Staff Writer
Archuleta County is again in the hunt for a new county administrator.
The contract for the current administrator, Jesse Smith, expires Oct. 15, and will not be renewed at the request of Smith.
Smith was hired on a six-month contract that began April 15.
That contract allowed for an automatic one-year renewal at the end of the six-month term, but Smith said it was at his request that the contract not continue.
“When I accepted it, I accepted it for only six months,” Smith said, adding that family medical issues would make living in Archuleta County during the winter difficult. “It was at my request that we don’t go further.”
But Smith said, by the expiration of his contract, he anticipates having done 90 percent of what he intended to do with Archuleta County, leaving behind some implementation and fine-tuning.
Some of those things, Smith said, are the strategic plan and 2014 budget (see related story). By Oct. 15, a draft budget will be in the hands of the commissioners.
Smith was hired on an interim basis after the county was unable to find a permanent administrator during two searches following the November 2012 departure of former administrator Greg Schulte.
County Attorney Todd Starr served as the interim county administrator until Smith was hired.
According to information provided by Human Resources Administrator Mitzi Bowman, the position is being advertised for one month in The SUN, The Durango Herald, and with the National Association of Counties (NACO) and the International City/County Management Association (ICMA).
randi@pagosasun.com
