Administrator duties divided among employees

City Administrator Dave Plyman completed his last day of work with the city of Washington one week ago. Since then, his responsibilities have been divided among the rest of the city staff. The city council talked about those responsibilities and who would bear them.

Councilor Bob Shepherd said that, ordinarily, he doesn?t want the council to be too heavy-handed in its dealings with the city staff. However, he said that in the absence of a city administrator, the council should become more involved.

?I?m dead-set against micromanagement, but I think we need to now in order to share the load,? said Shepherd.

Councilors Mike Roth and Karen Wilson-Johnson expressed agreement with Shepherd?s point of view.

Mayor Sandra Johnson reminded the council that it could still call Plyman at his new place of employment in Rochelle, Ill. The council agreed that it should cease contact with Plyman after it selects a new administrator, so that the new administrator does not feel undermined.

The councilors asked City Accountant Joe Myers how he was handling the new duties. Myers acknowledged that it was more work but that ?you got to take care of business.?

At Wednesday?s meeting, the council reviewed an offer by the company Schrad Solutions, LLC of Knoxville to perform administrative services for the city. Dick Schrad offered to work 25-30 hours per week for a compensation of $40 per hour that required him to be at city hall and $25 per hour which did not. The councilors agreed that they and the city staff could handle the administrator?s responsibilities for a few months and thus declined Schrad?s offer.

The council scheduled a special session for Friday at 1 p.m. It plans to discuss the sharing of duties and to reconsider whether the city should hire an interim administrator over the summer.