County manager departs for Broomfield
Jefferson County Manager Don Davis has resigned, effective July 1, to take a role with the City and County of Broomfield.
Starting July 11, he will be Broomfield's new deputy city and county manager.
While Jeffco hasn't started searching for Davis' replacement yet, Deputy County Manager Kate Newman will be taking over the role in the interim, officials stated during a June 14 county commissioners meeting.
Davis has been with Jeffco since May 2017, joining the county after serving in the U.S. Marine Corps for 32 years. He holds two master’s degrees, including one in public administration. He retired with the rank of colonel and joined Jeffco to manage its 3,000 employees.
Based on coverage by the Broomfield Leader, Davis met with Broomfield community members and city and county officials on May 12. He was announced as the next deputy manager on May 18.
“I am grateful for the opportunity to join the CCOB Team in their endeavor to serve the residents of Broomfield,” Davis said in a May 18 Broomfield news release. “It was an intense hiring process.”
Commissioners looking to balance budget cuts with staffing concerns
While Jeffco departments and offices would like to give salary bumps to the employees to help with hiring, retention and morale, the county commissioners say there’s not much money to go around.
During a June 14 staff briefing, the Coroner’s Office asked for an additional $234,000 for employee pay raises to make the office’s salaries more competitive with others in the metro area.
Jeffco Coroner’s Office representatives said their Denver counterparts’ salaries start $10,000 a year more than Jeffco’s, and 75% of Jeffco investigators’ salaries are in the minimum range for their profession.
With the additional $234,000, the Coroner’s Office could get the investigators’ salaries into the medium range. The office has seen prospective employees turn down jobs because the pay is too low, and it’s very hard on morale, staff members described.
However, Commissioner Lesley Dahlkemper pointed out that the Coroner’s Office isn’t the only one facing employee recruitment and retention problems.
“Your story could be the story of any department in this county," she said.
Dahlkemper said Jeffco’s facing “incredible budget cuts” going into 2023, and has tremendous demands ranging from affordable housing to mental health.
Human Resources is completing a compensation survey across all Jeffco departments and offices, which officials can then use for the upcoming 2023 budgeting process, she said.
Commissioner Tracy Kraft-Tharp believed the budgeting process wasn’t working properly, as more departments have been asking for additional funds recently. She said all these requests should be addressed during the budgeting process, adding, “It feels like the exceptions have become the rule.”
While she understood the Coroner’s Office’s plight, she emphasized that she didn’t want to create an unfair system of departments asking for additional funds outside of the budgeting process unless absolutely necessary.
