Tuscarawas County HR director promoted to administrator
NEW PHILADELPHIA (WJER) (Dec. 20, 2024) – The commissioners didn’t have to look far to fill a new leadership position within the county government.
Kris Lowdermilk went from human resources manager to county administrator on Monday but still works out of the same office next to the commissioner’s board room.
“We won’t make any changes there so people will find me in the same place and the same phone number and email address as of right now but I think with that access to the commissioners, it’s going to be vitally important.”
The administrator position combines Lowdermilk’s former duties with everything else that goes into managing the county government on a day-to-day basis.
“We brought on another great HR professional – Melissa Clark – in the last couple of years. She’s serving as our budget director and has a great background in workers compensation and insurance and personnel, so at this point in time, I think the two of us will divide and conquer.”
Lowdermilk says he’s grateful for the opportunity and looks forward to working with commissioner-elect Mitch Pace and other new county officeholders.
“It takes all of us as a team to work through this and I think a lot of the supporting role in terms of what I can provide to them is some of the business decisions that we all have to make that maybe take them away from their actual roles. I’ll be able to support those.”
He’s also appreciative of outgoing Commissioner Chris Abbuhl.
“I will miss Commissioner Abbuhl. He’s been a great partner to work with. He brought a lot to the county, and I want to wish him the best in his retirement.”
Prior to being hired to his former role in July of 2015, Lowdermilk worked for the Kimble Companies, Penn Ohio Coal, and the Stark County County Board of Developmental Disabilities. He describes his first few days as county administrator as exciting but busy.
“We look forward in the next six to eight weeks to opening our new board of elections building. There are a lot of final details that are going into that. We also have the Brandywine project coming to completion and the Red Barn project where we just passed the resolution for a contractor.”
Lowdermilk was one of five applicants for the position that the commissioners created back in November to streamline operations and provide more continuity whenever new board members are elected.