COASTAL OBSERVER

A new finance director started work this week for Georgetown County. The Department of Public Services is due to get a new director next month. They will join the 20 percent of employees who have been with the county less than a year. Ideally, that portion should be 5 percent, Walt Ackerman, the director of Administrative Services, told County Council at its retreat in January.

Ackerman was among the 26 percent who had between five and 15 years with the county. (The ideal portion is 60 percent, he said.)  Last week, Clarendon County Council agreed to hire him as its new administrator.

“The opportunity came up a couple of years ago. I didn’t go for it,” Ackerman said.

But the unexpected retirement of the former administrator this summer gave him a second chance.

“It happened in less than two weeks,” he said.

Clarendon County was still drafting a contract this week, and Ackerman said he hasn’t given notice yet.

Ackerman, an Andrews native, worked in finance for Williamsburg County and the city of Georgetown before becoming Georgetown County’s human resources director nine years ago. That role grew over the years. Last year, he was the public face of Georgetown County’s effort to explain a pair of sales tax proposals to voters.

“I’m unique in this field,” Ackerman said of his experience in finance, HR and administration. “My fingers have been stuck in everything throughout my career.”

Like Ray Funnye, the county Public Services director who retired in August after 33 years with the county, Ackerman’s job grew to embrace his skills.

“You grew the position into Ray, not Ray into the position,” Ackerman said, admitting that description could apply to him as well. “What I do now is not necessarily what I was hired to do.”

“It’s a matter of leadership and having a take-charge attitude, like he and Ray both have,” said Council Member Bob Anderson.

He has worked with Ackerman recently on ways to improve the county’s employee retention. That’s one area that Ackerman is proud of. 

“Hiring people and being able to keep people is a big deal,” he said, adding that it takes many forms.

One is health care, which the county now provides through its own insurance program rather than the state plan. The $9 million budget had been reduced to $6.5 million and Ackerman said he was disappointed the program only came in $500,000 under budget last year. He was used to a series of $1 million savings.

The care is better and it saves the county money. The trade-off is that health care takes up about a third of Ackerman’s time.

Workers compensation is another area that has improved. The rate the county pays has declined with a reduction in injuries. “We’ve been able to use the cost savings to increase employee pay,” Ackerman said.

He pitched a plan to County Council last year for a five-year package of pay increases, which was passed. The goal was not only the pay, but showing that the county was dedicated to doing better for its employees.

Ackerman, who was the liaison with the recruiting firm that helped Georgetown County hire Angela Christian as administrator in 2020, said his own move was one he has thought about for awhile.

“I’m nearing the end point of my career,” he said. “There’s only one place to go: up.”

He and his wife, Lisa, who works for the Berkeley County School District, have talked about having a house on Lake Marion. Except for his time in college, Ackerman his lived all his 54 years in Georgetown County.

“It just seemed a natural fit,” he said.

With a population of just over 31,000, Clarendon is about half the size of Georgetown. “They’re starting to see unprecedented growth,” Ackerman said. “It’s uncanny how similar they are.”