May 27, 2004 By Christine Haines 3 min read

WASHINGTON – The search is on for a new director of administration for Washington County. Former state Rep. Leo Trich has served in that position for the past five months, but it was announced Wednesday that Trich will be resigning from the post for health reasons.

“I felt it was in my personal best interest that I discontinue my full-time role as Director of Administration. The recurrence of previous health issues makes it necessary for me to reduce my current schedule of activities along with the very demanding rigors of this position,” Trich said.

Trich said he suffers from a blood clotting disorder that is not life threatening, but needs to be monitored to keep recurring blood clots in check.

Trich, who prior to joining the county had served as a consultant to Ballpark Scholarships Inc., a non-profit organization related to the Washington Wild Things and Falconi Field, said he would return to part-time consulting work.

“One has to put their health before anything else, and he has done that,” Commissioner Bracken Burns said of Trich. “I’ve thoroughly enjoyed working with him.”

Burns said the commissioners are currently wrapping up the interview process and do have a top candidate in mind. Burns said the position should be filled within the next one to two weeks.

“We have a lot of work to do. We don’t have time for any down time,” Burns said.

Burns noted that the director of administration is the person all of the other department heads report to directly and is responsible for the day-to-day operations of the county.

“Leo is a good man and he’s served the county and the state well,” said Commissioner Larry Maggi. “We’re sorry to se him go after five months. Things were just starting to come together, but he has some health issues that he needs to take care of first.”

Maggi said the successful candidate for director of administration would have experience in government, an ability to get along with people and good knowledge of the county.

“It has to be someone who can work with this three-headed government that we have,” Maggi said.

Commissioner Diana Irey said that while Burns is saying the interview process is nearing an end, she is just now being brought into it. She said that while Trich said he told Burns and Maggi about 10 days ago that he would be resigning, she was told on Tuesday. She will be interviewing a candidate to replace Trich today.

“This is a big decision and I don’t think it should be entered hastily,” Irey said.

Irey said she would like to see the next director of administration to be someone with excellent administrative skills, with business experience, who is able to multi-task and work with all three commissioners.

“It needs to be someone of the utmost integrity,” Irey said.