Richland County Administrator Transition

Richland County Administrator, Candace Pesch, attended her final Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night. Her final day serving the county is today (Wednesday). Among the items confirmed at last night’s meeting was to fill her position. At the county’s request, County Clerk, Derek Kalish, was asked to serve as the interim administrator. The board approved Kalish to assume the interim position beginning tomorrow (January 9) and terminating when a permanent Administrator is appointed. During his service as interim County Administrator, Kalish will be paid a monthly salary of $11,146. For the interim, the board also appointed an assistant administrator. County Highway Commissioner, Josh Elder, has been appointed to this position. During his service as interim Deputy County Administrator, Elder shall be paid his normal monthly salary, unless otherwise mutually agreed to by the parties. The board then approved to enter into a contract with Public Administration Associates LLC (PAA), in an amount not to exceed of $22,750 for services provided in recruiting to fill the County Administrator vacancy.

Also approved was the creation and filling of a Payroll & Benefits Assistant Position. Richland County employs over 450 staff with seven different payrolls, and there are currently various departmental staff that assist in preparation of timecards and payroll reporting. There is currenlty only one staff in Administration that processes the payroll and benefits changes, billings, retirement tracking, FMLA tracking, COBRA, and etc., resulting in the need for unsustainable amounts of overtime for one individual. The Payroll Assistant position will be paid in the range of $53,476 to $66,435 per year to be funded with $11,000 in overtime savings and from currently budgeted monies in the FT Corporation Counsel line.

And finally approved last night was a petition to the Secretary of Transportation for airport improvement aid at the Tri-County Airport.