Yavapai County Administrator Resigns

The County Administrator for Yavapai County, Julie Ayers, has recently chosen to resign, placing her resignation in with the Board of Supervisors. Her resignation is expected to be effective as of July 6^th. Ayers has had the position for several years, since 2007 to be exact, and received the highest payment that any county employee receives, earning $143,000 per year. The Chairman for the Board of Supervisors, Tom Thurman, will be sad to see Ayers go; pointing out that she has done a stellar job at helping the county. He also says that Ayers did not leave for political reasons, as this was one of the rumors going on about her choice to resign.

Within recent weeks, Ayers was battling with the Supervisor, Chip Davis, because he was not happy with her ideas for having the board work on the budget for the county. Davis was the one who was in charge of the removal of funding for two of the assistant county managers who were supposed to be added to the payroll and work alongside of Ayers during the fall. Davis first agreed with adding on the new positions but later he recanted his original opinion, stating that he had buyer’s remorse shortly thereafter. The board eventually decided to cut off the funding that would have been used to pay those individuals, meaning that the positions were eliminated as well.

Someone recently asked Davis if he had been butting head with Ayers and he did not deny it whatsoever. In fact, he admitted that they did disagree with one another on different aspects of dealing with the county but he does not thing that is the reason in which she decided to resign from her position. He felt that their conflicts had basically nothing to do with her resignation and points out that she has been wanting to live in the Phoenix area and work over there for quite a while. Ayers also says that every professional relationship will have its ups and downs but insists that she respects Davis very much and that the disagreement between the two of them is not the reason she chose to resign.

Ayers will be moving to Peoria and will take on a new position, working as the director of human resources for the City of Peoria. Ayers’ is a divorced mom with children and believes that moving to the Valley would be beneficial for her children because it gives them the chance to see their father more often, especially since he lives around the area. She believed that it was the right time to take on a new position and do what is best for her and for her children as well. Many will be sad to see her go, including Carol Springer, a Supervisor, who says that Ayers has done such an excellent job for the county.