FREDONIA — Russ Walker was among Wilson Countians who questioned whether the county needed an administrator — before he was elected to the county commission in November 2008.
Now, Walker goes out of his way to defuse criticism of Kris Marple, the administrator, as well as heap praise on him.
“We depend on Mark tremendously,” Walker told Allen County Commissioner Gary McIntosh and a Register reporter Wednesday. “I’m 100 percent for the position. He’s very helpful and I use him a lot. I sometimes call him three or four times in a day and he always has an answer for my questions.
“We have a good working relationship,” continued Walker, commission chairman. “He sits in on all our meetings. We make decisions, often with Mark’s advice. But, he knows his boundaries.”
McIntosh has proposed an administrator for Allen County and went to Fredonia Wednesday to have Marple explain his duties.
MARPLE took the administrator’s job after being graduated from Washburn University in 1997.
“I was paid $18,000 that first year,” Marple said. “I was right out of college and the commissioners weren’t sure they wanted an administrative person, or whether I could do the job. No one knew for sure what the position would evolve into.
“There was resistance from elected officials at first,” he said. “Sometimes it was difficult. I was new,” and some county employees were reluctant to depart from “the way we’ve always done things.”
Marple stayed the course.
“After the first year just about everyone understood my role and accepted me,” he said. “The commissioners, I soon figured out, were testing me to see how well I’d do.”
Marple implements decisions of the commissioners and is a bridge for them and other county employees with the public. He also fills the role of human resources director for the county’s 80 full-time and 10 part-time employees.
“Personnel is a big part of the job, including (health) insurance” he said. “I also have a lot of interaction with everyday business in the courthouse,” which includes doing research on issues the commissioners intend to deal with at upcoming meetings.
For his 40 hours of work each week, and to attend meetings in off-hours either with commissioners or on their behalf, Marple today is paid $32,888 a year, plus a monthly health insurance benefit of $471.
“He’s underpaid for he does and what we ask of him,” Walker said, and admonished McIntosh: “Don’t try to steal him away.”
Marple said economic development is a not central part of his job, but efforts were being made to be more aggressive in efforts to attract businesses and people to Wilson County.
“We are working with the chambers of commerce in Fredonia and Neodesha in that direction,” he said, with focus on tourism as well as traditional aspects of economic development.
He thinks soon the county itself may become a more aggressive recruiter.
Marple also meets most months for lunch with city administrators from Fredonia and Neodesha to “iron out whatever issues might be brewing” — with success.
“In the last 10 years there have been no blow-ups between the county and cities,” he said.
MARPLE agreed that an administrator would have an important role for a commission in transition after an election, such as occurred in January 2009 when McIntosh and Rob Francis took their seats for the first time.
“That could happen again in two years,” McIntosh said. “I’ve already announced that I won’t run for a second term and there’s no guarantee that Rob (Francis) will run or be re-elected if he does.”
Dick Works was re-elected to a sixth four-year term in November.
Planning also is a component of governing that an administrator can enhance, Marple said.
“I keep a rolling list of what we have done and goals we have set that we monitor each month,” he said. “We also have a year-end review. We don’t have a five-year plan, but that would be a good idea.”
Essentially, Marple said his role was whatever commissioners wanted it to be.
“There’s never a dull moment.”
FOR COMPARISON’S sake, Allen County commissioners are paid a little over $17,000 a year while those in Wilson County earn $14,250.
When McIntosh proposed adding an administrator, he said it would be appropriate for commissioners to reduce their salaries to generate money to help pay for the position.
Works has been cool to the idea of an administrator, saying that he thought commissioners and County Counselor Alan Weber were doing what an administrator would. Francis said he was willing to listen to a presentation from Marple, but has made no commitment.
