A month after rejecting an employment agreement with her over concerns regarding a position advertising error, the Barrow County Board of Commissioners on Tuesday voted unanimously to approve Lisa Maloof as the county’s new economic development director.
The position is a part-time one — a split-off from the previous director of economic and community development position that was held by Guy Herring before he left for a similar position in Oconee County in May.
Maloof’s salary will be $34.85 per hour, not to exceed $45,000 annually.
Maloof, the recently-retired former dean of the Lanier Technical College Barrow campus, was one of six people who applied for the position and one of three finalists selected for interviews. The job was advertised from July 3 through Aug. 6, county manager Mike Renshaw said.
After the position was first opened in late April, Maloof was offered the position in May. But last month, the BOC voted 4-3 to reject the employment agreement with Maloof after Renshaw told board members the position had not been advertised properly.
He said the county’s former human resources director told him the part-time position did not need to be publicly advertised according to the county’s employee handbook, but that the county attorney later concluded otherwise.
Maloof is also the Republican candidate for the Barrow County Board of Education District 3 seat being vacated by Connie Wehunt, and some commissioners have also expressed concerns in earlier meetings that future conflicts of interests could arise between Maloof’s roles as economic development director and school board member if she is elected. The election is in November.
Read more coverage of Tuesday's meeting in the Aug. 15 edition of the Barrow News-Journal.
WTF?