After six months as interim Polk County administrator, Frank Marasco has permanently assumed the role.
The county supervisors approved Marasco’s appointment Tuesday, July 1, in a 3-2 vote.
The decision comes after three of the five members of the fractious board moved in January to oust then-County Administrator John Norris and bring aboard Marasco, longtime chief administrator of the sheriff’s office.
The board reached a settlement with Norris, securing his resignation in March. Marasco at the time told the Des Moines Register he did not want the job long term, and board Chair Matt McCoy said he envisioned a nationwide search for a replacement that would take at least six to nine months.
But on Tuesday, without seeking other candidates, McCoy, a Democrat, and his allies on the board, Republicans Mark Holm and Jill Altringer, voted to award Marasco the job. McCoy’s fellow Democratic supervisors, Angela Connolly and Tom Hockensmith, opposed the move.
When asked to explain the shift, McCoy told the Register that Marasco’s attitude toward the job “changed over time and he began to, I think, enjoy the job and he realized that he could do the job and that he could move an agenda.”
Marasco had spoken similarly of his evolving outlook, telling the Register earlier this week he was reluctant initially to take the position, even temporarily, but that “over the last six months, though, I think we’ve built a trust and I think I’ve proven I can move their agenda.”
Connolly, participating by phone at Tuesday’s meeting, criticized the appointment, calling the process flawed.
“I don’t believe there’s been a fair or open application process,” she said. “Even if Frank had rose to the top, there’s been no discussion, no email to the board. So, quite frankly, there has not been great communication.
“There’s apparently only three people on this board that seems to think they can get things done,” she added. “I’m very disappointed that this is happening in the county, and therefore I cannot support this.”
Controversy over Norris’ removal rocked supervisors
The move follows months of turmoil in county government, the latest chapter in a raucous history dating back years.
McCoy, first elected to the board in 2018, supported Marasco to be county administrator when the board instead appointed Norris in 2020. This past January, as new supervisors Holm and Altringer were in their first week in office, McCoy teamed with them to put Norris on leave and bring in Marasco.
That set off a fiery dispute inside the county administration building, which led to Norris being escorted from the building and Supervisor Tom Hockensmith being accused of making threatening comments to McCoy and Holm.
Hockensmith, after an investigation by the Iowa Division of Criminal Investigation, agreed in a deal brokered by his lawyer to take an assaultive behavior class June 28 in an effort to avoid a possible criminal charge.
Norris resigned in March, receiving a $516,000 settlement.
Meanwhile, Deputy County Administrator Sarah Boese, who already had a sexual harassment and retaliation lawsuit pending against the county, filed another against it and McCoy, Altringer and Holm after she was skipped over as a replacement for Norris.
Hockensmith predicted months ago that the new board majority of McCoy, Holm and Altringer would skip a formal search process for the administrator job and tap Marasco.
At previous meetings, he had pressed McCoy on when the search for a new county administrator would begin. But on Tuesday, Hockensmith, who like Connolly participated in the meeting by phone, made no comment as he voted against Marasco’s appointment.
McCoy: ‘We knew we had the person that could do the job right in front of us’
For McCoy, the decision to appoint Marasco on a full-time basis traces back to the events of 2020.
As one of the two finalists for the administrator job at the time, Marasco had been vetted by the county, McCoy said. Now, he added, after six months as interim administrator, Marasco has proven that he can handle the management and political challenges of the job.
“So I think from that perspective, the board had a comfort level with him. … And so ultimately, we had a decision to make and we decided it would be kind of wasteful to go out and do a search when we knew we had the person that could do the job right in front of us,” McCoy said.
Speaking during Tuesday’s meeting, McCoy added that the county tries to recruit within the organization. He praised Marasco’s effort to lower the county’s tax levy without reducing staff or services and to reorganize the county medical examiner’s office.
McCoy also sought to counter Connolly’s criticism, saying the supervisors had discussed idea of giving Marasco the job permanently.
“We have talked about it at board meetings. We’ve talked about it one-on-one. We’ve talked about it individually,” McCoy told the Register.
Marasco says he knows administrator job will be difficult
Marasco, who had told the Register he wasn’t sure it was a good idea to take the role, said he knows the job will be difficult. But he said he believes in public service and that he thinks he is in the best position to help the supervisors with challenges they face.
Marasco has been a county employee for 20 years, starting in the human resources department. He holds a Master’s in Business Administration from the University of Iowa and a Master’s in Public Administration and certified public manager designation from Drake University.
Des Moines Register Readers’ Watchdog columnist Lee Rood contributed to this story.
Virginia Barreda is the Des Moines city government and Polk County reporter for the Register. She can be reached at vbarreda@dmreg.com. Follow her on X at @vbarreda2.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Foregoing search, Polk supervisors tap interim administrator to fill the job permanently
Reporting by Virginia Barreda, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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