Tarrant may open nationwide search for an administrator. Will it be hard to fill the job?

It’s been said by many in Tarrant County government that replacing outgoing administrator G.K. Maenius will be impossible.

Maenius leaves behind a lasting legacy in Tarrant County. In his 35 years, Maenius worked with 13 commissioners and navigated thousands of employees through some of the county’s biggest decisions, like deciding budgets.

The behind the scenes job is one of, if not the most, powerful in the county. While the five votes on the commissioners court decide where the money flows and which policies are set, it’s the administrator who’s tasked with implementing whatever the court decides.

There are worries among some that as the climate in Tarrant County government becomes more political, the next county administrator chosen by the commissioners may be handpicked or partisan.

And experts who spoke with the Fort Worth Star-Telegram say finding a replacement may be a tough task for the commissioners court given that changing environment.

Even if that candidate is down the middle, one of those experts said that it will be hard for the new person to not be viewed through a partisan lens.

“There are a number of people who might otherwise be a candidate for these kinds of positions that are not going to want to walk into kind of a partisan atmosphere where they’re going to make half of their bosses mad whenever they do anything,” said Jim Riddlesperger, a political science professor at TCU.

Changing politics in Tarrant County

Constituents’ concerns about the hiring process for the new county administrator may come down to how politics have changed in Tarrant County just in the past six months.

They have never been partisan in the past, Riddlesperger said.

Under former county judges Tom Vandergriff and Glen Whitley, Tarrant County was run under middle-right leadership.

Vandergriff was a Democrat in Congress and ran as a Republican when he went for county judge. And Whitley, a Republican, endorsed Democratic candidate for lieutenant governor Mike Collier in last year’s midterms.

Cal Jillson, a political science professor at SMU, said where Whitley and Vandergriff represented the business friendly wing of Republicans, new county judge Tim O’Hare represents the social conservative activist type that largely control the party now.

But the issues affecting constituents that the commissioners court have control over, like the jail, roads and taxes, have no party.

“This is as nonpartisan a job as it gets,” said Brandon Rottinghaus, a political science professor at the University of Houston.

The person in the job not only has to have a good head for business and but also have the political savvy to maneuver around the personalities on the commissioners court, Rottinghaus said.

“It’s a tough position to be in, in that you’re really wearing multiple hats,” he said.

The administrator’s position has always been low profile or noncontroversial, Riddlesperger said. The same could be said for the elections administrator position.

Flash forward to today.

“We’ve just seen an infusion of partisanship into local politics,” Riddlesperger said. “And this is something that’s happened, again, nationwide. We’ve seen it happening at the school boards, we’ve seen it happen in the city councils, and now we’re seeing it happening in county politics as well.”

Even as someone who follows local politics, Jillson said he would not have been able to tell you who Tarrant County’s administrator was. Jillson said it spoke to the quality of Maenius’ work.

The goal, Jillson said, is to not hear the names of people working behind the scenes.

“That’s the way you want it,” Jillson said. “That’s the way they want it. They want to be responsible for the smooth administrative function of county government.”

Distrust in any level of local government can create havoc.

And the infusion of tension into county government makes it hard to focus on the administrative issues that affect constituents. Partisanship at the top can also trickle down to lower level county employees.

“They might come to think that the people at the top are looking to sort them out, to discover who in county government are supporters, are people who share their more conservative ideology and who doesn’t, and the people who don’t will then feel threatened,” Jillson said.

Fears of a partisan pick

Tarrant County may end up opening a national search for a new administrator. Commissioners decided at their June 20 meeting to start looking for potential firms to find candidates, and several residents got up to voice their support for that search.

“As I was reading over this holiday weekend, I read, and I quote, ‘Playing politics with such a vital position as county administrator would be a disservice to the residents of Tarrant County,’” said resident Meryl Glasscock.

Another resident, LaVonne Cockerell, pointed out the talent the county has lost just in the first six months since the new commissioners took their seats.

Elections administrator Heider Garcia resigned in a letter dated April 16 that cited disagreements with O’Hare over how to run transparent elections. Longtime auditor Renee Tidwell, too, will leave at the end of the month, and some of the reasons she cited for her departure were less collaboration and more division in county government.

“We’ve lost Heider. Renee’s leaving. G.K.’s leaving,” Cockerell said. “What we are losing in the first six months of this new board’s seating is incredible, the talent walking out this door.”

Then comes the partisanship that has been seen in filling positions. The election commission, a five-member body in charge of hiring the new elections chief, interviewed Karen Wiseman for the position and she eventually became a finalist.

