OKTIBBEHA COUNTY – Supervisors came to the chancery courthouse Tuesday afternoon prepared to discuss next year’s budget with various department heads. When they left four hours later, County Administrator Delois Farmer was out of a job.
The board voted 3-2 to “vacate the county administrator’s position” following a pair of lengthy executive sessions that supplanted the would-be budget workshop.
District 1 Supervisor Ben Carver opened the meeting by calling for an executive session to discuss an employee’s job performance. After nearly an hour, the supervisors broke from the closed-session to postpone the budget workshop. Then they returned to executive session.
When the board emerged again, Carver voted along with District 4 Supervisor Pattie Little and District 3 Supervisor Marvell Howard, board president, to cut ties with Farmer, effective immediately. Orlando Trainer, of District 2, and Vice-President Joe Williams, of District 5, opposed.
“To me, it was absolutely thinking we just need to steer the county in a different direction,” Howard told The Dispatch on Wednesday, though he wouldn’t elaborate on any issues supervisors had with Farmer.
Neither would Carver nor Little, each citing the executive session discussions as a “personnel matter.”
“All employees are at-will employees, and our job is to run the county in the most efficient and effective way with the personnel we have in each position,” Carver said. “So, I thought we did that (Tuesday).”
However, Carver insisted the vote on Farmer was “not a termination.” Likewise, Little and Howard said she had been given the opportunity to resign.
“She definitely told us she would prepare a resignation letter,” Howard said.
Speaking with The Dispatch on Wednesday, Trainer called shenanigans.
“My understanding from the action of the board is she was terminated,” Trainer said. “She was released.
“It was very unnecessary and very unfortunate,” he added. “I think the county did a disservice to a faithful, longtime employee. This, too, shall pass. But at the same time, what goes around, comes around.”
Farmer’s tenure
Farmer has served as county administrator since July 2021, replacing Emily Garrard. She started working for the county in the late 1990s, first as a bookkeeper, then deputy elections clerk, before becoming the comptroller under Garrard in 2014.
In a text message sent Wednesday to The Dispatch, Farmer was gracious regarding her departure.
“I’m grateful for the opportunity and most excited for my next chapter,” she wrote. “I thank everyone for supporting me during my years of employment.”
Trainer thinks if there were problems with Farmer’s performance, the board should have either addressed them in January or waited until the beginning of next year. Being without an administrator during budget time, he believes is irresponsible.
He also implied Farmer’s firing was personal.
“We show up for a budget workshop, and yet we go into executive session to deal with a personnel issue,” he said. “To me that’s a bad reflection on the board. … We’ve put the entire county operation in jeopardy behind some personal misunderstanding. I just don’t think that’s the proper way to do county business.”
Williams said he was surprised and disappointed by Tuesday’s vote, calling Farmer a “dedicated employee.”
“Ms. Farmer did a superb, superior job as county administrator,” Williams said. “She carried the county’s interests in her mind at all times. She worked long hours to make sure the job was complete.”
What’s next?
Supervisors plan to begin advertising as soon as next week for a new county administrator. Who will act in that capacity in the interim remains unclear.
An outside contractor is one option, Little said, adding she knows several who would be willing to help.
“We have a person that we (can) contract with that has been a county administrator before and actually has been a county auditor,” Little said. “… He’s retired, so he (would) only … be temporary. … I’m just saying the county is not going to be without. … We’re not going to put anybody in that position that is not an experienced administrator (even in the interim).
Howard agreed outside contracting is an option, as well as “leaning on” experienced employees already in place.
Ultimately, all five supervisors said they want to get an experienced hand hired as full-time administrator as quickly as possible.
It’s a job, as Trainer noted, that is tough and sometimes thankless – one that requires balancing public interfacing with trying to stay on the board of supervisors’ good side.
“I would encourage anybody who is interested in the position to pray about it,” Trainer said.
Zack Plair is the managing editor for The Dispatch.
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Quality, in-depth journalism is essential to a healthy community. The Dispatch brings you the most complete reporting and insightful commentary in the Golden Triangle, but we need your help to continue our efforts. In the past week, our reporters have posted 37 articles to cdispatch.com. Please consider subscribing to our website for only $2.30 per week to help support local journalism and our community.
