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Loper pushes for action on county administrator job
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An Effingham County commissioner questioned when the rest of the board is going to hire a permanent county administrator.

Commissioner Reggie Loper pointed out it’s been a year since the county had a permanent county administrator.

“We need to do something,” Loper said. “We haven’t done anything. I think we ought to do something.”

Toss Allen has been serving as interim administrator since David Crawley resigned under pressure a year ago. Crawley, now the city of Springfield public works director, is running for the county commission District 5 seat, currently held by Phil Kieffer.

Commissioners discussed a job description for the county administrator post with Dave Willis, the Association of County Commissioners of Georgia government relations manager, last fall.

Allen said he could provide as much information about the position as the commissioners needed. The commissioners could use the Carl Vinson Institute of Government, the county’s own human resources department or an executive headhunting firm for the search.

“Carl Vinson can handle the whole thing, or they can handle pieces of it,” Allen said, “whether it’s just vetting applications. It all depends on how far you want to go.”

The county’s inventory of roads may be delaying the county’s audit. The Statesboro firm of Thigpen, Lanier, Westerfield and Deal was engaged in October to perform the audit.

“They have asked for clarification on these subdivision roads, whether we do or do not own them,” Allen said. “If they are ours, we should book those as material assets. If we do in fact (own the roads), we should have been booking them as assets.”

Allen said he has about 70 plats he has to get into digital format for the attorney to review.

“At least one version of the ordinances did say that acceptance of a plat does not mean the county has accepted the road. We probably have to go through and look for other signs of ownership — have we extended water service, have we maintained the roads — there are going to be a number of factors to look at. It’s going to be a case-by-case basis.”