MOHAVE COUNTY — With his current contract expiring in three months, Mohave County manager Sam Elters informed the Board of Supervisors Monday that he plans to retire in early 2026. The engineer with a long history in the public and private transportation sector began working as the county’s top administrator five summers ago.
“My intent is to retire. I’ve been in the professional world for four decades,” Elters said. “With the concurrence of the Board, my preference would be to retire early next year.”
“This news from Mr. Elters saddens me,” said Rich Lettman, eight months into his four-year term. “He’s been great assisting me and I’m going to save the rest of my remarks for your retirement dinner.”
“Personally, I hate to see him go,” supervisor Don Martin said. “Sam has been the man and I’m really sad to hear this.
Board Chairman Travis Lingenfelter told Elters he has been a great quarterback for the county.
“I would say that this is a very large, very complex organization and you report to five people with five very strong personalities, and you do a really good job,” he said.
Lingenfelter requested more exit specificity from Elters, helping county officials to know when to begin looking for his successor.
“The end of January is a good date to work with, understanding that if it needs to be a week earlier or a week later, that will be fine,” Elters said. “If you’d like to go with the end of January this coming year, that would be great.”
The Board approved supervisor Ron Gould’s motion to extend Elters’ current employment contract to the end of next January.
Elters said he would be happy to help with the review of those who might apply for his position if the Board wishes. He also noted that his predecessor Mike Hendrix, was not involved in the process that led to his hiring.
Both Elters and Hendrix are engineers employed in the Mohave County Public Works Department long before they became county manager. The same is true of former Mohave County Manager Dave Grisez and his successor Dick Skalicky.
Supervisors agreed they’ll soon discuss recruitment and hiring strategy.
