- October 26, 2024
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County commissioners approved a new contract with Heidi Petito on Oct. 18, granting her a $14,000 increase as the commission reclassified her post from that of interim county administrator to simply county administrator, without the "interim" qualifier.
"My critique is of the contract, and has nothing to do with the abilities of Ms. Petito, who — we all agree, and voted unanimously on — has full confidence."
— ANDY DANCE, county commissioner
The decision drew one dissenter on the commission: Commissioner Andy Dance, who was quick to clarify that his objection wasn't to Petito — he'd previously voted along with his fellow commissioners to select her for the position — but to some of the particulars of the proposed contract, including the absence of a performance evaluation mechanism and the $14,000 raise, which the commission had never previously discussed.
"My discussion does not have anything to do with Ms. Petito — that was a unanimous vote that we all agreed on," Dance said. "... In the future, moving forward, Ms. Petito isn't going to be the county administrator forever, and we’re setting a precedent with each contract as we move forward. I think it’s our duty to establish a more precise format for reviews. Every employee in the county goes through a review process; ours is very informal. It’s not spelled out."
As to the $14,0000 increase, he said, "... I’m not ready quite yet to bump the starting salary to 179; I think there’s room in here to sit down and do some, maybe, incentive-based options that can give Ms. Petito some goals," Dance said.
He added, "We really didn't discuss an increase in salary; it just appeared as if it was going to be this formality of signing the contract."
Dance, a former School Board member, proposed an addendum to Petito's contact: Using some of the particulars of the school district's contract with its superintendent as a model, he'd prepared one that would set goals and objectives for Petito and provide for annual commission reviews of her performance.
He suggested a roadmap that would phase in the $14,000 increase over several years as Petito met pre-determined benchmarks.
Other commissioners weren't interested in that, noting that county staff members had determined that the average county administrator salary for similarly sized coastal counties this year— $192,564, according to the meeting's backup documentation — was higher than the one proposed for Petito.
"Commissioner Dance, no offense, but the School Board and what's all going on over there and how it’s ran — I’m not a fan of all that," Commissioner Joe Mullins said. "Not a fan of some of the structure that’s been put in place over there."
Commissioner Greg Hansen said he appreciated the work Dance had put into the addendum.
"But you know, we evaluate the administrator every year," Hansen said, "and quite honestly, I evaluate the administrator every day. And I'm not hesitant to walk in and say, 'We need to do this better,' and I think my colleagues ... would do the same thing."
The commission did take Dance's advice on one aspect of the contract, deciding to add at some point in the future an addendum that would spell out how he county should proceed if Petito were to become incapacitated. Dance, suggesting that addition, had recalled the School Board's consternation in 2013 when its then-superintendent was incapacitated due to a stroke, and her contract provided no clear direction on what should be done.
Dance, on multiple occasions, has said he'd prefer a more deliberative process on major County Commission decisions. And although he'd voted with the majority, Dance had also raised objections when Hansen, at an Oct. 4 commission meeting, had proposed choosing Petito for the regular county administrator position.
The topic of Petito's position hadn't been on that meeting's agenda, Dance had noted, so members of the public had no advance notice that the commission would be holding a vote to select the county's future administrator.
Dance said he'd have preferred Petito's contract to come before the commission in a workshop, so that commissioners could discuss the particulars in more depth before the date of the vote.
The commission discussed the contract for less than 15 minutes on Oct. 18 before voting 4-1, with Dance dissenting, to approve it.
