Jun 22, 2024 By Mike Jones 7 min read

Washington County’s new special projects coordinator – who was hired to serve as the 911 dispatch center’s assistant operations manager – once worked for county Chief of Staff Daryl Price when they were entertainment promoters in the Nashville country music industry several years ago.

Joseph “Coach” Bendik worked as the “sound plugger” tasked with enticing local radio stations to air songs from aspiring young musicians under the Lord & Thorn Music Publishing label that lists Price as president on the company’s website.

Bendik started working for the county on May 28 to fill the role as assistant operations manager for the 911 dispatch center, but county officials have identified him as the special projects coordinator and put him in charge of overseeing major initiatives, such as overhauling the 911 emergency radio system and constructing a new public safety building. In addition, Bendik’s office is located in the purchasing department of the Crossroads Center county office building rather than the 911 operations center across the street in Courthouse Square.

Bendik, who is being paid an annual salary of $60,577, was not at his desk in the purchasing department Friday when a reporter stopped by to speak to him about his new role. He did not respond to a message left for him asking for an interview, although employees in that department said he had been in the office earlier that morning. Price was in a meeting Friday morning and unavailable for comment, according to the commissioners’ office staff.

County Commission Chairman Nick Sherman defended Bendik’s role and said he is doing exactly the job he was hired for in overseeing implementation of the new 911 emergency radio system.

“The biggest thing is the finances of that because the previous administration botched the process of building a new system, so we have to return all of the old equipment, purchase new equipment, rebid the process and build a new public safety building,” Sherman said. “The biggest priority in 911 is getting a radio system that works.”

In March 2023 under the leadership of then-commissioner Diana Irey Vaughan, the county awarded a $22.545 million contract to MRA Inc. of North Strabane to implement the new radio system. Two months ago, the board under Sherman, who took over as chairman when Irey Vaughan retired at the end of her term last year, voted to terminate the contract and request bids again from telecommunication companies to build out the radio system.

Sherman said Bendik has experience in emergency services – he was a McDonald volunteer firefighter and EMT from 1999 until 2003 – and he’s confident that he’ll be able to take on the 911 emergency radio project despite concerns raised about his role within the public safety department.

“Respectfully, with the staff, if they did (the radio project) right the first time we wouldn’t be in the position that we’re in having to do this again,” Sherman said.

Besides his music industry background in Tennessee, Bendik also lists on his Facebook page various leadership positions within the oil and gas industry in Texas as other jobs he’s held in the past. He is still listed as the founder and CEO for The Navitas Organization LLC in Midland, Texas, which appears to serve as an energy consultant for the drilling industry.

“He leads with over two decades of experience from both the field & C-Suite across all domains in energy, heavy industrial, manufacturing, & government,” according to Bendik’s bio on the company’s website.

The job description of assistant operations manager position that Bendik was hired to do lists some duties as managing and maintaining the 911 communications system and also ensuring the dispatch center is adequately staffed. It also states that the position directly reports to county 911 Operations Manager Jared Jenkins, who said Friday he has never met Bendik and indicated the center is in desperate need of an assistant to help him oversee operations.

“We have not been formally introduced and I certainly haven’t given him any tasks,” Jenkins said. “I’m not in charge of his payroll because he is not in my office. I can’t oversee him when he’s here and when he’s not.”

A salary slip approving Bendik’s “newly created” position clearly states he works in a full-time capacity as the assistant operations manager. But Sherman said Bendik reports directly to Price and Public Safety Director Gerry Coleman, and that he is under the umbrella of public safety despite his office being in the purchasing department. Coleman declined comment Friday and directed questions to Price.

“It doesn’t matter what building he’s working in. He’s working for public safety,” Sherman said, adding he hasn’t heard of any complaints about Bendik’s new role. “This is the first it’s been brought to my attention. I think he’s doing a good job.”

Commissioner Larry Maggi, who approved the creation of the assistant operations management position during the salary board’s May 16 meeting, said he did not know who Bendik was until he saw him at an administrative meeting earlier this month and learned he was serving as special projects coordinator.

“It was secretive how it was done,” Maggi said Friday. “I don’t know this gentleman’s resume. I certainly am going to ask my colleagues what’s going on.”

But Maggi is also concerned about why Bendik would be hired as assistant operations manager and then moved into an unofficial role elsewhere when the 911 center’s management apparatus is currently understaffed following Justin Shawley’s resignation in February as deputy public safety director. Coleman sent the commissioners an email Thursday afternoon asking them to fill the vacancy left by Shawley, according to Maggi.

“They need someone in 911 so they can continue operating,” Maggi said. “We have duties down there. … We’re short a person and I was under the assumption (Bendik) was filling that position. Apparently, he was not.”

The process in which Bendik was hired is also raising questions about whether the county properly followed the state’s Sunshine Law that requires public votes for such positions. The county has yet to respond to an open records request that the Observer-Reporter sent Thursday asking for information on Bendik’s role and how the position was created.

Commissioner Electra Janis said she was unaware of Bendik’s hiring until she met him earlier this month at a public safety committee meeting at the North Strabane fire hall in Eighty Four. Janis said she was under the impression that Bendik interviewed with Price and Sherman before being offered the job.

“That was the first time I met him,” Janis said of the public safety meeting. “I was told he was interviewed and brought in, and I have trust in our chief of staff and chairman. … I was not a part of the interview process (but) I put a lot of faith in Daryl and what he’s doing for the county. They vetted him and he seems to be the right person for the 911 job.”

Price was appointed chief of staff in January when Sherman and Janis, both Republicans, took over the majority of the board with Maggi in the Democratic minority following last November’s election. It’s not known how long Price and Bendik worked together in the Nashville music industry, or if they had other professional connections.

The salary slip formalizing Bendik’s hiring was initialed by all three commissioners on May 17 – one day after the salary board approved the creation of the position – when Price made the request to offer him the job, according to an email sent to the commissioners. It’s not known if any other candidates were considered for the position.