A change approved Thursday to John Welbourn’s job overseeing county weed control operations is not a demotion, Shawnee County commissioners were told Thursday.
Commissioners Kevin Cook, Shelly Buhler and Bob Archer subsequently voted 3-0 to approve a “repurposing” of the department’s organizational structure, which included reclassifying Welbourn’s position from “weed director” to “weed supervisor.” In response to Cook’s question as to whether the proposal involved would constitute a “demotion” for Welbourn, parks and recreation director John Knight said it would not.
The move would instead reclassify the job Welbourn holds from that of an appointed department head who serves at the pleasure of the commission to that of a classified parks and recreation department employee who is under the protection of the county’s personnel rules and regulations, Knight said.
He added that he thought the move would increase Welbourn’s hourly pay by 3 cents an hour.
The weed director’s job before Thursday had already been part of the parks and recreation department. The weed department is directly or indirectly responsible for the control of every noxious weed in Shawnee County, according to its website.
(Read more: Local – The Topeka Capital-Journal)