Supervisors need to be more active in hiring

Published 10:12 am Wednesday, January 9, 2013

To the Editor:

I would like to comment on the recent article “Assistant Southampton County Administrator resigns,” Jan. 4.

It appears that Southampton has become a training ground for young talented officials. We should be seeing more tenure from these positions. Hiring a young talented employee for a lower than average salary and expecting them to retire there is crazy. What about the future?

Now there is no one to take over if the county administrator resigns or retires?

Southampton County doesn’t even have a dedicated human resources staff to promote retention and handle employee relations matters. This is totally an improper form of management.

The county administrator does not work closely enough with employees to know the needs and obstacles that departments face; his management style is totally reactive and should be proactive.

How are we supposed to retain and have good loyal employees who want to stay with the poor management that we have.

The Board (of Supervisors) is so concerned with saving money that they are not paying attention to what is going on with the staff. The Board definitely needs to take a more active role in the management and accountability of county employees.

Winston Johnson
Ivor