During its scheduled meeting on Tuesday afternoon, the Ector County Utility District approved the hiring of Ector County Judge Debi Hays as its new general manager.
Hays on Thursday morning and said she was “surprised” that she was offered the job.
However, Hays said she hasn’t accepted the offer as she plans on meeting with ECUD next week.
“I got a phone saying that they had a meeting and that they wanted to offer me the position,” Hays said. “I told them that I would like to visit and that was the end of it.”
ECUD President Tommy Ervin said there were more than 19 applicants for the position.
The salary for the position hasn’t been solidified, but Ervin said it will likely range between $100k to $105k.
Ervin said that a hiring committee comprised of himself and ECUD board member Stephanie Shaw and former board member Will Kappauf brought two finalists including Hays to its board meeting on Tuesday afternoon.
“The knowledge she has working with people,” Ervin said when asked why ECUD choose Hays. “… It will help with the relationship between Ector County Utility District and Ector County. That relationship is going to be a lot smoother. The relationships she has with the county and county employees. She doesn’t have to relocate.”
The Odessa American has requested a list of applicants and when they applied for the position. Ervin said he believes that ECUD started accepting applications for the position in early August, while Hays said she applied for the position in October.
Ervin said the idea of hiring a general manager began in Decemeber 2021, picked up steam in March 2022 and finally began in August 2022.
With the position of general manager, that makes 16 paid employees of ECUD.
On Aug. 3, the Ector County Commissioners Court voted 4-1 to approve $10 million in ARPA funds for ECUD.
Hays, along with Mike Gardner, Greg Simmons and Don Stringer all voted to approve the ARPA funds. The lone dissenting vote came from Commissioner for Precinct 4 Armando Rodriguez. He explained during the annual budget meeting that he voted against the allocation as he believed ARPA funds should have been discussed publicly.
During its meeting on Tuesday, Ector County Commissioner for Precinct 1 Mike Gardner requested the subrecipient agreements for the West Odessa Volunteer Fire Department and Ector County Utility District be moved to the final meeting of the calendar year on Dec. 16.
Gardner said in light of Hays being offered the job at ECUD that the subrecipient request that was moved to Dec. 16 should be split into two parts. He also said that if he was offered that job that he would abstain from voting on that issue.
“She probably should,” Gardner said about Hays obstaining from voting on the subrecipient agreement for ECUD. “If it was me, I would.”
