County Council OKs planning director hire
Published 9:04 pm Monday, November 2, 2009
EVERETT — Snohomish County planners might find themselves with a lighter workload after annexations in the years ahead.
That reality made the County Council hesitate on Monday as it weighed whether to allow County Executive Aaron Reardon to hire a new director for the county’s planning department. In the end, councilmen agreed to give Reardon an exemption to a countywide hiring freeze. That was in contrast to last week, when they delayed the same request.
“Obviously, we’re going to have to hire a director,” Councilman Dave Somers said. “I personally expect things to pick up in the future, and this will be a pressure area again.”
The council voted 4-0 for the hiring-freeze exemption. Councilman Brian Sullivan was absent.
The top planning post has been vacant since the county fired the previous director, Craig Ladiser, in August after he exposed himself to a woman during a golf tournament sponsored by the Master Builders Association of King and Snohomish Counties. Larry Adamson, who oversees code development, is the acting director.
The Executive’s Office has hired an Olympia firm to perform a nationwide search for Ladiser’s replacement. The job pays up to $150,000 per year. Whoever gets the nod will have a difficult balancing act between the building industry and people who favor a slower pace of growth.
The county’s hiring freeze has been in place since the second half of 2008 as a way to deal with a tight budget.
When the exemption request came up last week, the County Council delayed a decision and demanded to know why Reardon had not sent anyone to explain it. This week, executive director Brian Parry provided the explanation.
The search firm has received about 90 applications so far and the candidates themselves prompted the request for the hiring-freeze exemption, Parry said.
“They really want to know the job exists before they begin the interview process at any formal level,” he said.
Noah Haglund: 425-339-3465, nhaglund@heraldnet.com.
