Why is Jack Krakeel still "Interim"?

Last year the Fayette County Commission seemed hell bent on changing any and everything that had any faint tinge of Chairman Greg Dunn or Commissioner Linda Wells on it. Didn't matter good bad or ugly they had to change it.

They got rid of Chris Venice who was the then County Manager. Venice had a rough time any time developer friendly commissioners were in power. Herb Frady and his pals of the day bumped her from anything to do with planning and zoning years back because she stuck to her guns and upheld the rules. They liked to bend for their buddy developers.

Frady didn't like it when the straight-arrow Dunn Wells Pfeifer group wanted her to be county manager. Some of the government employees who were used to doing things their way rather than by the rules didn't like her either. All of a sudden they were expected to start acting like they were in a business instead of a typical government free for all zone.

So Frady finally stabbed just enough people in the back to think he got what he wanted which was a Board that would get rid of Bill McNally. Chris Venice was another thorn in his side and the Commissioners wanted someone who was on "their" side so she was out.

They pull in their buddy their friend Jack Krakeel. He's the one who's getting close to retirement and needs a defined benefit system. Rumor has it he didn't do real well with sticking money back for retirement and he's panicking. Who knows if that's true? I sure don't but it makes sense.

It's been almost a year and he's still the "Interim" County manager which means he's temporary. Temporary? Why??????

The commissioners haven't even made a tiny squeak about looking for a full-time county manager.

The county manager is a contract job it's not one where you are tied into county benefits and you serve at the will of the board. Which means they can ditch you like a hot potato for no reason. If Krakeel is still an employee like he is now then it's tougher and he automatically gets exactly what he's fighting for which is a cushy retirement.

I wonder what he's getting paid? Is it his regular salary or is he getting double?

There were some deals cut. They moved his pet project forward costing tax payers a huge chunk of money and now we're going to have some kind of emergency center that will make the rest of the state second class. He got his defined benefits, too.

Here's what I think is going to happen. I think once the defined benefits are locked in later this year they'll start looking for a full time county manager. I don't know how long it will take for Krakeel to take care of getting all his stuff transferred money wise so he can retire but it won't be long after that before he's gone.

No wait I forgot!!! He'll have to stick around long enough to see his emergency palace built so maybe he'll just go back to being fire chief. I mean he will have gotten everything he wanted.

Something is weird about the whole set up. The county commission hasn't even looked at getting a permanent county manager.