The Tryon Daily bulletin recently reported that the Polk County Board of commissioners has begun a search for a permanent County Manager.
This is good news (maybe) since the acting County Manager (Marche Pittman) was installed to replace Ryan Whitson who was about to return from military service. Hard to say what the reasoning was, but the board majority offered Whitson a $178,000 package to buy out the rest of his term rather than let him return to his old position (a very costly decision to the taxpayer) and then appointed Marche Pittman as acting County Manager (though he had no experience in that position).
Note that Pittman ran as a Republican candidate for Clerk of Court in 2012 and lost. He was later given the position of interim County Manager after the Whitson b uyout (the position was n ot advertised and no other applicants considered). The Board majorit y of O wens, Pack, Holbert and Gage are all Republican.
Though there was quite a bit of public objection to the buy out of Whitson and giving the position to Pittman he (Mache Pittman) has remained as acting County Manager for over a year. It appeared clear that it would only be a matter of time before the majority Commissioners would appoint him as the pe rmanent County Manager, but due to the public outcry the Commissioners have decided to accept applications from multiple candidates so that we can (hopefully) have the most qualified person in that roll. Stay tuned to see who they eventually endorse, but at least the noise made by the community made them realize that their actions ARE being watched!
* Note that A Better Polk County's concern over this issue is NOT about Republicans or Democrats, but rather about insisting that OUR tax dollars are spent wisely and NOT on (what appears to be on the surface) political favoritism.
This is good news (maybe) since the acting County Manager (Marche Pittman) was installed to replace Ryan Whitson who was about to return from military service. Hard to say what the reasoning was, but the board majority offered Whitson a $178,000 package to buy out the rest of his term rather than let him return to his old position (a very costly decision to the taxpayer) and then appointed Marche Pittman as acting County Manager (though he had no experience in that position).
Note that Pittman ran as a Republican candidate for Clerk of Court in 2012 and lost. He was later given the position of interim County Manager after the Whitson b uyout (the position was n ot advertised and no other applicants considered). The Board majorit y of O wens, Pack, Holbert and Gage are all Republican.
Though there was quite a bit of public objection to the buy out of Whitson and giving the position to Pittman he (Mache Pittman) has remained as acting County Manager for over a year. It appeared clear that it would only be a matter of time before the majority Commissioners would appoint him as the pe rmanent County Manager, but due to the public outcry the Commissioners have decided to accept applications from multiple candidates so that we can (hopefully) have the most qualified person in that roll. Stay tuned to see who they eventually endorse, but at least the noise made by the community made them realize that their actions ARE being watched!
* Note that A Better Polk County's concern over this issue is NOT about Republicans or Democrats, but rather about insisting that OUR tax dollars are spent wisely and NOT on (what appears to be on the surface) political favoritism.