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01/10/2006: "County Council May Appoint Pro-Tem Today"

The three former members of the BOCC met on Monday as members of the new CC (County Council), and after the swearing in ceremony, they interviewed two candidates for the newly created position of Pro-Tem Administrator. Much to the relief of many of the former Freeholders who where in attendance, both of the candidates were experienced professionals with a long history of administration experience; and both had, at one point in their careers, been involved with the administration of the Growth Management Act.


(Richard Thompson intervewed by County Council, with former Freeholders observing)

Richard Thompson was the first to be interviewed, and while the Council was clearly impressed with his experience and contacts at the state level (Administration of DSHS, Chief of Staff for Governor Gardner, Budget Director under Governor Locke,) and also seemed to be pleased with his experience in local government (Interim City Manager of Puyallup, City Manger of Snohomish, and a host of other positions), it became clear near the end of the interview there were some concerns about how much time he would be able to give to the job. Mr. Thompson is a busy man who teaches budget classes at UW; has a contract with the Seahawks, and is also working with the French family's proposal to build a NASCAR track in Washington. It may not have helped his case when he informed the Council that he has been successful in administrating from afar, citing a recent example of using a satellite phone to conduct business while on a two month trip aboard his boat in Alaska.


(David Goldsmith takes his turn)

Not to be outdone by Thompson, the second candidate was David Goldsmith, who also had some time conflicts, but said within two or three weeks he would be able to dedicate a minimum of four days a week to the job, but under questioning from Council member Ranker pointed out that he would put in the hours necessary to accomplish the job. Like Mr. Thompson, Goldsmith had also retired only to find he is now swamped with work. He currently works for the Washington Counties Risk Pool (the same insurance group SJC is a member of), but in his past life had experience with the GMA, and 30 years of experience at various levels of administration within both state and local government.

The Council has scheduled an excutive session meeting for Tuesday, and it is expected they will make a decision to hire one of the candidates; or appoint an interim-interim Pro-Tem until they find someone, other than one of the two candidates before them, to fill the position