Jackson Progress-Argus

Alan E. White

Jackson — When Alan E. White steps away from Butts County government, as he is expected to do later this year, he’ll be leaving vacancies in two key positions -- those of Butts County administrator, and executive director of the Butts County Industrial Development Authority.

His contracts in both roles expire at the end of this year, while his wife, Lynda White, is retiring from her role as Butts County Schools superintendent at the end of this month. The couple has said they plan to move to north Georgia.

The school board has already begun reviewing applications to fill the superintendent’s job, but the processes to fill the roles held by Alan White have just begun in recent days.

The Industrial Development Authority, on Friday asked White to post an advertisement for the authority director’s position on various web sites from Sept. 15 to Oct. 15. Alan White said Monday that the authority planned to review the applications and begin interviews at the end of October with an eye toward filling the position by Dec. 1.

He said the position would be a full-time job, with a salary ranging from $48,000 to $61,000 a year.

Alan White said he was asked to post the position advertisement on the Industrial Development Authority’s web site, and the county commission’s web site, and look into posting the ad with the Georgia Department of Economic Development.

Development Authority members, for more than two years, have shared Alan White with the Board of Commissioners as he served simultaneously, and primarily, as county administrator. Authority members have said they no longer want to share the position, but have a full-time director that works only on the authority’s behalf.

Alan White has also said that because his time is mostly devoted to county operations, he has not been able to focus as much attention on the Development Authority as he might otherwise.

On Monday, Butts County Commission Chairman Roger D. McDaniel announced that the commission had appointed a five-member advisory panel to help in the process of filling the county administrator’s position.

Those members are Kay Pippin, a Butts County resident and director of the Henry County Chamber of Commerce; Maurice Raines, chairman of the Upson County Board of Commissioners; George Tate, a retired Butts County school principal; Clint Crowe, a real estate agent and member of the Butts County Planning and Zoning Commission; and Butts County resident, Jud Swearingen.

McDaniel said the five-member panel would help create the timeline for the hiring process, and have input on the qualifications that the Board of Commissioners should be looking for in the next county administrator. He said the Board of Commissioners had not yet determined what the salary would be, but Alan White’s annual contract, from July 2010 to June 2011 -- which was extended earlier this year to December 2011 -- calls for an annual salary of $92,700.

The Development Authority provides $25,000 of that amount, from an allocation it receives from the county.

McDaniel said the Board of Commissioners, in choosing members for the county administrator advisory panel, sought to bring diversity to the table.

“We wanted to get experts that would understand the role of administrators and have them work with the commissioners in compiling the candidates list,” he said.

McDaniel said the advisory group would review applications and present to the Board of Commissioners three to five, unranked candidates for the board to choose from.

It was not immediately clear when the panel’s first meeting would be held.

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On the net:

Butts County Commission: www.buttscounty.org