Over the past two years, Don Posey has worked two full-time jobs in Oktibbeha County: One as County Administrator and another as the county’s interim road manager.
The Oktibbeha County Board of Supervisors Monday decided to take some of the workload off Posey’s shoulders when it voted 4 to 1 to advertise for a new full-time road manager. Only District 4 Supervisor Daniel Jackson voted against the motion.
Specifics about the position, such as a salary and job description, still have yet to be determined by the board.
As County Administrator, Posey runs the county’s day-to-day operations. As interim road manager, he oversees 44 employees, including five foremen, three satellite shops around the county, and approximately 150 pieces of equipment.
District 2 Supervisor Orlando Trainer said Posey has done a “great job” as interim road manager, but he pushed to hire a full-timer so the county has someone who can focus solely on local roadways.
“I just think that with a county of this size, we probably need to look at getting, perhaps, a person who can do that job exclusively,” Trainer said.
Trainer also said the county should look at a beat system of government instead of the current unit system. The beat system would give supervisors more power to complete projects in their districts, Trainer said, while the unit system allows the county administrator to handle most of the county’s day-to-day business.
“If we want to look at trying to make the form of government that we have be most effective, it needs a full-time person in that slot,” Trainer said.
As interim road manager, Posey is paid an estimated $32,000-$33,000 a year on top of his salary as county administrator, he said. Before he was hired on an interim basis, the full-time road manager was paid about $52,000, he said.
Jackson, who voted against the motion to advertise, believes Posey and the five road foremen are doing an adequate job. Plus, he’s worried about the county’s budget.
“We’re going to have to come up with some money that may not be in the budget here in the middle of the (fiscal) year,” Jackson said. “Of course, it could be six or eight months down the road until this is done, but I don’t think we would have gotten any more work done this year (with a full-time road manager). We had 84 inches of rain ... and he had every man on the force working, every piece of equipment.”
District 1 Supervisor Carl Clardy, District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard and District 5 Supervisor John Young sided with Trainer.
“He’s toting a big bucketful and it gets heavy,” Clardy said of Posey.
In other business, supervisors unanimously elected Howard to serve as board president for the next year. Young, who served as president for the past two years, was elected vice president.
The next Board of Supervisors meeting is scheduled for Jan. 21 at 10 a.m. in the board room of the Oktibbeha County Courthouse.
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