Imagine you’re the owner, or at least responsible party, of a company that generates more than $27 million annually in revenue.

And as part of your responsibilities as owner/ grand poo-bah, you are tasked with hiring someone to run your $27 million business that includes all the typical challenges associated with a company that size: dozens of employees, vendors, contractors, budgets and assets to manage and maintain.

If you took your responsibility seriously, you’d want to hire the most qualified person for the position. The person with the right blend of experience and expertise who would not only help maintain your business’ success but continue it in the future.

What you likely wouldn’t do is walk up and down your neighborhood asking anyone who answers the door who they think you should hire to run the business. You wouldn’t leave a decision that important up to essentially a popularity contest.

And yet, that’s exactly what’s going on here in Lincoln County … and it’s a problem.

Troy’s struggles with hiring a city administrator are well chronicled. We are familiar with the board of aldermen’s failed recent efforts, and ensuing drama, trying to fill the position. And while they will try again, as they should, they shouldn’t be the only government entity looking to hire an administrator.

Lincoln County desperately needs one as well, as evidenced by last week’s front page story in The Journal.

As we reported, the county was essentially scammed out of somewhere between $130-$160K. We don’t know the exact amount because no one responsible for the screw up or remotely in the know is talking. That alone is a problem unto itself. Whether it’s 130,000 or $160,000 lost, that’s a lot of cash and the taxpayers are due an explanation. We let the cat out of the bag last week. There’s no secrets now. It’s time to be held accountable to the people who provided that money.

What’s equally concerning though is how this happened. As explained by county officials in last week’s story, a bill is submitted to the county clerk and goes through several other officials, including the auditor and treasurer, before it gets to the commissioners who approve its payment.

Obviously, when the fake bill from Gateway Fiber came through the system, none of those individuals caught that it was bogus.

Beyond their inability to realize something was rotten, there’s another common denominator between those individuals: They are all elected. And since they are all elected, there is no immediate accountability, like there would be in the private sector.

Some readers wondered who had been fired after that massive screwup. The answer is no one because the responsible parties aren’t hired and fired. They are elected and by the time they are all up for re-election, voters will have long forgotten about this incident.

Which leads me back to my original point: Lincoln County needs an administrator.

Lincoln County is growing fast. Everyone here knows that. What we don’t know, or at least don’t realize, is we have grown beyond the abilities of our current leadership structure. Simply put, a $27 million business needs an executive running it.

A county administrator/ executive/manager, whatever you want to call the position, would be responsible for making sure all bills are legit. That individual would be responsible for making sure outer roads are built. A county administrator would be charged with preparing a budget that provided the resources needed for all departments to adequately fulfill their duties, avoiding scenarios where some have hordes of cash stashed away while others cut essential services.

But alas, we don’t have that here in Lincoln County.

Essentially what we have in charge is three commissioners who are really working a part-time job. Their pay reflects that and as the old saying goes, you get what you pay for and right now, Lincoln County is paying for three part-timers.

That’s not meant to be a disparaging remark about the current commissioners. It’s unfair to expect them to bring the level of expertise, education and experience needed to run a $27 million business on a part-time salary.

School districts have a similar model. While they don’t generate nearly that much revenue, they have an elected board that essentially is in charge … but not of the day-to-day operations of the schools. They hire a superintendent for that responsibility … a lifelong educator who’s received advanced schooling and training specifically geared to meeting the unique challenges of running a school.

Just like it’s unreasonable to expect Ron Mills, who spends most of his time running State Farm to spend a day or two on campus managing the day-to-day of the schools, its just as unreasonable to expect the same of Matt Bass, Joseph Kaimann or Mike Mueller.

And that’s why the county needs an administrator, just like the school district needs a superintendent and Troy needs a city manager.

I guarantee you this: If, as the manager of the Lincoln County Journal, I approved a bogus bill that cost my employer $150K, I’d be out of a job. There would be immediate and severe consequences for my negligence and I knew that going into the job.

As taxpayers, we should have the confidence a similar level of accountability will occur from our local government.

Gregory Orear is the publisher of the Lincoln County Journal, Troy Free Press and Elsberry Democrat. While he’s never lost $150K for his employer, he did feel bad about a recent $250 locksmith expense. He can be contacted at gregorear@lincolncountyjournal.


com.