Riley County commissioners debate administrator role, keep county counselor independent

Riley County commissioners spent much of their April 16 work session debating a planned reorganization and the role of a proposed county administrator, ultimately agreeing that the county counselor will remain a separate office reporting directly to the board while drafting language that would give an administrator supervisory control over administrative services but not the board’s final hiring and firing authority.

The board and staff discussed a series of governance questions introduced by Elizabeth Ward, the county human resources director, and by Jacob Anley, the county counselor. Ward asked whether contracts should be routed through the counselor and then the administrator, saying she had drafted language to capture that flow. Anley argued the counselor’s primary client is the board and urged that the counselor remain organizationally…