by Leah Justice

leah.justice@tryondailybulletin.com

 

One of newly hired permanent Polk County Manager Marche Pittman’s first jobs will be to create a job description and budget for a human resource officer.

Pittman has been the interim county manager for the past two years and has handled the duties of human resource officer as well as manager. He was made permanent manager during the county’s Dec. 1 meeting.

County commissioners have discussed the need for a human resource officer during several meetings over the past couple of years. Human resource officer duties in the past have been done through other employees, including as part of the clerk/assistant manager position at one time and most recently through the finance office. The new human resource officer could either be a newly hired employee or the duties be added onto a current employee.

Prior to the new board being sworn into office on Monday, commissioners unanimously approved charging Pittman with creating a job description and developing a budget for a human resource officer position.

Commissioner Ray Gasperson asked that part of Pittman’s research for the position be to investigate if this can be combined with another county position, namely a current employee.

Gasperson said although some county government growth has been necessary, he is concerned about the potential growth of bureaucracy.

Commissioner Tom Pack, who was later appointed as chairman of the board, said he just assumed what Gasperson mentioned was a given in Pittman’s research. Pack said the job description could be a modification of another job description.

Polk County government is the county’s fourth largest employer, behind Polk County Schools, St. Luke’s Hospital and Tryon Estates.

According to the county’s audit report, as of June 30, 2014, Polk County employed 224 persons.

Polk County Schools employed 473 persons as of June 30, 2014, St. Luke’s employed 321 and Tryon Estates employed 262.