... good questions... i suppose our pm discussion brought you some questions...
on myself, i prefer having someone to take care of the server-side, and someone administer the forum-side...
also, i usually use the host support service instead of hiring someone to do so... the host usually know the machine and can support on-site... anybody else can make trouble, because i'm never sure if i can have confidence in that person... that's why i never use external resources to do internal jobs...