BROCK HEADED TO CONTRACT EXTENSION

Oconee County administrator Amanda Brock is headed toward an extension of her initial 18-month contract. County Council last nite voted unanimously to authorize Chairman Julian Davis to enter in negotiations with Brock for a new master employment agreement. The vote came after an executive session during which terms of the new agreement were discussed. These specifics of the new agreement were not reported in open session, however. Brock’s first contract set a salary of $125,000 per year. Brock was made permanent administrator early last year after a brief interim tenure after she was tapped to replace interim administrator Rick Martin. Martin had replaced former administrator Scott Moulder when he resigned in the spring of 2017 to become city administrator for Seneca. Last night’s vote came after one county resident, former county grant coordinator Sharon DeRidder, questioned Brock’s lack of the qualifications and experience the Council had set for a new administrator during a 2017 search. Brock, said DeRidder, had no college degree and lacked the five years of previous experience in administration. DeRidder urged the council members to engage in a new search for candidates to fill the job. Davis defended the choice of Brock for the position, calling attention to long employment with the county in a variety of positions and an education from the “school of hard knocks.”
February 19, 2020 Dick Mangrum