City Council interviews City Administrator candidates

The City Council held a series of closed meetings to interview candidates for city administrator three months after City Administrator Arpegea Pagsuberon complained that former Mayor Pro Tem Tom Parker had sexually harassed her, and was abruptly fired by the Council.

The candidates are Kaci Creel, Olney Police Officer Simon Dwyer, Joe Livingston and Nicholas Nix, Mayor Rue Rogers said.

Mayor Rogers has assumed Ms. Pagsuberon’s duties while the City hunts for a new administrator to oversee city departments and manage the City’s budget.

Ms. Pagsuberon served as Municipal Clerk and City Secretary and was promoted to Assistant City Manager in 2021, serving under City Administrator Neal Welch. When Mr. Welch retired later that year after two years on the job, Ms. Pagsuberon was named Interim City Administrator. The Council offered her a two-year contract in late 2022.

She was terminated for unspecified reasons on Jan. 8.

The Council conducted an interview in executive session on March 28 and, as of press time, had scheduled two more interviews for April 3 and which seems to exclude deputies who work in the investigation or administration”, he said.

Sheriff Travis Babcock plans to use the money to bring his salary up to the state-mandated minimum of $75,000. He also wants to provide salary stipends for his chief deputy, investigators, training coordinators, civil process servers, all other deputies, and everyone who works in the jail, Judge Graham said. He also would like to create new deputy and jailer positions, he said.

“There is some debate in the state if a chief deputy, investigator, civil processor or training coordinator can receive a salary stipend. We are going to have to do more research on it,” he said.

The rules governing grant spending for the office of County Attorney Chris Baran are “considerably more restrictive,” he said. The funds are to go to salary increases for an assistant attorney, an investigator, or a victim assistance coordinator, or to hire additional staff. County Commissioners already approved the hiring of one new full-time position, and Mr. Baran does not have an investigator or assistant County Attorney on his staff, Judge Graham said.

“He is not going to use all this money,” Judge Graham said. “We are going to be giving some of that money back.”