administrator, calling for a new search.

The board’s approvals were the product of detailed line-by-line review. Commissioners discussed editing “whereas” clauses to avoid promising to “assure” an employee’s morale and clarified language intended to protect the county against malfeasance or dishonesty. The personnel committee’s recommended changes were shown in red text and finance committee changes in purple in the packet; the board approved the assembled, amended document in a sequence of motions that…