Contributors versus Administrators

Hi

a contributor (the only one) to my blog added a post – and it said it was pending. I assumed it was then the role of the administrator to publish it.

Is that correct?
The contributor logged off and I went in as admin – saw the post and clicked publish – it did publish but got a red message saying contributor was somehow still involved (sorry if this is fuzzy).

One more question: Is there a way a contributor can be notified after his blog has been successfully published? (Assuming that I’m correct in thinking that administrator does the publishing on a pending post.

All / any help most gratefully received!