Sasha Hupka
Arizona Republic
Pinal County’s new blueprint of election responsibilities needs more tweaking, supervisors decided.
An agreement with Recorder Dana Lewis, who was tasked in July with overseeing the county’s embattled Elections Department, was up for final approval at Wednesday’s meeting. The document lays out exactly what her new duties would entail.
But supervisors chose to go back to the drawing board over a section about who will be involved with hiring a new elections director for the county.
That decision lengthens a saga that started in June, when former Elections Director Geraldine Roll resigned with a scathing email to County Manager Leo Lew, citing a toxic work environment. County leaders now need to find an experienced elections director who can help the county navigate through a presidential election.
The version of the agreement they considered Wednesday stated that Lewis would share hiring power over the county’s open elections director position with Lew. Their pick for the position would need to be approved by the board, according to the document
Read:Memorandum of understanding and agreement
But that proposal faced opposition from many residents who spoke at Wednesday’s meeting. They said they trusted Lewis but wanted the county’s political parties also to be included in the selection process. And they wanted the supervisors to be more directly involved in the hiring, rather than Lew.
“The buck stops here,” Pinal County Republican Committee Chair Belinda Rodriguez told the board.
Lewis said she supports working with all stakeholders, including county management, during the selection process.
“I believe that putting any burden on any one person ensures single points of failure,” she said.
Supervisors pushed the issue to their next meeting, which is scheduled Sept. 6. Chris Keller, Pinal County’s chief civil deputy attorney, said the fixes should be simple to make but shouldn’t be rushed.
