News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Mary Catherine Hannah interviewed for the Alpena County Administrator position last week. On Tuesday, the board offered her the job. Initially the county offered the job to another candidate who removed himself from consideration because of family matters.

ALPENA — The Alpena County Board of Commissioners voted 5-2 on Tuesday to approve a new three-year contract with new County Administrator Mary Catherine Hannah.

Hannah was selected by the board of commissioners last week for the position that will pay her $100,000 a year.

Commissioners John Kozlowski and Brenda Founier voted against the deal, while commissioners Bob Adrian, Dave Karschnick, Bill Peterson, Don Gilmet, and Marty Thomson voted in favor of the deal.

Kozlowski pulled the contract off of the consent calendar, which allows boards to vote and pass on a host of motions at once, and asked why the matter wasn’t on the regular agenda. He said he felt perhaps the contract details were trying to be pushed through quickly without significant discussion.

Founier took issue with the amount of compensation Hannah will receive, and that consultant Frank Walsh was the one who negotiated the deal and not the county itself.

She said the $100,000 Hannah will earn far exceeds what other department heads at the courthouse make, for as much, or nearly as much work.

“I just don’t think it is fair when we have a lot of people now who wear many hats and do so much work,” she said.

Adrian said Walsh was hired to not only find quality candidates, but to handle the bargaining side of contract negotiations because it reduces the chances of the commissioners and Hannah getting off on the wrong foot, should contract talks become difficult.

“By having him negotiate the contract, it gives the new employee and board a fresh start,” Adrian said. “He is in the business of knowing what competitive salaries and starting wages are, and that is why the bargaining was kept outside of the commissioners.”

Before the hiring process began the board voted to set the starting wage anywhere from $85,000 to $115,000, depending on experience and qualifications.

Hannah was hired out of a pool of four finalists selected by Walsh and all were interviewed during a public meeting on Aug.18.

After that meeting the board voted to hire Jeff Knoop, the assistant executive director, deputy prosecuting attorney for the Marion County prosecutor’s office, child advocacy center in Indianapolis, Indiana, but only a few days later Knoop pulled his name from consideration due to family matters.

After a special meeting, the commissioners voted to offer the job to Hannah, who actually was the first choice of a majority of the commissioners after the interviews.

Adrian said now that the contract details are hashed out, Hannah could begin work on or around Sept. 20.

Hannah currently is on the executive committee and a founding member of Little Traverse Bay Housing Partnership. Prior to that, she was the executive director of the regional development office of the Presbyterian Villages of Michigan.