Wednesday, April 24, 2013
BENTONVILLE — Putting his family first, Chris Ryan resigned as Benton County’s planning and environmental director Tuesday.
Ryan, hired in September 2011, said he had to make a choice between staying or being with his family who still live on Long Island in New York.
“It’s been extremely difficult for me here without my family,” Ryan said Tuesday. “I’ve been here 20 months, and in that time, I’ve seen my wife four times. I’ve seen my son twice. I’ve missed most of his high school career. I miss the baseball games, the basketball games. I miss the Quiz Bowls. I realize I can’t do this anymore.”
County Planning Director
Barb Ludwig, Benton County human resources manager, said Chris Ryan’s salary as director of planning and environment was about $56,500. He was responsible for overseeing three employees in the environmental department and seven employees in the planning department. Ryan, who was hired Sept. 19, 2011, resigned Tuesday citing family issues.
Source: Staff Report
Ryan said his concern over being separated from his family kept him from focusing on his job and he had to choose between the two.
“I was not as effective as I felt I could be,” he said.
Ryan said he will miss working with the Planning and Environmental Department staff.
“It’s the best staff I’ve ever had,” he said. “I love them all. I’ve learned a lot from them, and I hope they’ve learned something from me. It’s heartbreaking for me to leave them, but I’ve got to do what’s best for my family.”
Mark Curtis is chairman of the Planning Board and has served on the board since 2008. He said he thinks the Planning Department has become much more professional and capable under Ryan’s direction.
“I think it’s a loss for the county,” Curtis said. “His work on the planning regulations was exemplary, and I’m certain he’ll be missed. We’ll have to get the Planning Board together and try to follow his lead.”
Curtis said the planning staff is “very competent and very knowledgeable.” He said the Planning Board and the staff will continue working on the revision of the planning regulations that has been a major project under Ryan’s direction.
“We’re still in the process of doing the rewrite,” Curtis said. “We’ve got to keep that going. At this point, I don’t know until I sit down with the staff and Mr. (John) Sudduth just how we’ll proceed. We’ve spent a lot of time working on the regulations, and I think we’ll keep working toward that end.”
Sudduth, general services administrator, oversees the Planning and Environmental Department. He said he will try to keep the day-to-day operation of the office going smoothly as he evaluates the position and how best to proceed.
“I’ve met with the staff, and we’ll continue with all of our projects,” Sudduth said. “It’s to soon to tell what we’ll do about filling the position. We’ll take a couple of days to see if it needs to be filled or if we need to restructure things.”
County Judge Bob Clinard said he’ll defer to Sudduth on his review of the department and will discuss his recommendations once he has completed them.
“There are no plans yet, it’s just happened,” Clinard said. “We’ve said we’ll take a step back and see if we can fill it internally or restructure it. It’s John’s decision to come up with what he wants to do, and then we’ll discuss it.”