Commissioners plan to interview six candidates for county administrator

The Grady County commission and its consultant are preparing to interview candidates for the county administrator position.
Tom Berry, a former Thomasville city manager and interim Cairo city manager, is serving as a consultant to the county commission in the search for a new county administrator.
The position has been vacant since the Sept. 27, 2012, death of County Administrator Rusty Moye.
Berry advertised the vacancy on behalf of the county and a total of 20 applicants have expressed interest in the position.
During last Tuesday night’s meeting of the county commission, commissioners set Saturday, Feb. 9, as the date for interviews.
According to Berry, he is attempting to schedule interviews for six semifinalists on Feb. 9.
“I am trying to set up interviews with six semifinalists, but we could have anywhere from four to six on that Saturday,” Berry said.
The county’s consultant has conducted telephone interviews with the applicants to identify the six semifinalists. He is also in the process of distributing a questionnaire to the semifinalists to be completed prior to the interviews.
“I want to give the commission as much information on each candidate as possible prior to the interviews. This will help them better craft their questions during the interview,” Berry said.
While Berry is confident the applicants are qualified and capable of doing the job, he said the most important thing is that the applicants can work for Grady County and can work with and for the board of commissioners.
The consultant does not rule out the possibility the board may readvertise the position after the Feb. 9 interviews if the board is not completely satisfied with the semifinalists.
The interviews will take place at the Grady County Courthouse. Georgia law allows for the interviews of the heads of agencies to be conducted behind closed doors.