Bellevue may hire a graduate student to serve as interim director of administrative services.

Members of Bellevue Council held a special meeting Tuesday to discuss four options presented by finance committee chairman Mark Panichella, and seemed to reach a compromise on how to manage the borough's government until a permanent DAS can be hired to replace Connie Flasher, who resigned last month.

Panichella said that the options ranged from letting the employees manage themselves to hiring a professional municipal services firm. In between were suggestions to hire a government studies graduate student or retired borough manager.

One option was eliminated immediately, as Panichella and council member Linda Wpshner reported that no retired managers were available at the moment.

The idea of hiring no one at all during the interim came from a letter drafted and signed by many of the borough's administrative employees and department heads, who said that they believed that they could manage the borough's different departments and report directly to the mayor and president of council. Police Chief Matt Sentner said that the letter was circulated during the employees' final meeting with Flasher.

"I'm comfortable with our borough employees," said council member Lisa Blaney-Stewart. "I think we should give them a chance to do that."

Council member Jane Braunlich pointed out, however, that the police chief comes directly under the mayor, and does not even report directly to council. That leaves public works supervisor Tony Barbarino and the nonexistent DAS as the only true departments heads designated by the borough's home rule charter.

Council member Linda Woshner noted that the department heads had their own jobs, which were about to get very busy with summer approaching.

If the police chief, for example, has extra time, Woshner said, "Maybe we need a part-time chief."

The possibility of hiring Delta Development Group received equally divided response, due primarily to confusion over how many hours the professional municipal services company would work for a $5,000 a month fee.

Council member David Gillingham Jr. and council president Kathy Coder said that the company's representative would work only 6-8 hours per week. Woshner, however, said that the company had proposed 75-80 hours per month, although much of the time a second person who be responsible for Bellevue.

"I think that's better than havng virtually nobody, or nobody with experience," said council member Jim Viscusi.

"Delta is the most viable option that we have," Woshner said. "They have more experience than our outgoing DAS."

She agreed, however, that having a graduate student step in also could work, as they were supposed to be knowledgeable about the various codes and laws pertaining to municipalities.

Panichella said that a graduate student would charge between $20 and $30 per hour, and that council would have to decide how many hours the interim DAS would work.

Other council members, including Mark Helbling and Coder, saw the graduate student as a reasonable compromise solution.

In the meantime, council voted to authorize code enforcement clerk Teri Howells to sign any necessary documents until the interim position is decided, while Sentner was suggested as a temporary open records officer.