COURTLAND—The assistant administrator for Southampton County has resigned in hopes of getting a job elsewhere.

County Administrator Mike Johnson said Jay Randolph’s last day on the job was Friday.

“At this point there are no plans to immediately advertise (his) position,” Johnson said. “I’ll be picking up some (of his duties), and we’ll be reassigning the others to other staff members.”

Randolph was paid $66,447 annually. He had the eighth highest salary among county employees.

In other business, the Board of Supervisors during its Monday meeting voted to designate Beth Lewis as director of community development to take over some of the duties held by Planning Director Robert Barnett, who is retiring at the end of the month. Lewis’ salary was increased to $60,143, up from $55,296.

Lewis will also continue to serve the county as secretary for the planning commission.

The board promoted Lee Copeland from the county’s building inspector to county building official. Copeland’s pay was increased from $40,084 to $43,600.

“With Robert’s retirement, we are not bringing in any new person to fill any of the positions,” Johnson said Tuesday. “We are simply reassigning his responsibilities to Beth and Lee. It’s important to look at the overall net budget impact of that (decision), which is a positive budget impact of about $40,000 a year. The truth is we’re saving money.”

Board members also voted to continue to pay Julia Williams — who retired as the county’s finance director on Aug. 1 — at a $40 hourly rate — while she assists her successor, Lynette Lowe. Williams’ maximum salary will be $17,000.

“(Williams) is getting everything together for the audit for fiscal year 2010, since our new finance director wasn’t here in 2010,” Johnson said, adding that Williams’ compensation would end upon completion of the audit or Nov. 30, whichever is first.