Harry Sanders has officially left his role as county administrator and the county is now searching for his replacement.

The county voted to begin advertising for the position at the last February meeting and there is still one week left to send in resumes, with the deadline at 3 p.m. Friday, March 30.

“Because of this being an unclassified position, it is at pleasure of commission, so it’s done a little differently than other steps with other employees,” said McKenzie Wilson, interim administrator. “In the past, commissioners have usually each been given a copy of all the resumes that are submitted and from there make a decision of the top five applicants, but it can be more or less depending on who they want to interview for the position.”

The county has received seven resumes so far according to Allen Jones, county attorney.

Wilson said the starting salary for the position is $79,000 a year, but that the final rate will be determined by the commission and the new hire.

Chairman Robin Sullivan said the commission does not have a preference about whether the hire made is a current county employee or somebody from the outside.

“We’re open to see what we get, “ Sullivan said. “We’re going to go through and look at them and try to get best candidate we possibly can.”

There is no timeline for when the commission will make a decision on who to hire as the next administrator.

Sanders served in the role for the past 16 years and commissioners and county personnel said he will be missed.

The commission will meet on Monday, but Sullivan said there will be nothing to discuss regarding the position at that time. The meeting will be held upstairs at the Pike County Health Department with the work session beginning at 5:15 p.m. and the business meeting at 6 p.m.