New County Office Staff Hired With Goal Of Improving Efficiency And Securing Grants

By LYDIA BERGLAR
News Editor

When Don Townsend moved into his current role as county executive, his two previous roles were left open in the Dade County Commission office: chief financial officer and county clerk. These roles were filled through a new hire and a promotion. Under Townsend’s leadership, the office has also added two new positions: a part-time grant writer and an assistant to the county executive. Let’s break down each role.

After working as the deputy county clerk for several years, Rebecca Jones was promoted to chief financial officer and assumed the role at the start of this year. The CFO is appointed by the chairman of the commission, i.e. Townsend.

Townsend reported that in Jones’ previous role, she gained valuable experience with county finances. In his words, “She has learned every facet of the job and has worked diligently at my side for several years. When my wife, Lisa, faced stage four ovarian cancer, Rebecca really picked up the slack caused by my absence due to caregiving for my wife. Rebecca is a Certified Public Accountant. We are very fortunate to have Mrs. Jones to lead our finances for Dade County.”

Gidget Knight was then hired to fill the county clerk position. Townsend said, “Gidget worked in the private sector, namely for the Better Business Bureau, for over 33 years in Chattanooga. There’s no doubt in my mind that God sent Mrs. Knight to work here in Dade County. She has a lot to learn but is eager and has an abundance of knowledge and rigor to get the job done. I look forward to working with Mrs. Knight for many years to come. I know she will do the absolute greatest job for the citizens of Dade County.”

With Knight and Jones in place, the county was able to abolish the deputy clerk position. Jones reported that the combined amount of the current salaries for the two roles is about $21,000 below the combined salaries from 2024 when she was deputy county clerk and Townsend was county clerk and CFO.

When Townsend was juggling both roles, Jones was hired as deputy county clerk to assist with clerk duties, but she also ended up helping with the financial side as well.

The Sentinel asked Townsend what it was like to juggle both roles. He answered, “When I was hired in 2006, I offered to be the CFO and county clerk. Initially, it was a challenge, but we made it work. Unfortunately, I gave too many hours to my job coming home as late as 10:00 p.m. at night—years I will never get back that I took from my wife, but she knew I loved Dade County and always supported me. Back in 2006, there were many challenging situations in the office. One time, our office staff decreased to only three employees, and we were written up numerous times in our annual audits for lack of separation of duties.”

He explained that large counties have thousands of employees (Fulton County, for example, has roughly 5,000), so separation of duties is much easier in those counties than in small, rural counties like Dade.

“I’ve known for a very long while that the two jobs needed to be separated. County clerk is an administrative leadership position that works for each county commissioner to communicate the happenings of county government to each commissioner individually and collectively. This role also maintains a mountain of paperwork, including minutes, agendas, contracts and agreements, titles, and many other legal documents; while also heading up all permitting for business registration, code enforcement, and codification of the county ordinances and resolutions. The CFO maintains all financial happenings within the county government from governmental accounting to reporting to various state agencies; assisting with the production of a balanced budget and preparation of our annual financial audit.”

Indeed, both job descriptions (revised Oct. 1, 2024) are extensive and require specific skills, training, and careful attention to detail.

In summary, instead of two employees both handling parts of each role, now two employees have separated duties—and it costs the county $21,000 less than the previous positions did.

Moving on to the executive assistant, this position is also appointed by the county executive. (Ted Rumley, previous county executive, opted not to hire an assistant.) Per the job description (revised on March 1, 2025), this employee handles typical administrative duties, like scheduling, communications, project management, file organization, event coordinating, research, report preparation, purchasing, and more.

Townsend hired Caleb Bradley for the role. Bradley first applied and interviewed for the county clerk position, but Townsend chose to hire him for the executive assistant position.

Of his job, Bradley said, “I have always had a passion for finding a deal and have brought that passion to my job here working for Dade County. Although it’s not technically in my job description, it’s something I love to do. I have helped with purchasing by seeking lower invoice prices which, in my short time here, has resulted in tremendous savings…It’s hard to label everything that I do in my position day-to-day because every day I am doing something new. It’s a fast-paced job and one that I am thankful for. I love Dade County and am thankful for the opportunity to learn more about county government and how I can help.”