The Fort Worth woman once sued Garcia over public records requests and has been closely associated with election fraud group Citizens for Election Integrity. Wiseman’s case against Garcia was closed the day interviews for his job began.

While turnover is synonymous with new leadership, it could also be seen as a cause for concern as the county searches for a new person to fill the administrator’s job.

“If there is a perception that the county is just a political engine, it may make it harder for them to search for somebody who would take that kind of job,” Rottinghaus said.

What do commissioners want?

Despite concerns of a partisan pick, commissioners who spoke with the Star-Telegram say they want someone who will keep politics out of the job.

Commissioner Alisa Simmons wants someone with experience handling large budgets and someone who has handled an operation as large as county government. She prefers someone with governmental experience but is open to someone with private industry experience too.

Commissioner Manny Ramirez is looking for someone with that same experience, and he wants someone with “solid character integrity.”

Commissioner Roy Brooks is seeking someone who is calm, thorough, analytical, and who plays in the sandbox well with others. He also wants someone who doesn’t get into politics and plays it straight down the middle.

Commissioner Gary Fickes said he wants someone who’s mature and has managed large groups.

A representative for O’Hare did not respond to multiple emailed requests for comment.

Simmons understands citizens’ concerns about there potentially being a partisan pick for the job, and said if she had concerns about the selection process she would be vocal about them.

“We’ll just have to see how it goes,” Simmons said. “For the most part, the court, we get along well.”

Ramirez said whoever comes in to replace Maenius has large shoes to fill.

“G.K. has managed, for decades, to operate in the middle of political environments without managing politically,” Ramirez said. “And I think that the next county administrator will need to be somebody who’s able to navigate in a political environment, but someone who’s not necessarily political.”

He knows it’s a special skill set, but Ramirez believes a person who is diplomatic and who can navigate the environment while focusing on the county’s business processes is out there.

“The position itself should not be political,” he said.

Fickes said the pick may come down to the court’s makeup, but they won’t know for sure until the applications come in and the selection process starts. He anticipates having a large pool of candidates and described it like the box of chocolates quote from “Forrest Gump” — the county doesn’t know what it’s going to get.

Fickes, Ramirez and O’Hare are the three Republicans on the court. Brooks and Simmons are the two Democrats. It takes three votes to make a decision.

Fickes said he thinks everything will be in good shape if the county can get someone half as good as Maenius.

Brooks said it’s too early to be concerned about hyperpartisanship and that constituents have to let the process play out and see how the votes fall.

“We’re going to try to do this in a collegial manner,” Brooks said. “But at the end of the day, it’s about being able to count to three. And who knows who will be able to count to three.”

‘A major test of Tim O’Hare’

Picking a new administrator is sure to test upper levels of county leadership.

“This is a major test of Tim O’Hare,” Jillson said. “People are already concerned about him and skeptical about him in some of the early decisions he’s made. But if it looks as if this county administrator job is being turned into a partisan enforcer’s job, that will change Tarrant County politics significantly.”

Jillson said if politics keep turning further right, it might create a whiplash effect in the opposite direction if Democrats regain control and they try to make up for what they believe was lost.

In today’s age, everything has become partisan, Riddlesperger said.

“Whoever the new administrator is, we’re going to see a kind of a level of partisan scrutiny applied to how that person handles the job that we haven’t seen in previous years, but not particularly because of anything that has changed in Tarrant County but rather because of what we’ve seen as the changing partisan atmosphere in Texas politics and nationally as well,” Riddlesperger said.

The appearance of partisanship makes it harder for constituents to trust the government’s decision making, Rottinghaus said, and it makes it harder for decisions to happen quickly.

But what’s happening in Tarrant County politically is similar to what Rottinghaus has seen in Travis and Dallas counties. In Tarrant County though, instead of becoming more blue, it has turned brighter red.

The political environment in Tarrant County could lead to more turnover in the county administrator’s position too. Rottinghaus said it’s unlikely the county will have another person serving in that position again for 35 consecutive years.

“That’s its own challenge, because the more that you have this turnover, the harder it is to get a new person in that role and have them be up to speed quickly,” Rottinghaus said. “So counties are constantly playing catch up in that sense.”

Jillson said whether nonpartisanship exists depends on if leaders foster and nurture a nonpartisan environment.

The question then becomes whether or not leaders like O’Hare will be able to do it.

“The answer, I assume, in regard to Tim O’Hare is no he won’t,” Jillson said.