Deputy county manager resigns after less than year in position

Deputy County Manager Tom Golden has resigned from his position with Sedgwick County amid several leadership changes at the organization.

County Manager Michael Scholes confirmed that Golden resigned on Friday.

The deputy county manager position was created last year as part of Scholes’ restructuring of the organization. Golden was the county’s first deputy county manager.

The deputy county manager serves as a high-level director within the organization, overseeing departments that perform the county’s facility, technology, auditing, development and strategic planning efforts.

Golden served in Sedgwick County government for less than a year after he was named to the position in August. He began working for the county last September.

Before joining the county, he was a command chief warrant officer in the Georgia Army National Guard. He was finishing up a 32-year military career as a rotary-wing and fixed-wing pilot at the time of his hire, according to a county news release issued last August.

Golden previously served in Georgia’s Rockdale County government in the Atlanta area. Golden, like Scholes, served in the Georgia Army National Guard at various times throughout the 1990s and 2000s.

Golden had not attended county commission or bid board meetings throughout late April and early May. The deputy county manager is tasked with chairing the bid board under the county’s new purchasing policy.

It’s unclear whether Golden agreed to a settlement for his resignation, as former Chief Financial Officer Chris Chronis did.

Tom Stolz is now the interim deputy county manager, according to an e-mail sent by Scholes to county employees on Tuesday afternoon.

After more than three decades with the Wichita Police Department, Stolz became the director of the joint city-county Metropolitan Area Building and Construction Department in 2012.

Stolz was also one of the four finalists to replace longtime manager Bill Buchanan before Scholes was hired in 2015. Last August, Stolz was named assistant county manager of Public Safety, Code Enforcement and Emergency Management as part of the county manager’s executive team.

Scholes said Wednesday that Stolz had been one of the finalists for the deputy county manager position last summer.

“I’m excited about Tom (Stolz) moving forward,” Scholes said.

Scholes said there would be about a 90-day period to decide whether to hire a permanent deputy county manager.

Tania Cole, the county’s Program Services Program manager, was also named the interim director of Operations Support Services. That facilities department is responsible for supporting other county divisions with building maintenance, construction and planning.

Cole has been with the county since 2005, according to the e-mail. Steve Claassen, the previous director, recently retired.

Lorien Showalter Arie was named the county’s budget director. She was previously a budget analyst and has been with the organization since 2012.

The previous budget director, Lindsay Poe Rousseau, is now the chief financial officer following Chronis’ resignation.

This story was originally published May 9, 2017 at 9:52 PM with the headline "Deputy county manager resigns after less than year in position."