Clark County OKs agreement for interim manager

Clark County will soon have an interim county manager.

At its Wednesday afternoon board time meeting, the Clark County council voted 4-0 (Councilor John Blom was absent) to approve an agreement with the Prothman Co., an Issaquah-based consulting and recruiting firm, to provide the services of Jim Rumpeltes as interim county manager.

Under the agreement, Rumpeltes, who has a background in government management in Arizona and Washington, will not be an employee of the county but instead of the Prothman Co. Speaking after the meeting, Deputy County Manager Bob Stevens said that the county will pay Prothman $125 an hour for services provided by Rumpeltes.

He said July 10 will be the target start date. He also said that the agreement does not include payment for benefits and is open-ended with no termination date. During the meeting, Stevens noted that the council could negotiate a separate housing allowance with Rumpeltes. He said that the money could come out of a leftover vehicle allowance for former Clark County Manager Mark McCauley that was not included in his severance after he was suddenly terminated from his position in May.

“As for the total contract costs, we don’t know,” said Stevens, in response to concerns expressed by Councilor Jeanne Stewart about the costs of the agreement. “It depends on how long we have him. It will essentially be ($5,000) a week just for the services that we pay Prothman for, assuming a 40-hour week.”

When reached by phone, Rumpeltes declined to comment, saying he hadn’t heard anything from the county. According to his résumé, Rumpeltes worked as budget director for Spokane County between 1978-1985 and as county administrator for Clallam County between 1986-2001. He later served as assistant city manager and city manager for Surprise, Ariz., a city of about 132,000 in Maricopa County, between 2001-2008. Additionally, he’s done short-term work with other cities in Arizona and Waste Management Inc.

During the meeting, Councilor Eileen Quiring and Stewart both said they were impressed with his experience and his personability. Councilor Julie Olson also noted she liked how he had managed the rapidly growing city of Surprise, an experience she said would serve him well as manager of rapidly growing Clark County.

“He’s preparing the organization for the permanent county manager, and he sees that as his role, and I thought that was forward-looking,” she said.

Council Chair Marc Boldt said that he was struck by his “calm sense of leadership.”

“He has the courage to change the system, but at the same time, he’s sensitive to employees while he’s doing it,” he said. “It’s a hard mix.”

At a previous board time meeting, Greg Prothman, president of the Prothman Co., said that the interim county manager will likely serve between four to six months and follow a work plan crafted by the council.