Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, August 11, 1994 TAG: 9408110054
SECTION: CURRENT PAGE: NRV-1 EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY
SOURCE:
DATELINE: CHRISTIANSBURG LENGTH: Long
County Administrator Betty Thomas ordered the rearrangements early last month after consulting in private with the board leadership. She expects the changes to make county government faster, more efficient and more responsive to the concerns of Montgomery residents.
"It's just good logic that when you have an organization over almost a decade, that it needs to be re-evaluated," Thomas said. She has been administrator since 1981 and has worked for Montgomery since 1972, just four years after the Board of Supervisors hired the first professional county administrator.
It may be the fall before the changes take hold. Assistant County Administrator Pam McCune, whose position has more responsibility under the new order, has resigned effective next month to join her husband, who is setting up a business in another part of Virginia.
"I really hate to see her go. We've really just worked so closely together," Thomas said. "Pam has done a tremendous job for the county and I've always appreciated our very positive working relationship, as well as the personal side."
McCune's departure from county service after 11 years is unrelated to the changes, Thomas said. McCune, whom Thomas promoted from deputy assistant county administrator in 1990, was on vacation and unavailable for comment Wednesday. McCune's resignation will coincide with maternity leaves for two other key county employees, and will leave the administrator's office short-staffed, Thomas said.
Thomas will post the assistant's job internally for three days, then advertise it; she hopes to have applicants in for interviews by the time McCune leaves.
The net effect of the reshuffling is to reduce the number of managers who report directly to Thomas from nine to four, thus delegating more authority to all but Economic Development Director Don Moore, who continues to be responsible solely for his department.
Thomas and her subordinates are responsible for 140 employees, not including constitutional officers such as the sheriff and treasurer and their staffs and state-affiliated agencies, such as the health and social services departments. With those included, the county government includes 324 full-time positions, according to Deputy Assistant County Administrator Randall Wertz. That figure excludes the school system, which employs more than 600 teachers.
Aside from McCune and Moore, the officials who will continue to report directly to Thomas are Director of Fiscal Management Jeff Lunsford and Public Facilities Director Randall Bowling.
The top staffers who will no longer report directly to Thomas include Planning Director Joe Powers, who will report to the assistant administrator, and Human Services Director Stephania Munson, who will report to Wertz.
County Attorney Roy Thorpe will continue to work directly for the Board of Supervisors.
The reorganization will help the growing county keep up with changes that have occurred during the last decade, Thomas said Tuesday. It will also move authority for several departments into more logical places because of similar missions, or simply shared office space.
For example, Grants Coordinator Cindy Martin, whose job involves pursuing and tracking federal and state grants or loans, will now report to Lunsford, the county's top financial planner, rather than directly to Thomas. Also, the animal control officers will now answer to Bowling, who is already in charge of the public works and other operations that surround the dog pound near the Mid-County Landfill.
"So far, the reorganization is well received," Thomas said. "We're moving forward in a positive, efficient manner."
Response to the changes has been low-key among county staff. One county insider said many workers at lower levels don't even know about it. The changes haven't been debated by the Board of Supervisors or, until now, otherwise announced publicly.
The shakeup comes 10 years after Thomas reduced the number of county departments from 15 to five and the number of people directly reporting to her to seven.
It also comes four months after Thomas and Thorpe received their first formal job reviews from the Board of Supervisors in three years. The board told the two employees it wanted better communication at the top levels of the county government. Other details of those critiques were kept from the public, as allowed by law.
Thomas said one of the objectives of the changes is "to improve communication and information flow between" the supervisors, the administration and its various departments.
The changes also come two months after the supervisors approved a "hiring freeze" of county employees because several members thought top government jobs lacked updated descriptions. Two weeks later, the board refined the rule, calling it a "hiring policy" instead.
One board member deemed the supervisors' move necessary because, he said, some county employees believe they don't have enough to do. Another supervisor, however, objected to the measure as micromanagement by the board.
Nevertheless, Thomas and her personnel officer, Wertz, now must bring updated descriptions for any vacancies or new jobs before the supervisors for approval before advertising a position.
by CNB