Wise County government chief prepares to depart as county budget woes continue

Wise County government chief prepares to depart as county budget woes continue

For two months, Wise County supervisors have wrestled with the question of how to close a multimillion-dollar cash flow gap between now and the end of the fiscal year next June. Meanwhile, County Administrator Michael Hatfield is headed out the door and into retirement effective at the end of December, after seven years on the job. But Hatfield says the timing of his departure is about personal factors that have come together now and is unrelate…