Jenifer Davidson named Douglas County manager

Assistant County Manager Jenifer Davidson became the first Douglas High School graduate to be offered Douglas County’s top spot.

Davidson and Chief Financial Officer Terri Willoughby were the only candidates for the position, both recommended by retiring County Manager Patrick Cates.

Douglas County commissioners voted 5-0 on Thursday to appoint Davidson interim county manager while she and the county negotiate over her contract.

“I pride myself on being straightforward,” Davidson said. “I like saying it how I see it and I appreciate that direct form of communication.”

A lifelong resident of the county, Davidson said building relationships across the community was critical.

“I have built a number of relationships in this community,” she said. “I have a solid foundation in this community. I grew up here, I was raised here, I went to high school here, and have served in this community for 16 years in some capacity or other in this organization.”

Davidson wrote the county’s ethics policy in the wake of the Tiregate embezzlement.

“This organization has faced a lot of adversity over the last 10 years and certainly public trust has been damaged,” she said. “I think that County Manager Cates made it his priority to open up communication and to put integrity and ethics at the forefront of the conversation by leadership.”

She said it’s not enough to talk about ethics.

“It’s not just taking a top-down, preach-from-the-pulpit approach to ethics and integrity,” she said. “We’re modeling behaviors and starting conversation in this organization to make employees part of the solution.”

Only a half-dozen people spoke during public comment, with two raising the possibility of expanding a search.

Davidson is a 2000 Douglas High School graduate, who was 29 years old when she was chosen Minden Town Manager in 2011. She was previously the office manager for China Spring Youth Camp where she worked for three years.

She flew to Washington D.C. to collect her master’s degree in organizational leadership and learning from George Washington University last month. She is a political science graduate from Boise State University in Idaho.

She is the grand niece of former Douglas County Commissioner and longtime Carson Valley dairy farmer Herb Witt.

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Assistant County Manager Jenifer Davidson has been named to the manager’s position.

Davidson has been assistant county manager since 2018.

Douglas County commissioners voted 5-0 to appoint Davidson interim county manager while she and the county conduct negotiations over her salary.

While there were some hints that there might be a move to open the selection process to candidates outside the county, that was not on the agenda.

Davidson is a 2000 Douglas High School graduate, who was 29 years old when she was chosen Minden Town Manager. She was previously the office manager for China Spring Youth Camp where she worked for three years.

She flew to Washington D.C. to collect her masters degree in organizational leadership and learning from George Washington University last month. She is a political science graduate from Boise State University in Idaho.

She is the grand niece of former Douglas County Commissioner and longtime Carson Valley dairy farmer Herb Witt.

The only other applicant for the job on Thursday was Chief Financial Officer Terri Willougby.

Commission Chairman Mark Gardner said he asked department heads whether they were interested in the job, and was told the two best candidates were already in the running.

The base salary for the job is $196,497.