The Grays Harbor County Board of Commissioners consisting of Georgia Miller, Rick Hole and Vickie Raines engaged in spirited debates the past few weeks regarding the potential hire of a county chief financial officer (CFO).

After voicing his objections at last week’s non-action meeting, District 2 Commissioner Hole read a prepared statement reiterating his reservations during yesterday’s action meeting. Miller and Raines countered Hole’s arguments with support for hiring a CFO. The motion passed with a 2-1 vote, with Hole as the only “nay.”

The desire to hire a county CFO springs from County Administrator Sam Kim’s proposal to restructure Grays Harbor County’s org chart and streamline government processes. The three-phase strategic planning process the commissioners have undertaken is also part of this initiative. Phase I took part on March 31.

Grays Harbor County currently employs a budget director, Andree Harland, who would work hand-in-hand with a potential CFO. According to documents provided by Kim, CFO is a more strategic role while a budget manager is more operational.

“The CFO has a broader, strategic role with a focus on the overall financial health and direction of the company, while the budget manager has a more focused, operational role centered on budget planning and management,” Kim said.

Kim said the county was on the verge of bankruptcy when he took on the county administrator role in August of 2024. He used his experience and worked with Harland to halt spending and cut the budget in an effort to balance it and end reliance on temperamental grants. He said his efforts were met with resistance at first.

“People were very upset, they called us all sorts of names, they called us stupid, irresponsible, unprecedented, incompetent, unlawful, illegal,” Kim said. “I realized it was all smoke and mirrors. We had the money, what we had was a spending problem combined with an inability to predict the state of our finances.”

Kim said much discussion led to identifying a need to bring in someone to take control of the county’s finances and future financial outlook.

“(We) determined we need somebody really focused on everything and anything that has to do with finance,” Kim said. “Finance isn’t just about dollars and cents, it’s about standardizing our processes and consolidating them. What the CFO would be doing is taking it to the next level and paying attention to all the things we need to do to consolidate, to centralize, and to optimize when it comes to things that are affecting finance. Everything affects finance, everything costs money. We cannot rely on steady funding from the federal government or the state government. My mandate is that we do not budget based on hope and luck, we are intentional, we build a fund balance, we optimize all the processes we have, we need to be the same across the board.”

Kim said his role involves much more than managing the county’s finances.

“Can I do it? I absolutely can do it, if I am the CFO. I cannot do it as the county administrator because there are other aspects of running the county, including personnel management, relationships with other elected officials, the business of running the county and providing services to the public. There are just so many moving parts,” Kim said. “What I’m looking for in my cabinet, and the CFO will be a member of my cabinet, is that focused attention to optimize their particular areas.”

Hole believes the hiring of a CFO is premature and that the board should wait until they’ve completed all three phases of the strategic planning exercise. He also said uncertainty swirling around the recent sweeping changes made by the federal government should factor into the county’s decision.

“I have indicated that I believe this decision needs to come after more discussion at our strategic planning meetings and when we’ve had the time to evaluate the expected benefits from our Phase I adoption, which reduced our county administrator’s direct reports from 12 to six,” Hole said. “We have just added two positions that will help build capacity in our county to support our vision. We should not rush into this decision when we have only one quarter of budget results. With the disarray around us from the DOGE (Department of Government Efficiency) cuts and the ramifications of tariffs, how will the tariffs impact the revenues we receive from exporting soy meal to Asia? How will the DOGE cuts and crash in the stock market impact tourism this summer that provides the tourist dollars and sales tax revenue we rely on?”

Hole questioned adding another six-figure salary to the county’s payroll and called the CFO position “redundant.” He also indicated that the previous board of commissioners took 18 months to decide to hire a county administrator and commissioned a study to investigate the matter.

“We have been asked in two and a half months after we land as commissioners to make a decision to add another position that is just as weighty and duplicates many of the responsibilities of our current county administrator,” Hole said. “I believe each manager and director position must be thoroughly vetted. I’ve argued that the main components of the CFO job are already assigned to the county administrator. I argue without a strategic plan agreed to by the three commissioners and without clear budget insights, it is unwise to approve the CFO position at this time.”

Miller countered Hole’s argument and said the CFO position will save the county money and improve the efficiency of county government.

“I want to be very clear, hiring a chief financial officer is not about growing government, it’s about tightening it up. The position is a cost-saving measure that will bring greater oversight, better tracking of how every dollar is spent, and more efficient operations across county departments,” Miller said. “This move will help us avoid waste, stay within budget and strengthen financial accountability all without raising taxes. I trust the process.”

Raines agreed with Miller (and Kim) and argued that the county administrator’s role is mutually exclusive from that of chief financial officer.

“It doesn’t necessarily mean the individual, in this case Mr. Kim, is going to take on the duties individually, as much as he is (the) oversight of all of those duties,” Raines said. “I believe a chief financial officer will bring depth to the table we need in the financial arena to continue the path we started eight months ago. I look at the chief financial officer as one that will look to reduce cost, reduce positions, reduce redundancy and duplication of duties. I believe, this is my 11th year since bringing the strategic planning idea to this commission, to the county, that we’ve waited long enough, I’ve waited long enough. I’m going to, as Commissioner Miller eloquently said, trust in the process. I’m ready to move forward. I too have faith we are doing the right thing and I think we’re going to be better and stronger for it.”

Hole reiterated his belief that the commission is rushing into the decision, and tried to amend the motion and table the vote until June. Miller, who made the motion, rejected the amendment request, and Raines, who seconded the motion, concurred with Miller.

In the end, Miller and Raines outvoted Hole 2-1 and approved the motion and request to hire a Grays Harbor County CFO.