Administrator signs contract with county

Published 10:44 pm Wednesday, February 8, 2006

Whitfield County has a new administrator.

Jim Davis, who was offered the post by the Board of Commissioners last week, signed and returned that contract Wednesday.

“I’m very excited about the opportunity and thrilled at the chance to come up to Whitfield County and move the county forward,” Davis said by phone Wednesday night.

“I’m very excited, that’s the only word I can think of, very positive, very excited,” he said.

The contract calls for Davis to start work next Wednesday, but Davis said “that will really come from the chairman. I think we’re still talking about a start date. I don’t think we’ve settled on that yet, some time certainly in the next week or two.”

Davis said he plans to be in Dalton on Monday. The board has a meeting that day.

“It will take a while for him to get accustomed to our way of doing things. But he has the knowledge and skills to fit right in. I expect he will be up and running quickly,” said commissioner Odell Cochran.

The six-month contract calls for Davis to be paid an annualized salary of $90,000. He will also receive a $500 a month automobile expense allowance.

Davis spent almost 25 years in the Macon-Bibb County tax assessors office, both as a member of the board of assessors and as chief assessor. In that later post, he was responsible for the overall operations of the office.

He ran in 2000 for tax commissioner in Bibb County, winning the Democratic primary. Facing no Republican opponent, he would have taken office in 2001 but the incumbent resigned and Davis was appointed by the Board of Commissioners in August 2000 to fill the rest of the term.

In 2004, Gov. Sonny Perdue tapped Davis for commissioner of the Department of Motor Vehicle Safety, where he served for more than a year before that agency was abolished.

Then-Whitfield County administrator Bradley Arnold announced his resignation, effective Dec. 31, last August. Former county administrator Lenard Whaley has been serving as interim administrator.