Former EMS director is administrator
Jason Lewis has dedicated his life to one slice of county government: public safety. But now, as the new county administrator, his role has expanded, and he must consider the whole pie.
“As EMS director, I was looking at one slice of the pizza,” Lewis said. “Whereas the county administrator, the chairman, and essentially the board of commissioners, has to look at it in its entirety, and how a decision made by the Sheriff will affect us, other departments or government funding.”
The role of county administrator is to serve as a liaison between the chairman, the Board of Commissioners and department heads across the county.
Lewis, who officially began the role on March 10, spent 28 years in public safety, most recently as the director of EMS in Oglethorpe County. EMS is now under Josh Robinson, who was deputy director.
Lewis takes the role formerly held by Josh Hawkins, who took a position with Athens-Clarke County last April. Lewis shared the role with Jeff Sharp, the director of planning, zoning and compliance, and county clerk Amy Forrester the past year.
“Just because (Josh Hawkins) left, the responsibilities didn’t, and it was divvied up until we all got our feet up under us,” Board of Commission Chairman Jay Paul said. “Josh was a very bright person and played an important role here, so we’ve filled it in over the past 12 months.”
The three divided the roles in their relative areas of expertise.
“I had planning and zoning, tax commissioner, tax assessor and the road and facilities, and the landfill,” Sharp said. “He (Jason Lewis) had the Sheriff and emergency management, and then Amy had the actual county office and the courts.”
The role is now consolidated with Lewis.
“It’s still a team approach,” Paul said. “I mean, I'm going to have questions with Jeff Sharp every day, and, Lord knows, I’ll have them for Amy Forrester every day. But having Jason here, designated as administrator, there will probably be more of a shift off of Amy and off of Jeff.”
Lewis said he understands there is much for him to grasp with the new position, but he wants to continue Paul’s emphasis on teamwork.
“There is a lot that I continue to learn,” Lewis said. “We are always kind of back and forth. And that will continue, I think, forever. The chairman likes to do things by consensus, and he likes having a team. A team approach to everything gives more than one set of eyes looking at whatever the issue may be.”
Lewis also said he’s willing to learn.
“I really enjoy the work,” he said. “I really enjoy the challenge of being exposed to issues I’ve never been exposed to before. I have a good working relationship with the chairman. The decision was a lot easier for me to step away from 28 years in public safety to an administrator role solely based on the team.”
Lewis will be paid about $80,000, Paul said, which has been in the Board of Commissioners’ budget since 2014.
Lewis plans to take educational courses that will expose him to topics that his work in public safety did not. Having skills in planning, which he refined while working in public safety, Lewis thinks he will be successful as county administrator.
“One of my strong points is planning like everything in public safety,” Lewis said. “Whether you’re talking about prepping for Hurricane Helene or prepping to buy fire trucks, the same principle of planning can be implemented in long-term road projects or infrastructure problems that we may have,” he said. “So, that is what I want to do — be able to help the BOC plan instead of react.”
Despite having only had two weeks on the job, Lewis has found one thing to be true: no two days are the same as county administrator.
“There is always a project to do, and there is always a different amount of time to do them in,” Lewis said. “We have some projects that we know of now that are going to start in the next few weeks and are going to last four or five months. You got some things that happen today that need to be fixed today. So, that is the only thing that I am certain of, that, so far, no two days have been the same.”
Lewis’ priorities, along with the chairman and the rest of the team, are working on Georgia House Bill 581, the property tax exemption, and the Double Bridges Road project.
In addition, Lewis will continue his elected position as county coroner, which is an as-needed basis. Lewis said he works with deputy coroner Robert McCurley to juggle the responsibilities.
“You would not be able to have any kind of certainty if you didn’t have those other team members, like Robert McCurley,” Lewis said.
Lewis said he’s grateful for all of the roles he’s served in over the past three decades.
“My career in EMS has afforded me everything that I have,” Lewis said. “I met my wife in the ER, and now my oldest child is a nurse in the ER. Everything I have, I owe to this career.”