PORT ANGELES – It’s beginning to look like interim Clallam County Administrator Rich Sill might hold on to that position permanently. If so, County Commissioners say it would likely save taxpayers a significant amount of money in terms of salaries and avoid the long process of finding a new administrator, a search that already ended in disappointment earlier this year.

There were significant changes at the top when Sill took over following the retirement of Jim Jones. Sill was already the county’s Human Resources Director, Risk Manager and Claims Administrator. Commissioners elected to hire a separate Chief Finance Officer to lighten the Administrator’s load, and there have been divisions of labor along the way.

At Tuesday’s work session, commissioners went over several options on how to proceed before starting the process of searching for a new Administrator, and commissioner Mark Ozias says they’re leaning toward keeping things pretty much the way they are and scrapping the idea of finding a new administrator.

“The model that Rich has been pioneering here over the last few months is a real team focused approach and, based on the conversation I had at work session today, I think that commissioner Johnson and I are both feeling pretty favorable about how things have been going here around the courthouse. I think we’re going to lean towards ensconcing a new model that cuts away some of the responsibilities that Rich has traditionally held, particularly for Risk Management and Claims, and transferring those responsibilities to another staff person within the Human Resources function, formally ensconcing Rich’s position as the County Administrator and HR position, and our goal is to try and have this sort of set in stone by the end of the year this year so that we can move forward and start working on bigger and better things.”

Ozias says Commissioners will meet again on the subject in a few weeks.