On Tuesday, the Mono County Board of Supervisors approved a resolution to enter into a contract with Karin Humiston as the new Chief Probation Officer.

Former Chief Probation Officer Beverlee Bryant retired in September 2011 and the Assistant Probation Officer, Tracie Neal, has been serving as Interim Chief Probation Officer since that time.

Humiston’s contract is effective Sept. 24 and will last two years. Right before the vote, Supervisor Tim Hansen said, “I wish we had been able to hire from within Mono County.”

Both Supervisor Byng Hunt and Mono County CAO Jim Arkens (who also serves as the HR Director in addition to holding several other positions at the County) stated that after going through an extensive interview process, Humiston was found to be the best candidate at this time.

“We wanted to open the position up to find the best person possible,” Hunt said. “Internally we have some really great potential candidates that could move into the position in the future, but she [Humiston] was the best choice right now. The Board of Supervisors does like to promote from within but in this case this candidate was better.”

“I have a longstanding interest of seeing people promoted within their department,” was Hansen’s response when asked to elaborate on his comment on Wednesday.

Hunt said that the reason for a two-year contract was to make sure things work out with Humiston.

“She is going through some life changes and is moving from Arizona.” Hunt said.

Arkens stated that he had been given authorization from the Board a few months back to go through a full recruitment process and choose the best candidate, which he believed he did.

Arkens and Finance Director Brian Muir conducted the interviews and made the recommendation to the Board.

Bryant said she had no comment on the new hire, seeing as how she has been away from the County for some time now and was not involved in the interview process.

“I have some personal feelings but those aren’t for print,” Bryant said.

In her previous employment, Humiston worked for the Cochise County Juvenile Court in Bisbee, Ariz. from 1997 to August 2012 and at the Arizona Department of Corrections from 1981 to 1997.

The cost of this position for the remainder of FY 12-13 is approximately $181,369, of which $83,367 is salary; $64,602 is the employer portion of PERS, and $30,400 is the cost of the benefits; also included is up to $3,000 in moving expenses.