By QUINTON SMITH/YachatsNews.com
Wayne Belmont’s last official day as the top lawyer and de facto administrator for Lincoln County is Friday and his departure – delayed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic and wildfires – is creating a ripple effect among county leadership.
Belmont joined the county in 1986, soon becoming county counsel and then as the unofficial county administrator reporting to three commissioners.
“He’s never held the official title, but an attitude of ‘things needed to get done and I would just do it’ made him the go-to guy,” the county said in a special news release on his retirement.
Lincoln County has operated since its formation 1893 without an official county administrator to oversee its day-to-day operations. It is a situation unique in Oregon.
Instead, it has relied on a three-member board of commissioners to oversee a county with a general budget that is now $47 million and has 465 employees. Five others – sheriff, district attorney, clerk, surveyor, assessor and treasurer – are elected to run specific departments but rely on commissioners for their budgets.
Some of that is changing.
While Belmont’s last day as an employee is Friday, he will work part-time on contract to handle some special projects. He had planned to retire last year, but stayed on to help the county manage the coronavirus crisis and then the response to wildfires in Otis.
For the first time the county is conducting a national search for an administrator to handle daily operations. The recruitment for an administrator is being conducted by Prothman, an executive search agency based in Issaquah, Wash., which has handled hundreds of municipal job searches in the Pacific Northwest. The listed salary range is $120,000 to $160,000.
The first wave of applications were due at the end of May. Now that recruitment process has been extended into at least August, commission chair Doug Hunt told YachatsNews.
Hunt said Prothman and commissioners looked “at a lot of applications, but we’re still looking for the right person” to lead the county.
Given the time needed to recruit, screen, interview and get someone on board, it could be the fall before a new administrator is hired. Hunt said although the exact process has not been determined, there will be a chance for the public to meet any finalists.
New ordinance outlines duties
County commissioners have created a new ordinance establishing the county administrator’s office. It also created an assistant’s position in the 2021-22 budget to help the new administrator.
Commissioners have appointed Kristin Yuille, who has been an assistant in the county’s legal office since 2008, as county counsel. Belmont was re-classified as an assistant and Jerry Herbage will remain as an assistant.
An order approved by the commission says the county counsel’s office will perform the duties of the newly-created administrator’s position until someone is hired.
But the changes are also affecting commissioners.
Currently, the three commissioners have direct, administrative oversight of nine departments. Hunt, for example, oversees finance, technology, personnel and health and human services.
The new order also defines “liaison commissioner” which assigns one of the three to departments or offices “for purposes of being informed about issues pertinent to the department, office, committee or agency, and not for administrative purposes.”
The order also says the county administrator is responsible to commissioners for the overall administration and management of the county and its service districts, but has no authority over the actions of elected officials or the county counsel’s office. But, the administrator has authority over departmental budgets through the budget process, “and shall otherwise coordinate services, projects and activities of departmental directors and elected officials …”
The new ordinance says the administrator has authority “at the direction and in coordination with members of the board” be able to select, appoint and dismiss department directors — but that all final employment decisions “shall be made by the board.”
The ordinance gives commissioners leeway to make “inquiries of county employees within departments or offices, or members of committees or agencies to which they are assigned concerning day-to-day conduct of county affairs or otherwise with department directors or other elected officials.”
The ordinance acknowledges that because the administrator’s position is new, requires commissioners to review the “roles, responsibilities, duties and effectiveness” of the position to see if changes in the ordinances are needed.
Hunt said there is confusion among some county employees or others that commissioners will end “direct reports” with departments.
“The commissioners have not made that change,” he told YachatsNews.
Instead, Hunt said, the new ordinance creates the flexibility “to make that change if we decide to do so.”
Commissioners praise Belmont’s work
In the county’s news release announcing his retirement, Belmont said the common theme of his legal and administrative career was “relationships, relationships, relationships.”
“There are so many things we can do together,” he said. “Relationships. That’s my philosophy for how you get things done. You work hard to nurture and build relationships, because working together that way is so much better than setting up silos.”
Belmont said some of his career highlights are helping establish the Lincoln County Library District, the transit district that stabilized and expanded bus service throughout the county, and helping form the state’s first extension service district, and developing an animal services district.
Hunt said Belmont’s retirement means the county is losing a “stabilizing force.”
“County counsel and county administrator are both full-time jobs, and yet Wayne has fulfilled those responsibilities admirably and with tireless dedication and selfless commitment to the county,” he said.
Commissioner Kaety Jacobson had similar sentiments.
“There is simply no better partner and collaborator than Wayne. I was told when I first joined the county by retiring Commissioner Thompson that ‘you will love working with Wayne’ and he was absolutely right. Through fires, floods, and plague (literally) Wayne has been there for staff, for the county, and constituents,” Jacobson said.
Knowing Belmont as a humble man who would downplay any fanfare about his retirement, Commissioner Claire Hall testified to the legacy of the retiring attorney.
“Although he’s always shunned the spotlight, people should know how essential Wayne’s dedication has been to advancing the important work of the commissioners and of Lincoln County,” Hall said. “His knowledge, energy, ability to build strong working relationships with community partners will all be missed.”