The Fayette Board of Aldermen has reaffirmed its decision not to hire a new city administrator. In a Letter to the Editor on page 2 of this newspaper, Southwest Ward Alderman Grafton Cook outlines the city council’s position.

Fayette has had a rocky history over the last two years with city administrators. In March of 2020, the city fired longtime city administrator and city clerk Robin Triplett after her failure to file financial reports with the state cost the city more than $151,000 in fines. An interim city administrator, John Hancock, was hired to lead the city through the budget process until a permanent administrator could be hired. In July of that year, the council signed Tyler Griffith to a two-year contract as the city administrator. He resigned in June of 2021, three days after announcing he would take a three-week leave of absence.

Griffith claimed he was paid a severance of $32,000 at the time of his departure, leaving little in the city’s budget to hire a new administrator.

In his letter, Cook wrote that before the city hired Griffith, council members had interviewed candidates with salary requirements ranging from $70,000 to more than $90,000 a year. He wrote that those figures would have placed inordinate pressure on the city's administration budget. “What the city urgently needs now, in my view, are individuals who are capable, qualified, and can demonstrate deep competence in the day-to-day business operations of the city while mastering those tasks that are a statutory requirement.”

The city has placed many of the responsibilities of administrator on City Clerk Tara Kunze and created the new position of Deputy Clerk. Rebecca Yung was hired for this new position from the utility office. The city has also written new job descriptions for both positions in an effort to create what Cook called a hybrid administrator. 

“This is just something that the council felt would be the best move forward in light of the circumstances surrounding our city administrator’s resignation,” Cook explained during the city council’s regular meeting on August 24. “It will give everyone in the city, I think, a broader view of how things work on a day-to-day basis.”

Cook said that the council has not ruled out hiring a new administrator in the future. 

During the August 24 meeting, Cook also suggested that council members review monthly revenue and expense reports and hold quarterly budget reviews. 

“We’ve had a couple of extreme instances here in the last few years, that’s why I think we’ve realized there definitely needs to be a greater council oversight of everything that the city is involved in.”