Public Safety Director Randy Tillman is stepping up next week to be Bulloch County’s second interim county manager since long-term County Manager Tom Couch’s resignation last fall.
Couch, who had been the county manager for 20 years, submitted his resignation in October but made if effective Nov. 29, leaving for an assistant county manager post with larger York County, South Carolina. The Bulloch County Board of Commissioners then contracted with Cindy Steinmann, who had been a county staff member for 10 years and assistant county manager for three and a half, to be interim county manager while a search for a permanent manager was launched.
But Steinmann recently submitted her resignation, effective April 9, which is next Wednesday. She has said she is taking a job nearby “in the private sector,” with a design firm that does consulting work for local governments, such as cities and counties. Meanwhile, the search for a new county manager, now getting underway with assistance from Dr. Ian Coyle and his Livonia, New York-based search firm Pracademic Partners, is projected to take to take eight to 12 weeks to complete.
So, an interim manager contract for Tillman – almost identical to the previous contract with Steinmann – was included in agenda packets for the Board of Commissioners’ 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, April 1, regular meeting.
“I think they’re kind of leveraging my leadership experience to try to support the daily operations here while we’ve sought out the recruitment firm to fill the county manager’s position,” he told the Statesboro Herald in an interview. “I will be assisting them all I can during this time. We hope that it will be a short period before we’re able to bring in someone that’s certainly well qualified to take that position, but in the meantime, I will be interim county manager/assistant county manager/public safety director.”
A very experienced public safety team will help make this possible, according to Tillman.
“The leaders have years of experience and are very knowledgeable, they handle themselves and their team very well, so that frees up time for me to be able to take on this interim job,” he said.
Under the interim contract approved by commissioners on a 6-0 vote, even his salary will be the same as for Steinmann, $175,000, if Tillman stays in the role for a full year. It’s paid as $6,730.77 each two-week pay period.
“Please, God, don’t let it happen that it’s a whole year. I’m praying that,” he said in speaking during staff comments at the commission meeting. He suggested that people think of the pay as “divided” among the three administrative jobs he will be holding.
In presenting the contract, County Attorney Jeff Akins noted that it provides for Tillman to return to the public safety director job but also allows him to continue with those responsibilities while in the interim role.
Upon completion or termination of the agreement, “Manager shall resume primary duties as the Public Safety Director at a salary equal to the amount previously earned in that role,” but subject to any across-the-board raises, the contract states.
Tillman’s experience
Tillman, who is now 60, had worked 30 years for the Georgia Department of Corrections when he retired in 2014 as director of the department’s Facilities Division. In that capacity, he oversaw daily operation of prison facilities across the state, with about 9,000 staff members and an $800 million budget at the time, he recalls.
After his DOC retirement, Tillman served as warden of the U.S. Marshals Service detention center in Lovejoy, Georgia. Couch then hired him to be warden of Bulloch County Correctional Institution, the county-owned prison housing state inmates under contract, effective August 2018. His initial employment as warden was “on an 11-month contract, and I’m still here,” he said Tuesday.
Before longtime Public Safety Director Ted Wynn’s retirement took effect at the end of January 2024, Couch with consent of the commissioners promoted Tillman to be the next public safety director, so he has been in that job 14 months. The county fire chief, the BCCI warden and the directors of Emergency Management, the Emergency Medical Service, Animal Services, Adult Probation and the three-county 911 Center report to the public safety director.
Originally from Waycross, he attained a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Thomas University in Thomasville.
The Herald in a follow-up email asked Tillman if he would consider the permanent job of county manager if the commissioners offered.
“I believe my past leadership experience will allow me to provide the necessary guidance to the county staff that will enable them to stay focused and engaged. I will depend on the professional opinions and expertise of the department heads and their staff to provide timely and accurate information to the Commissioners of Bulloch County,” he replied. “It is my hope that the Commissioners of Bulloch County use this information to continue to conduct the business of the county in a favorable way.
“I can and will continue to do this in an interim manner but firmly believe the county will be best served by an experienced person specifically with county manager experience,” Tillman wrote. “The growth ahead for Bulloch County will be a great opportunity for a certified County Manager to lead a great staff to the next level.”