Alsup moving on

What do folks think of Leroy Alsup's tenure as the first Cowley County adminstrator, now that he's moving on to a job in Oklahoma?

I think that overall he has been a very good one. Newspapers and Alsup have had a few clashes, as you might expect, but the benefits of having a professional manager seems to make the county run more efficiently and brings a focus to major projects. Leroy's speciality is economic develop and budgeting/spending issues, which proved important in setting up Cowley First, handling the GE tax crisis, and the budget crunch when the recession took hold. He helped get the new jail built after the first attempt failed.

He also seemed to gain the trust of the county commissioners, expect Carmelita Clarkson, by staying very close to them and keeping them well informed. Not as outward and visible to the public as say, a Curt Freeland, but that would be hard for a county administrator.

Critics see him as rather imperial, my way or the highway, type of manager, who doesn't always play well with others. There may be some validity to that, but overall I think Alsup has served the county and its residents quite well, setting the pace for county administrators yet to come.