The Sentinel asked Townsend why this position was deemed a necessary addition. Townsend answered, “[In the first week of March], I had six meetings in one day. Three of those meetings lasted more than 90 minutes each. While I’m conducting the county’s business, my executive assistant is maintaining phone calls, emails, texts, social media posts, and inquiries. He’s also setting up meetings and maintaining my business calendar so I’m able to navigate each hour of the day with higher efficiency.”

Per numerous employment and salary websites, the executive assistant’s current hourly wage is well below the state’s average for executive assistants, even those within county governments.

The Sentinel asked if Bradley would be cross-trained to run livestreams of meetings when the current livestream staff aren’t available. Townsend directed the Sentinel to Carey Anderson (public information officer) who answered, “As Caleb does not work for me or my department, I have no plans for him to run livestreams. If Don decides to assign him that task, then I’m sure I will be looped in at that time.”

Anderson further explained that the county’s communications department consists of one person (herself). The county began livestreaming during COVID-19 due to occupancy limitations and some citizens’ concerns about gathering in person. There is no legal requirement that county meetings continue to be livestreamed, but, “For the sake of the convenience, we have continued to livestream our monthly commission meetings.”

Anderson continued, “We already have several staff members who are cross-trained to run livestreams. I currently work in concert with our in-house I.T. department to livestream meetings for the Dade County Board of Commissioners. For all other meetings (IDA, joint meetings, collaborative meetings, etc.), I livestream them as my schedule allows.”

Diverting from the main topic of the new county employees, the Sentinel asked Anderson further about limitations around livestreaming. She explained, “If we were to mandate that the numerous meetings held by county agencies, boards, and departments were livestreamed, we would no doubt be required to hire additional staff and equipment to successfully implement that mandate. Many of our meetings do not take place in our large meeting room which is where our primary equipment is located. That could mean that we would need to purchase a better quality remote system for livestreaming. We occasionally have meetings/events that happen simultaneously, meaning additional staff and equipment would need to be added to livestream those meetings.”

She added that a livestream mandate is a policy matter that she intends to bring up with each commissioner and Townsend. However, “As we already meet all compliance standards regarding Open and Public Meetings (see O.C.G.A. 50-14-1 (2024)) this is not a top priority at this time.”

Lastly, the county also created a part-time grant writer position, and Kathy Ragon was hired for the role. This position should pay for itself easily, and the current hourly wage is well below the state average and drastically below some grant writer’s rates (which can be hundreds of dollars per hour).

The Sentinel asked for a list of grants that Ragon is currently working on. Townsend did not list specific grants, answering instead, “Although Kathy has only just begun this new position, she is off to a fast start with several grant opportunities. There’s a major learning curve to discover what grants best fit our community. We are assessing every office and department within our local government to examine any possible grant that may assist our operations for additional funds that are needed to be more efficient.”

Of the need for this position, he noted that the county missed out on multiple grant opportunities in recent years due to not having a dedicated grant writer.

Of Ragon’s qualifications, he said, “One candidate surfaced who used to work for state government. Mrs. Ragon formerly served as the director of the Dade County Department of Family and Children Services. Therefore, her understanding of state and local government made her a superior candidate for this position.”

The job description (revised March 1, 2025) is straightforward enough. In summary, the county grant writer identifies grant opportunities, collects the necessary information to submit the grant applications, and tracks and reports on grants received. There is also a relational aspect to the job because building relationships with granting agencies is required.

The Sentinel asked Townsend to comment on how grant writers pay for themselves. He answered, “Almost all grants have an administrative reimbursement phase to recoup some of the work performed by the grant writer. I anticipate the grant writers’ wages will be paid many times over in the future, therefore assisting with the reduction of property taxes in the long run, but it does take time to maximize our grant potential.”

Although some citizens have expressed concern about the growth in local government (even the addition of two minor roles is growth), we can reasonably hope to soon see results from the grant writer and increased productivity and availability of the county executive due to having an assistant.