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Cache County Council advances policy to formalize hiring and supervision of council staff
Summary
The council voted to recommend a draft ordinance that would formalize hiring, supervision and termination procedures for council staff, require chair-led administrative supervision and make appointment offers conditional on full-council ratification.
Cache County Council members voted to recommend a draft policy that would formalize how the county council hires, supervises and terminates its own staff.
Micah, who presented the draft, said the changes would amend County Code 2.12 and "be clear that council staff works for the body," while assigning administrative supervision duties—annual reviews, time-off approvals and exit interviews—to the council chair. Under the proposed process, the chair would convene a hiring committee, the committee would forward three finalists to the full council for executive-session interviews on professional competence, and the chair could extend a conditional job offer that requires majority ratification in open session.
Supporters said the policy clarifies long-standing informal practices. Micah told members the proposal "creates a process by which the council selects staff" and sets conduct expectations for staff who serve multiple council members. Several council members asked about timing and logistics if the council must wait for the next regular meeting to ratify an offer; Micah and others discussed options including special meetings or closing an executive session and immediately voting in open session.
Members also discussed termination procedures. The draft would treat council staff as at-will employees but requires any termination to be carried out by a motion of a council member and a majority vote in a public meeting; Micah confirmed an executive session could precede that public motion to allow confidential discussion of personnel matters.
A motion to recommend the draft policy to the County Council passed with members voting in favor. Micah said the item will be placed on the Oct. 22 council agenda and that the hiring committee may proceed with first-stage interviews under the proposed rules.
What happens next: The council will consider the ordinance-level change at its scheduled council meeting; final appointment of any new council staff would occur only after the council ratifies a conditional offer in open session.
