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Monday, March 18, 2024
March 18, 2024

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In Our View: Step in Right Direction

Naming McCauley county manager smart move, but Madore \u2018agreement\u2019 not

The Columbian
Published:

So far, so good. As Clark County voters approved a home-rule charter in November, many indicated they were hoping to smooth out some of the bumps from what has been chaotic management of the county.

In that regard, the hiring of Mark McCauley as the first county manager is a steady step in the proper direction. McCauley has been selected by the Board of County Commissioners to fill the new position, and the leadership he has demonstrated in his previous role as county administrator makes him a worthy choice for the job when the charter takes effect Jan. 1.

The differences between county administrator and county manager might seem like little more than semantics but, as voters indicated during the election, they are ready for some vast changes in county government. In simple terms, the county manager will assume executive authority over county departments while the commissioners, who now will be called councilors, will continue to set policy. Currently, commissioners have both executive and legislative powers.

McCauley, 58, has worked for Clark County since 2001. He has a master’s degree in business administration from Syracuse University and is a retired U.S. Army lieutenant colonel. “I grew up in a military family, and life has taken me all over the world,” he said. “After my career in the Army, my wife and I picked Clark County to be our home for the long haul.”

It seems to be a good fit, and McCauley appeared to be an obvious choice for the new position. That being said, there will be challenges, not the least of which will be a smooth transition to a new form of government. While the approved charter will increase the number of commissioners/councilors from three to five, that transition will not take place until Jan. 1, 2016, after two new councilors are elected next year. Commissioner David Madore, apparently, is particularly concerned about that transition. Following last week’s meeting in which McCauley was officially hired, Madore unexpectedly distributed a one-page “Charter Implementation Process Agreement.”

Madore, who often talks about process and transparency, had failed to place discussion of the agreement on the agenda or to inform any of the concerned parties that it was coming. Among the caveats in the proposed agreement: “The council, with input from the county manager, will develop an orderly process to identify and implement the amendments necessary to change all current rules, processes, practices, ordinances, and resolutions to complete the transition by January 1, 2016.”

The need for such an agreement remains unclear, as it would seem that facilitating an orderly transition would be the duty of county government with or without an agreement. “The process will be conducted in such a manner as to provide an incremental, well-organized and thoughtful transition with the goal of implementing achievable changes by June 30, 2015,” reads the proposal from Madore who, it should be noted, opposed the charter.

We’ll make this simple for the commissioner: The charter spells out which well-organized and thoughtful changes should be made, and commissioners would be wise to use it as their guideline. Then again, given the lack of orderly process demonstrated by county leaders in recent years, perhaps the issue does need to be spelled out.

All of which reflects some of the challenges that will be facing McCauley. He appears to be capable of handling them.

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