Rhome hires new public works director after year-long vacancy

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The Messenger
By Jillian Nachtigal 
May 26, 2023

The Rhome City Council approved hiring a new public works director Thursday, filling a position that’s been vacant for nearly one year.

During the prolonged vacancy following the resignation of former public works director Sean Densmore in May 2022, staff had received, screened and interviewed candidates for the position. According to the city, they did not find an applicant with the necessary qualifications until now.

Jesus Dominguez was recently selected by the panel that reviewed the candidates for the position and his hire was approved by the council Thursday night. 

“It’s been a long dry spell between public works directors,” City Administrator Amanda DeGan said. “We’ve had city administrators or interims or myself serving in that role to the best of our ability, but that is a very specialized field.” 

The decision to hire Dominguez was based on his experience and clear analysis of Rhome’s water and wastewater situation, DeGan said.

After addressing the vacancy, the council received another update regarding the proposed sheriff dispatch fee that would address competitive pay for 911 emergency telecommunicators working for the Wise County Sheriff’s Office, with one council member criticizing the WCSO for having staffing struggles of their own.

The council, as well as other involved cities such as Boyd, Aurora and Runaway Bay, have established that they see the need for the fee, but believe the funds should be obtained from the county rather than the cities. 

Council member Randall Loftis brought up concerns about dispatch efficiency since the WCSO has several vacancies.

“I’m just concerned about their ability to even manage that dispatch office since they can’t even staff it,” Loftis said.

DeGan echoed the concerns.

“My concern is, if they have seven positions out now out of the 16 they have, what are they going to do to provide the service to us as customers and our officers right now?” DeGan said. “The county needs to allocate additional funds for this coming fiscal year or they need to figure out what more they can do to retain and recruit.” 

The county has “several million dollars” in surplus, DeGan said in regard to why she thinks funding for the dispatch fee should come from the county. 

Initially proposed by council member Kristi King, the council decided to begin drafting a resolution to support a WCSO dispatch funding increase, but through county funds rather than city fees. The resolution is planned to be reviewed at the next meeting. 

“We understand and we see their need for more money so that they can fill and perhaps do better with their dispatching, but we also support that they find those funds through the counties and not asking the municipalities for that,” King said. “Our position, I think we all agree, is that we don’t have the funds to pay the $65,000, not that they don’t need it, but they need to bark up another tree.”