Haywood County Manager Jack Horton learned last week that he will face tighter oversight from the board of county commissioners.

Commissioner Chairman Mark Swanger led the move with a proposal to overhaul Horton’s job description, which Swanger said is too ambiguous.

“I think past boards have been less engaged than they should have been,” Swanger said.

Swanger’s move was backed by Commissioners Mary Ann Enloe and Kevin Ensley. Commissioners Kirk Kirkpatrick and Larry Ammons had reservations, however.

The free-wheeling discussion about Horton’s position took place at an all-day county board workshop.

“We select a county manager to run the county. I don’t want to make it appear we are doing certain things to change his job description that will only make his job difficult,” Kirkpatrick said. “I don’t want to handicap our county manager.”

Enloe said defining the board’s expectations of Horton — such as when Horton can act autonomously and when he should consult with the commissioners — is reasonable.

“I’m not going to ask you to go stand on your head in front of the flagpole,” Enloe said. But, Enloe told Horton there have been instances when he failed to “share information with commissioners that you may not think about as being necessary for us.”

Ammons wasn’t convinced that Horton’s job description needs clarifying.

“What are you saying? That this one is inadequate or is unspecific? Where are you going here?” Ammons asked Swanger.

Swanger pointed to a line in Horton’s job description that charges Horton with developing policy.

“I don’t know how much policy Jack develops. The board develops policy,” Swanger said.

“It means administrative policy,” Horton said.

“It doesn’t say administrative policy. It says ‘develop policy,’” Enloe said.

Swanger said another area of concern was Horton’s autonomy in signing contracts, sometimes for hundreds of thousands of dollars, without informing commissioners.

“The elected board should be the only authority that has the ability to encumber Haywood County taxpayers,” Swanger said.

“All major contracts do come before the board,” Horton said.

“I think the word ‘major’ needs to be defined,” Swanger replied. “There needs to be a threshold. I think it needs to be tightened up.”

“Are you aware of some problem we’ve had in that area?” Ammons asked Swanger.

“I don’t know what contracts have been signed. That is something we should be aware of,” Swanger answered.

Another area of oversight Enloe proposed was holding a vote at the end of every county meeting enumerating instructions for Horton that cropped up during the course of the meeting.

“I don’t know that it’s necessary because when you ask me to do something, I usually know when you’ve asked me to do something,” Horton said.

“I want a record of it, Jack. I want a record of what we’ve asked you to do,” Enloe said. Enloe said there have been several occasions when the board wanted Horton to research an issue or provide photocopies of various county documents and it hasn’t been done.

Enloe said there needs to be better communication between the board and the county manager.

“With the risk of being too bold, can we do the same thing with the board?” Horton asked. Kirkpatrick said that it would be a good idea.

“Is there something that will spell out the responsibilities of the county commissioners? I mean, if it is going to work both ways...” Kirkpatrick said.

Horton said he does not mind clarifying his job description, but doesn’t want to completely scrap the current one and start from scratch.

“I don’t read my job description every morning before I go to work. I didn’t realize there was any problem with it,” Horton said.

Ammons said it wasn’t appropriate to alter Horton’s job description “at the whim of each new board that’s elected.”

Swanger said that’s how government works.

“A board cannot encumber another board. The next board at anytime can come in and change it,” Swanger said.

“All of you except me have been commissioners before,” Ammons said. “If it was a problem why didn’t you address it then?”

Swanger likely would have addressed it sooner if he’d had the necessary support from the majority of the other board members. Swanger and Ensley were elected two years ago, but during that same election Enloe lost her seat on the board. It was not until Enloe was voted back on the board in November after a two-year hiatus that Swanger finally had his majority.

During Enloe’s first term as a commissioner, she likely would have implemented changes as well, but also lacked the needed majority at the time. Part of Enloe’s platform in her new election was calling for a new county manager. She claimed that Horton was too autonomous in running county affairs. At public candidate forums, Enloe often stated that the “the county manager works for the board, not the other way around.”