For years,

Fayette County has ranked at or near the top of Georgia's 159 counties

in terms of service and efficiency, and Chris Cofty wants to make sure

it stays that way.

"First

and foremost I would like to continue along the same paths that have already

been established here in Fayette County," said Cofty, who signed

a two-year contract last week to serve as permanent county administrator.

As such, he

will be responsible for running all of the county's day to day operations

and managing its staff of more than 500.

Cofty has been

serving as acting county administrator ever since last June, when Billy

Beckett was terminated from that post by the County Commission, citing

"philosophical differences."

"Billy

Beckett did a super job here," Cofty said this week, "and I

want to continue that same level of service."

But that doesn't

mean Cofty doesn't have goals of his own.

"I want

to look at the financial side of the operation and try to more accurately

forecast expenditures in the upcoming budget year," said Cofty. "If

we expect to buy a $100,000 piece of equipment, but then we find we can

buy it for $75,000, we need to budget $75,000."

The tendency

is to treat such an event as a savings, he said, "but we really didn't

save anything. We just forecast it wrong." More accurate budgeting

will save the taxpayers money, he said.

During 2001,

Cofty said, department heads will be "going through and looking at

ways to try to be more efficient."

One recent

example, he said, was the decision to consolidate several contracts with

several different cell phone and pager companies into one. "If we

can get that down to one bill, one invoice, one check, we can see a significant

improvement in manpower," he said.

Plus, the county

has more leverage in negotiating a good price if it's talking to one vendor

about 200 pagers, rather than 25 from one vendor, 50 from another, etc.,

he said.

"All this

trickles down to the taxpayer," he said.

Another goal,

Cofty said, is to continue to improve the relationship between the county

and its residents. "I really want to strengthen our constituent service,"

he said. "I don't want anybody to feel like 'Well, we're dealing

with the government, so that's all we can expect,' or for anybody that

works for us to feel like, 'I work for the government, and we're going

to do it this way whether anybody likes it or not.'

"I want

to take our constituents' concerns to heart and try to instill in them

that we are providing good service," he said.

In a special

called meeting last week, commissioners approved a contract in which Cofty

will be paid $90,000 a year, with annual salary review every December.

In August,

commissioners voted to extend Cofty's status as interim administrator

for six months to evaluate him as a candidate to take the job permanently.

He passed that

test with flying colors. "He has done in my view an outstanding job

and he's very professional in the way he approaches things," said

commission Chairman Harold Bost as commissioners prepared to vote Wednesday.

"I've

been very much impressed with the way he has conducted himself in the

job during this six-month period," he added.

"Chris

has done a good job," agreed Commissioner Herb Frady, "and I'm

happy to vote for this contract."

Cofty, who

said at the time he was appointed as interim administrator that he would

wait to see whether he wanted the job permanently, said Wednesday he is

pleased with his new status.

"I feel

confident that we can do a good job here," he said. "I look

forward to working with you," he told the commissioners.

Cofty's contract

calls for four months severance pay if he is terminated. In addition to

his salary, he will receive a $600 a month auto allowance.