The Montezuma County Board of County Commissioners is assuming administrative duties as the county searches for a replacement for Travis Anderson, the former county administrator, who retired earlier this month.
The board approved a resolution at last week’s meeting that lays out how administrative duties have been divvied. County Attorney Stephen Tarnowski explained at the meeting the resolution gives direction to how county business will be run in the short-term future.
The designations include:
- Commissioner Kent Lindsay taking on primary administrative oversight of the Social Services and Public Health departments.
- Commissioner Gerald Koppenhafer taking on oversight of the Road and Bridge Department, county landfill services, and county fairgrounds.
- Commissioner Jim Candelaria assuming day-to-day administrative functions of the county. County spokesperson Vicki Shaffer said examples of this role include final approval of weekly board agendas and oversight and approval of payroll.
“This is the result of my conversations with Travis Anderson about what we thought would be a good way to split up the duties of the administrator,” Tarnowski said last week.
He added while they aren’t obligated under Colorado law, many of the county procedures and policies are set up for an administrator to lead them and he said “this would be the smoothest way” to transition operations without one.
Under the Colorado state statute, the commissioners have both legislative and executive powers. The county is advertising the administrator position on multiple forums and it is listed on the county website.
Shaffer said counties in the region have recently taken several months to fill similar positions, so the timeline for the hiring process is difficult to tell.
Anderson may return after the summer on a temporarily basis to fill in as administrator and assist with training the new hire, Shaffer said, if it’s feasible for him to do so.
awatson@the-journal.com
