The Douglas County Extension officer responsible for coordination of the area’s 4-H events has stepped down from her position, creating a vacancy that may not be filled for months.

Kimbreley Davis, the 4-H youth development agent, resigned from the K-State Research and Extension office three weeks ago, office director Trudy Rice said. Davis left this week taking accumulated time off, although she will not officially leave her post until Jan. 13.

“We certainly want to continue the program as close to the previous level as possible,” Rice said Tuesday.

To do that, Rice said the office has assigned another university employee to the extension position, continuing to manage the nearly one dozen 4-H programs in the county.

In her resignation letter, Davis said that she had accepted a position in Oklahoma to be closer to her family.

Davis’ position can’t be advertised until January, and the process of finding a replacement could take as long as four months.

But Sue Ashcraft, a member of the office’s board of directors, said she expected that the 4-H events coordination wouldn’t suffer as the office searched for a replacement.

“It requires a lot of energy,” Ashcraft said of the position.

She said that the board plans to meet Thursday to discuss what expectations they have for Davis’ replacement.

In the meantime, Rice said that the office would require some help to keep up with the workload after the first of the year, as the position’s duties require full-time attention that an interim youth and development agent might not be able to dedicate.

“There’s no doubt that there will be a need to hire temporary help,” Rice said.

Temporary help or not, Kanwaka 4-H organizer Leann Dickson wasn’t concerned. She said that Davis had done a great job, and felt confident that things would be fine until the office finds a replacement.

“I think that in the interim that we can manage until a replacement is found,” Dickson said.