February 12, 2004

Hawkey named planner, as Village makes changes

Phil Hawkey, who was hired less than a year ago as the Village zoning administrator, has been named the Village planner, moving from part-time to full-time and increasing his responsibilities.

The move is part of Village Manager Rob Hillard’s efforts to reorganize the Village structure, as he said last fall, “to create a more effective organization.”
Hawkey, who was hired last April as the zoning administrator, fills the position that was originally advertised as the assistant to the Village manager. He was selected from a pool of about 45 applicants, three of whom were interviewed, Hillard said. Hawkey had “the best skills” of all the applicants, Hillard said. The manager also highlighted Hawkey’s previous experience as an engineering assistant in Celina.

The Village also plans to hire a quarter-time employee to assist Hawkey with Zoning Code enforcement and inspections, Hillard said. This new employee will assume the hours Hawkey worked when he was the zoning administrator, Hillard said.

Changing the title of the new position to Village planner better reflects Hawkey’s responsibilities and his qualifications, Hawkey and Hillard said.
A certified planner, Hawkey will still maintain his zoning administrator responsibilities, including processing zoning permits, handling villagers’ questions about zoning issues, enforcing zoning regulations and assisting the Village Planning Commission and the Board of Zoning Appeals. He is also now responsible for planning and implementing capital projects and for overseeing requests that are made to the Public Works Department. Hawkey said that he makes sure public works requests are resolved.

In an interview in his office at the Bryan Community Center Friday, Hawkey laid out four steps that he will be involved with on capital planning: the conception of the idea or project; selection of an engineer or designer; awarding of the contract; and completion of the job. He added that he would also work with Hillard and the appropriate Village department heads on capital planning.
“We’ll collaborate on it together,” Hawkey said of Hillard, “as well as with the supervisors and Council.”

Hawkey worked for 21 years as an engineering assistant for Celina, where he was one-half of a two-person engineering department. He was responsible for zoning administrations and inspection, traffic planning and managing numerous improvement projects. He has a B.A. in environmental design from Antioch’s former Washington, D.C./Baltimore campus. He and his wife, Sue, moved to Yellow Springs in 2000.

Hillard said that Hawkey is not second in command behind the Village manager, but instead is another department head or supervisor. “I expect our supervisors to work cooperatively together,” Hillard said.

The increased responsibility means that Hawkey now has an office in the Bryan Center, the same office his boss occupied until two weeks ago, when Hillard moved his office from the second floor of the Bryan Center to the first floor. Hillard now occupies a conference room in the Police Department, which, he said, is the third office he has occupied since coming to Yellow Springs in 2000.
Hillard said that the change in location places him near the police force and the Village Finance Department, including the utility billing services, and, he said, should help him work better with both departments. “It gives me insight to the Police Department that can allow me to support the department and the new chief,” Hillard said last fall, referring to Carl Bush, who joined the police force as chief in December.

When he joined the department, Bush said he was not bothered by the new location of Hillard’s office. “I really don’t think he’s coming down here to look over Carl’s shoulder,” Bush said.

Being in closer proximity to the Finance Department, Hillard said, will give him “better insight” in the department and “will lead to a better budgeting process.”
The setup of Hillard’s new office, inside the Police Department, means that to see the manager in person, local residents must first go up to the police dispatch or utility billing windows. The Village plans to make modifications in the Bryan Center so visitors will have direct access to his office, Hillard said. Hillard’s direct phone number, 767-1279, has not changed.

Since he was hired as the Village manager, Hillard has steadily made changes within the Village government. These changes include moving the offices of Michael Applin, the head of the Village electric and water services, and Harold Hamilton, the head of the streets and sanitary sewer services, to the Bryan Community Center from the Village Public Works facility on State Route 343; promoting Roxie Potts to the position of Village administrative assistant; and placing the Village manager’s office in charge of public works requests.

When Terry Cox, the longtime director of the Village parks system, retired last fall, Hillard made another change, rearranging responsibilities for the parks.
Hamilton has taken on the additional responsibility of overseeing the maintenance of the Village’s parks facilities, including the Bryan Center, the Yellow Springs Library, which the Village owns, and the Village’s parks. (In the fall, Hamilton received a pay raise to reflect his extra duties.) Greg Jones, who worked with Cox in the Parks Department, has moved over to the street crew and works on the parks’ maintenance issues.

Hillard has also taken over some of the responsibilities of the Parks Department and now supervises the programs and staff at the Bryan Center and Gaunt Park Pool. He said that he does not expect to expand programs at the Bryan Center or the pool, although Hillard added that the Village may get more Antioch College students involved in running programs.

Working more closely with the pool staff and the Bryan Center’s three part-time building monitors, who assist in cleaning up the building and oversee the center’s evening activities, will increase his awareness of both operations, Hillard said.
“Part of the reason I could do this is because of the strength of Phil, because of the strength of Roxie, because of the strength of Michael Applin and Harold Hamilton,” Hillard said.

—Robert Mihalek