Franklin BOC to Conduct Interviews for County Manager Position

The Franklin County Board of Commissioners is taking the next step in their search for a new county manager.

Monday evening, the Board held a called meeting in which they went into executive session to discuss personnel.

After coming out of executive session, Commission Chairman Jason Macomson gave an update on their search process.

“The Board has evaluated each application that we received for County Manager and we have eliminated those that we felt did not meet our qualifications,” he said. “At this point we are going to schedule interviews with multiple candidates over the next 10 days with a view towards announcing our final candidates, and that’s plural, at our January 26 work session.”

Last November, former county manager Beth Thomas announced her resignation.  At the time, the Board immediately began advertising for her replacement.  Applications were taken through December 31st.

The County received 30 applications, according to Macomson.

“Of those, the Board was able to identify and reach consensus on a good number to interview from the remaining applicants,” he said.

However, Macomson would not say how many of the remaining applicants the Board plans to interview.

Among other things, the County Manager works with the Board of Commissioners in the day-to-day operations of all aspects of the county government, including personnel, finance, and planning.

“Speaking for myself, I feel strongly that the person we hire should demonstrate experience in personnel management and financial administration. That guided how I evaluated each applicant,” he explained.

According to the description of the position on the Franklin County website, Commissioners are looking for a candidate with a Bachelor’s degree in Public Administration, Business Administration, or closely related field from an accredited college or university supplemented by five years of progressively responsible management experience, preferably as a combination of local government and private industry experience.

Also required according to the job description is a knowledge of local government financial administration and fund accounting; knowledge of federal, state, and local laws, statutes, and regulations.

Once the finalist is announced, the Board must wait 14 days from that announcement, according to Georgia law, before formally voting to hire that person.