Board creates full‑time election coordinator/executive aide to provide floating administrative support

On June 24 the Lawrence Countysalary board approved Salary Board Resolution 30 to establish a full‑time election coordinator/executive aide position at a base salary of $41,600, eliminating the existing part‑time coordinator role.

"What I'm asking for is a coordinator of elections slash executive aide position to be created with the elimination of the part‑time coordinator of elections," County Administrator Joe Venasco said in presenting the proposal. "It's a full‑time position, but it's seasonal in nature that it would be a shared position with the voters office."

Venasco said the position is intended to provide flexible, nonunion administrative coverage when small offices are short‑staffed because of vacations, illness or turnover. He explained the coordinator would spend most of the year working in the voters office to prepare for primaries and elections, and the remainder of the time could be assigned by the commissioners to other nonunion offices in need of temporary support.

Meeting discussion noted recent short‑staffing incidents in multiple county offices, including the mailroom and human resources, that prompted the request. The board and staff emphasized the position is nonunion and that its duties would include reception, mail handling, phones, minutes and other administrative tasks.

A motion to approve Resolution 30 passed on a recorded roll call vote. The meeting record shows the board directed county staff to recruit for the new position and to eliminate the part‑time coordinator classification once a hire was made.

Board members asked legal and fiscal questions about sharing the position across elected offices that are independently elected; staff said they would confirm with solicitors whether and how the position could be temporarily assigned outside the commissioners' jurisdiction. No change to the authority of independently elected officials was recorded in the motion.