During a work session in Fairhope this week, the Baldwin County Commission considered moving forward on the hiring of Ron Ballard as the Juvenile Detention Center director.

Ballard is being discussed as a replacement for outgoing JDC and Wilderness Camp director Jennifer Lee, whose contract with the county will be terminated on Sept. 2.

After the county decided to lease the Wilderness Facility to a private company, continuing to pay the salary they were paying Lee seemed untenable to commissioners, after the reduction in duties that would occur due to the private management of the wilderness facility.

While the commissioners seemed unanimously in favor of appointing Ballard to the position, there was some discussion over what his proposed salary might be.

At last week’s commission meeting, the commissioners made a move to hire Ballard as the interim JDC director from Sept. 2 until Sept. 6, when the commission would have a vote to possibly appoint Ballard as the permanent JDC director. At that time, the commissioners considered paying Ballard $60,000 per year if appointed to the permanent position.

On Tuesday, questions about pay grades were raised by county staff and said to comply with existing position grades it might be best to put Ballard’s potential salary at $62,483.

All of the commissioners agreed to the $62,483 figure, adding that even with the increase from the proposed $60,000 salary, there would still be a savings to the county.

Commissioner Chris Elliott said the commission had great faith in Ballard’s ability to run the JDC. ”Ron is eminently qualified to be our JDC director,” Elliott said. “He has decades of experience with the county and experience with management of the JDC.”

Elliott added that Ballard was already looking for ways to improve JDC operations.

“He has already made numerous suggestions with reorganization and cost savings,” Elliott said. “We look forward to working with him.”