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Johnson County administrator to take Scott County job

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By Kurt Allemeier | Saturday, May 24, 2008 |

Scott County and Michael Sullivan made an impression on the other.

The two sides came together Friday afternoon and Sullivan, Johnson County administrator, conditionally accepted an offer to be Scott County’s next administrator. Sullivan, who is expected to start this summer, will work alongside current county administrator Ray Wierson until Wierson’s retirement in December.

The search committee, including the Board of Supervisors, met Friday afternoon to consider finalists for the position. The 13-member committee quickly decided that there was only one finalist — Sullivan, Scott County Board Chairman Jim Hancock said.

“We discussed the candidates for about an hour Tuesday after our last interview and decided we needed more time, but a straw poll showed he was the unanimous choice,” Hancock said Friday. “We got back together today and decided this is who we wanted.”

Reached at his Coralville home Friday evening, Sullivan said he was excited about the position and looked forward to returning to Davenport early next month to meet department heads and work out an employment agreement. Salary is among the issues that haven’t been discussed.

“After that first interview, I thought this is the fit I’ve been looking for for so long,” Sullivan said.

Sullivan said he was impressed by Scott County’s professionalism and the strong team attitude he saw when he met some department heads during his interview May 16.

Hancock said what struck him about Sullivan was his interpersonal skills and his knowledge of issues that affect Scott County.

“He is an Iowa-bred person who knows our political processes and issues like the mental health (funding) issue,” Hancock said.

Sullivan started his professional career as a paramedic in Des Moines, working his way up several rungs to become executive director of the Johnson County Ambulance Service. He became Johnson County administrator in 2001.

Scott County is the only Iowa county where the administrator has department heads reporting to that position. In Johnson County, department heads report to the Board of Supervisors, but Sullivan does many of the tasks performed in Scott County by Wierson.

During the application and interview process, the Scott County Board of Supervisors had used a loophole in Iowa’s open records law to keep applicants’ names confidential. Legislation that would have closed the loophole died in the Iowa House of Representatives earlier this month.

Hancock has said supervisors are within their rights to keep applicants’ names confidential and agrees with the exemption in the law.

Kurt Allemeier can be contacted at (563) 383-2360 or kallemeier@qctimes.com.