The Saline County Commission at its regularly scheduled meeting on Tuesday voted to eliminate four upper management positions.
In a 2-1 vote, the Commission did away with the positions of County Administrator, Road and Bridge Director, Planning and Zoning Director and Health Department Director. Outgoing Commissioner Randy Duncan and Commissioner John Price voted in favor of the motion to eliminate the positions. Commissioner Jim Gile voted “No”.
The move means Rita Deister (Administrator), David Neal (Planning and Zoning) and Dave Nowak (Road and Bridge) are all out of work as of January 1st. The position of County Health Director has been vacant since Bronson Farmer resigned unexpectedly in early October. Tuesday’s vote will stop the search to fill that position.
Commissioner Price told KSAL News the County will save a little over $400,000 a year as a result of this vote.
This was the next to last regularly scheduled meeting of the Saline County Commission with its current members. On January 12th, three new Commissioners will be sworn in. Monte Shadwick was elected in November. He will take over for Duncan who had been serving in District One for the past eight years. Luci Larson and David Smith were appointed by Governor Sam Brownback earlier this month as the first Commissioners to serve in the newly created Districts Four and Five.
It is unknown if the new Commission will revisit today’s decision.
