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WHEELING -- After more than 25 years as Ohio County administrator, Greg Stewart is leaving the job to focus on his duties as manager of The Highlands development.
The Ohio County Development Authority approved a contract with Stewart during its meeting this week, and he will have the title of OCDA manager. Details of the contract are not being made public.
Stewart will leave his job as county administrator after Dec. 31, said Commissioner Randy Wharton, who also serves as president of the OCDA. Stewart did not return messages seeking comment this week.
Stewart already has an office at The Highlands, and will continue to have an office within the City-County Building, Wharton said.
Commissioners will start after the first of the year to look into the hiring of a new administrator.
“We’ll get an advertisement together, and talk about what the requirements are,” Wharton said. “Our administrators have always had a lot of different roles, and most of them are going out the door when Greg goes.”
Commissioner Don Nickerson already is looking at similar job advertisements other counties in West Virginia have posted when seeking to hire an administrator, he said.
In the interim, the county will need someone to fill in as a temporary administrator, according to Wharton.
“We need someone to come in for administrative purposes,” he said. “Three signatures are required on certain checks, and there are requirements about who can and can’t sign.”
Activity in the office is currently at a slower pace, as there is no upcoming election, he said.
“As for the financials, we have a really good financial crew in there that can assist with getting the budget together,” Wharton said. “And the elected officials have always been good at working together, so it will run really smooth.”
There are some construction projects planned in the upcoming months to improve lighting and the heating and ventilation within the City-County Building. There are “very capable” people on staff to oversee that, he said.
“And we have human resources covered,” Wharton said. “It will be a very smooth transition.”
In his new job, Stewart will oversee all the maintenance and development activity and other projects at The Highlands.
While construction is mostly complete at The Highlands Sports Complex, there will be work there to complete a fitness center as well splash pads on the exterior.
The job of seeing the projects are finished will fall to Stewart.
“It’s going to take a lot of work to get that done. He has a big role,” Wharton said. “He realized it was time to devote full time to The Highlands, and that is fine with us.”