Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Personnel Reorganization topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Riley County approves organizational chart, debates pay grade for new county administrator role
Summary
Human resources presented a final organizational chart that the commission approved by consensus; members debated the appropriate pay grade for a proposed county administrator and agreed to remove two administrative hires from the immediate budget pending further discussion.
Elizabeth Ward, Riley County human resources director, presented a finalized organizational chart and a draft position description for a proposed county administrator. Ward said the materials were prepared to support recruitment and requested board approval to move forward. "I handed out the final position description that had a couple changes from last time that you had outlined and those were made for you to hopefully review and approve," Ward said.
Commissioners debated the recommended pay grade and how that would affect recruitment. Some members argued the higher pay grade (KK in the proposed scale) was necessary to attract experienced candidates; others worried about perceptions and the county’s internal pay structure. The board discussed advertising a hiring range and agreed to start recruitment with a conservative hiring range while retaining flexibility to adjust if quality candidates were not attracted. By consensus the commission approved the organizational chart as presented.
On staffing and budgeting, commissioners asked staff to remove the administrative assistant and the human-resources assistant positions from the administrator’s proposed personnel budget for now; those positions may return for separate consideration after the position and operational needs are refined. Commissioners asked HR to provide a clearer set of salary benchmarks from comparable counties and suggested a targeted marketing packet for recruitment.
Why it matters: Creating a county administrator role and approving an organizational chart changes governance and day-to-day county operations; pay-grade decisions affect the recruitment pool, internal equity and the county’s ability to attract experienced candidates.
What happens next: HR will refine salary benchmarking and recruitment materials and bring additional comparative data to a future meeting; recruitment will be started within the approved range when the board provides final direction.
