BY JEFF CHUDZINSKINorth Country This Week

CANTON -- County legislators unanimously voted to dissolve the vacancy review committee, which in turn vests the power to fill and abolish positions with the county administrator.

The move came during the Nov. 25 finance committee meeting and was brought to the floor by Legislator John Gennett.

Reestablished in August of 2015, the vacancy review committee was assigned the role of evaluating positions within the county government where department heads were requesting positions be abolished, created or filled, officials said.

But the time has now come to move on and allow the department heads and County Administrator Ruth Doyle to oversee the process, according to Chairman David Forsythe.

"I support this wholeheartedly. There was a time and a need for this in a very critical time of need in the county's past but it's ran its course," he said.

Since 2016, the county administrator has been providing the board of legislators with an annual summary of the actions of the vacancy review committee, making recommendations for changes to be considered to improve the efficiency of the committee and county staff as a whole.

Forysthe said it was his opinion that the degree of micromanagement the committee had was no longer necessary.

"We have a good administrator and department heads that can handle this," Forsythe said.

With over 70 vacant positions currently, Forysthe said removing the committee would speed up the hiring process for the various departments currently in need.

"The work of the Committee has held its value, including better working knowledge by Legislators of the roles and responsibilities of positions in departments and the Board of Legislators has benefited from the ongoing information provided about the annual vacancies (approximately 160), the average immediate fill rate (above ninety 90% percent), the summaries by departments, ultimately the understanding of the challenges presented to the County if positions are not filled," officials said.

Under the committee, the county administrator had the authority to fill positions that had been filled for less than a year and to create and fill part-time and transitional positions, an authority that "has been utilized carefully, benefiting the departments by expediting the process to fill positions," officials said.

The administrator will now have the necessary authority to fill budgeted positions as well, along with that preexisting authority, according to the resolution.

Legislators will not be entirely out of the loop, however, as any positions requested to be created would still require consideration and approval by the board of legislators.

Forsythe said the county is in a much stronger position financially right now but should the need arise, legislators could step in again.

"If it's needed again we can always reinstate it again in the future," he said.