ESCANABA — The Delta County Board of Commissioners came to an agreement on what the job description for the open county administrator position will look like during a special meeting Tuesday, but the board has not yet adopted the language officially.

The special committee of the whole meeting — which was held at the Delta County Commerce Center instead of the Delta County Service Center due to a scheduling conflict — was subject to different rules of procedure than a regular county board meeting. Specifically, the commission was not supposed to vote on any actionable items but instead could vote to make recommendations to the board as a whole.

Because the whole board is what composes a “committee of the whole,” the commissioners essentially were voting what they would recommend to themselves at the April 4 regular commission meeting. Since the entire board was present Tuesday and it is unlikely that any commissioners would change their votes on specific aspects of the job description, it is likely the commissioners will rubber stamp the language discussed this week at that meeting.

That doesn’t mean the commissioners agree on all aspects of the job description, and it is possible the board may not unanimously vote to approve the language.

At a core level, the commissioners disagreed on how narrow the job description should be, with commissioners Bob Barron and Steve Viau arguing the loudest for opposing hiring philosophies Tuesday. Viau argued the job description should be narrow and specific to weed out poor candidates early in the process. Barron, on the other hand, argued for a permissive job description that would allow more candidates to apply.

“It’s the minimum. If someone applying can’t understand that this is the minimum, then they shouldn’t be applying in the first place,” said Barron.

Viau noted that the job description could be broadened if a suitable candidate wasn’t found in the first round, but argued a narrow description would produce the best candidate.

“I just disagree 100%. I want to narrow it here. I want the best candidate for the citizens. I do not want people coming in that have no knowledge of how the government works,” he said.

The differing philosophies manifested in three different areas, with the commissioners sparring over educational requirements, the number of years of experience that the commission would accept, and public versus private sector experience.

When it came to education, Viau’s focus on a narrow description took the form of emphasizing a masters degree as a requirement for the position, however he did not argue that those with bachelor’s degrees should be prohibited from applying. Instead, the language he put forward include both a masters and a bachelors degree as options, so long as the degrees were in business, public administration, or a related field.

“I don’t believe there has to be an emphasis on a masters degree. I think a bachelors degree and related experience will suffice for what we need,” said Barron.

Commission Chair Dave Moyle was vocally opposed to requiring a masters, citing his high opinion of Past County Administrator Ryan Bergman, who only had a bachelors degree when he was hired by the county.

“I don’t want to exclude anybody that might be an excellent candidate with a bachelors, just simply by requiring a masters, where we could put the caveat in there that we would require them to begin work on a masters program,” he said.

Barron, sticking with his philosophy of casting a wide net, moved to scratch the mention of a master’s degree entirely, instead requiring “a bachelors degree in business or public administration or a closely related field with specialization in finance or management.”

Viau balked at the suggestion, arguing it would make candidates who held masters degrees believe they were overqualified for the position and shrink the pool of candidates with the higher degree. Moyle said the board could still give preference to masters degrees even though they were not explicitly mentioned in the job description.

Despite the broadening of the degree requirements, Barron’s motion did go a step beyond the original proposal to define specializations as being in finance or management. This may have been related to a clarification of the job title early in the meeting by Commissioner John Malnar, who noted that the candidate was also to be the county’s financial officer and that it should be stated as such.

Barron’s motion also included a change to the length of experience sought by the board. The last version of the job description used by the board to hire an administrator included 3-5 years of experience preferred, but Viau and Malnar, who both sit on the county’s personnel committee, presented a version of the document requiring five years. Barron moved to revert to the original 3-5 year requirement.

Barron’s motion was approved in a split vote of the board, with commissioners Viau and Malnar opposing the more lax educational and experience requirements.

It was the type of experience needed, however, that may have been the most controversial.

“You’re really, really pushing private sector for some reason. And I think we need more government-minded people to run our government,” said Malnar, who joined with Viau to support a preference for a public sector background.

Moyle, Commissioner Bob Petersen and Barron all said they did not have a preference for private sector experience Tuesday, but the three commissioners have argued strongly for private sector candidates to be included since the issue was first raised at the March 21 regular commission meeting.

Barron, who has repeatedly argued that requiring a governmental background is unduly narrowing the field of candidates, took a stance on the issue Tuesday while discussing the proposed requirements that initially included five years of governmental experience in a local unit of government roughly the size of Delta County.

“The private sector, I think is being maligned here. Where without it, the government can’t exist,” said Barron, who argued against language that would have described public sector experience as being “preferred.”

Despite Barron’s objections, an addendum to the job description stating “Any satisfactory combination of education, experience and training, may be substituted for the above. Public sector experience preferred,” was added to the job description in a split vote. Voting for the addendum were Viau, Malnar and Petersen.

Viau, who has repeatedly argued for ad hoc committees as a way to keep citizens engaged in the process and increase transparency, suggested the formation of a three member board to review applications. The board would be composed of the commission chair, the chair of the personnel committee — who is also a commissioner — and one other elected member of the county’s government from outside the commission, such as a judge or the county treasurer.

The majority of the commission disagreed with the proposal, believing it was their job as elected officials to manage the process.

“The committee is already sitting here, as the committee of the whole reviews this, and … I hear the word banding about of ‘transparency.’ I think we’re under full x-ray vision at every meeting so I think transparency is pretty good here,” said Barron.