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Commissioners take no formal action on county engineer hire; HR told to begin negotiations and report back
Summary
After interviewing county engineer candidates in executive session, Harrison County commissioners declined to approve a hire in open session, directing Human Resources to start negotiations with a candidate and return with a recommendation before the next meeting.
Harrison County commissioners, meeting in open session after executive-session interviews, declined to take a formal hiring vote on the county engineer position and directed Human Resources to begin negotiations with a candidate and report back with a recommendation prior to the board’s next meeting.
The chair opened the discussion by putting item 8 on the table — approval of any matters discussed in executive session — and asking whether there was a motion to act on those matters. A commissioner pressed whether a chosen candidate would be prepared to notify his current employer, asking, “The one that we hire, if it’s the second one, is he prepared for the city to know that he’s leaving?” The chair replied that, at that point, he did not believe notice had been given.
The commissioner proposed authorizing Human Resources to begin negotiations with a selected candidate, saying, “I would make a motion that we authorize HR to start negotiations with the candidate… and then when she gets it hammered down, then we can put it on the next agenda to approve the recommendation of HR to hire.” The proposal included an expectation that the candidate would have roughly a week to 10 days or about two weeks to arrange resignation and transition details.
The chair cautioned that preliminary discussions by HR would not be binding on the board. After brief exchange the board indicated it would take no formal action at that meeting on hiring. The chair asked HR to report back before the next meeting with the HR director’s recommendation based on the interviews and any negotiations that occur.
The meeting concluded with a motion to adjourn that was seconded and approved by voice vote; the exact roll-call tally was not specified on the record. The board did not adopt a hiring motion or finalize employment terms at the session.
What happens next: Human Resources will proceed with nonbinding negotiations and return with a recommendation for the commissioners to consider at a subsequent meeting.
