After two months of interviews and years of debate, Leavenworth County commissioners have hired the county’s first-ever administrator

Heather Morgan, who currently works in Topeka as the state Juvenile Justice Authority’s director of public and legislative affairs and federal programs, will assume her new role April 7. Her annual salary will be $85,000.

Morgan, a graduate of Kansas State University with a master’s degree in public administration, also has spent time assisting the Governor’s Office with the Kansas Division of the Budget.

The administrator will be responsible for, among other things, preparing an annual budget, coordinating administrative operations of the departments and reviewing contracts. The County Commission created the new position, despite unsuccessful ballot initiatives in 1998 and 2002.

“I think Leavenworth County is poised for some really good things in the future,” Morgan said by telephone, “and I look forward to working with the county commission to achieve those.”

First District Commissioner J.C. Tellefson said Monday he was “extraordinarily pleased” with the hiring.

“We had significantly qualified people, and she just kept bubbling up to the top,” he added.