By Sarrah Peters
News Editor
On Tuesday, August 25, the Etowah County Courthouse hosted a reception welcoming new Chief Administrative Officer Sherrie Kelley to Etowah County.
The Etowah County Commission unanimously voted to approve a contract with Sherrie Y. Kelley for the Chief Administrative Officer position at the Etowah County Commission meeting on Tuesday, July 7.
The position opened after the commission terminated the contract with Patrick Simms.
At the meeting, Etowah County Commissioner Larry Payne thanked Commissioners Carolyn Parker, Tim Choate and Lewis Fuller for selecting three excellent prospects for the position.
Kelley was selected from the three final applicants interviewed by the commission.
Kelley has previous experience in county administration. She was the County Administrator with the Coosa County Commission since 2001 and prior to that served as their Assistant County Administrator as well as other positions with Coosa County and Clay County.
Her list of credentials goes on, as she was the President of the Alabama County Administrators Association in 2006- 2007, and has served on the Board of Directors since 2007. Kelley was President of the Alabama City County Management Association in 2008 – 2009 and 2014-2015 and has also served as Vice President and President Elect. She currently serves on the NACO Justice and Public Safety Steering Committee after being appointed in 2005.
Ms. Kelley began her contract in Etowah County on August 7.
So far Kelley is enjoying working in Etowah County, saying that everyone has been friendly.
The duties are familiar to ones she performed previously; however, according to Kelley “some things vary from county to county.”
The biggest difference she has encountered is the more active role she now plays in county commission meetings.