The Hall County Board of Commissioners has appointed Charley Nix to the position of County Administrator. The unanimous vote was held at Thursday’s commission meeting.

“I am very honored and humbled by the Commission’s show of support. I will certainly work hard to earn it. I care deeply about this county. I grew up here, raised my children here and plan to retire here,” Nix said.

Nix is formerly the Human Resources Director for Hall County and served as Interim County Administrator following longtime administrator Jim Shuler’s retirement on June 30, 2008. Nix was one of two finalists for the position, the other being James “Butch” Sanders, former city administrator for Dalton, Ga. The county received 40 applications for the position since it was first advertised Aug. 21, 2008. Four candidates were interviewed.

“Charley’s background in private business will provide unique leadership perspective to the issues we face as a county. The Commission feels very confident in his ability meet the challenge,” Commission Chairman Tom Oliver said.

Nix said his next step will be to immerse himself in many of the technical areas of government, so he will be able to provide more in-depth support to county department heads and elected officials. Throughout the next several months, the leadership team will be developing goals and objectives that will lead into the fiscal year 2010 budgeting process.

“I will expect nothing less than excellence from our department heads and employees,” Nix said. “My expectations are for all employees to 1) work as efficiently as possible, 2) excel in their jobs, 3) know ‘who’ the customer is, and 4) how to put the customer at the top of their priority list.”

The county administrator is responsible for directly overseeing the management of all departments reporting to the county Commission and directing the delivery of services to the residents of Hall County. His role is also to assist the Commission with coordination of activities between other elected officials, such as Superior Court judges, the Sheriff, and other constitutionally-elected officers, and to interact with agencies at the regional, state and federal levels.