PARIS — Oxford County commissioners hired a new finance director and considered applications for the county administrator position during a workshop July 10.

Lindsay Kay – who has more than 20 years of experience in fund accounting, grant application, and payroll – will be the county’s new finance director, according to Interim County Administrator Abby Shanor.

The commissioners discussed the applications in executive session before hiring Kay in open session. Kay will be paid $45.15 per hour.

Shanor expects the commissioners to make a decision on the county administrator position at its next meeting on July 23.

Commissioners also ratified three-year union contacts with Oxford County Regional Communications Center dispatchers and their supervisors, which are “essentially the same” as the previous contracts approved in 2021, Commissioner Timothy Turner said.

In spring 2023, pay rates were increased due to inflation as part of an out-of-contract-cycle adjustment.

The new hourly pay rates for 2024 – listed as starting pay and pay for employees with one, three, five, seven, 10, 13, 16, and 20 years of experience – all went up by $1.50 plus 4%. For example, the starting pay for a new dispatcher in spring 2023 was $19.19 per hour. With the new contract, it is $21.52 and ranges up to $26.03 for a 20-year employee.

In 2025 and 2026, all the pay rates will go up by 4% as part of the contract.

The previous contract expired at the end of 2023, so all current employees under that contract who are still working will receive retroactive back pay to cover the pay increase that is now effective back to Jan. 1, 2024.

“We finally got an agreement that everyone’s happy with I think,” Shanor said.

The only other substantive change to both the dispatchers’ and supervisors’ contracts, other than the pay rates, is a 90-day carry-over for vacation that will be allowed in the rare instance where someone requested a vacation and was not able to take it because they had to cover a shift or someone else had seniority over them and the vacation was taken away. This gives the individual 90 additional days to request another vacation in the instance that theirs was interrupted, Shanor explained.

She said this particular situation has never happened before.

The union was negotiating to include a vacation payout upon expiration or at the end of employment, but that was not included in either of the final contracts.

The starting hourly pay rate for dispatch supervisors went up $1.50 plus 4%, from $21.49 to $23.90, and ranges up to $29.72 for a 20-year employee. For 2025 and 2026, all rates will go up $0.50 plus 4%.

Commissioners also approved an application for a $9,700 Edward Byrne Memorial Justice Assistance Grant for a reimbursement for equipment, specifically portable radios, by the Oxford County Sheriff’s Office.

“It’s a reimbursement for equipment every year. It’s routine,” Sheriff Christopher Wainwright said.

The sheriff’s office is also planning to apply for a grant from the Stanton Foundation in Massachusetts to cover the cost of a second K-9 unit and its training in 2025.

Commissioners approved the submission of the application for the grant. If it is approved, the sheriff’s office would need to come back for final approval and acceptance of the grant.

The commissioners plan to meet next at its offices at Oxford County Superior Court at 9 a.m. July 23.