Taking the hands-off approach

Happy Tuesday! Let’s go full government geek today.

This is not related to the County Administrator’s performance or his pay. It’s not about employee evaluations or whether he’s a good guy. 

Nope, just this question: How do we know if the Steve Howard/County Commission relationship is thriving? What’s our gauge for success?

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Over the years, commissioners have answered this question for us. They’ve hired and fired administrators based on interaction, communication, leadership, and achieving goals, that sort of thing. Communication is a very big deal to commissioners; administrators who leave commissioners out in the cold have a short shelf life.

What about the rest of us? What’s our baseline for success?

I’ll tell you what mine is. Administrators who collaborate publicly with commissioners and the public toward a desired goal. That’s success.

And, folks, we have very little of that.

I’m going to get really geeky here, so hang on.

The Administrator’s role is similar to that of a CEO with a corporate board of directors. He works for the board, takes direction, strategizes goals, and answers their questions.

Many years ago I interviewed a former Crystal River city official who was the new Public Works director in Inverness. I asked what it’s like working for then-City Manager Frank DiGiovanni.

“It’s great!” he replied. “Frank takes all the hits. I never have to speak to a single councilman.”

And that’s exactly how it should be on the county level. Instead, the Administrator seems to have little interaction with the Board at all. Consider:

— The Board has a budget public hearing on Wednesday. At the budget workshop three weeks ago, it was quite clear that neither the Board nor Administrator had a clue how to proceed. The budget director begged the board for direction in making cuts; commissioners looked to Howard.

And nothing was done. 

The clincher was an exchange between Commissioner Janet Barek and the fleet director over the number of county vehicles. The whole time, I’m thinking: Why is a mid-level division director going toe-to-toe with a commissioner in public? None of this makes sense.

So, we’re going into a budget hearing with no direction from commissioners and little coordination between the Board and staff. Expect a budget-cutting free-for-all designed to placate voters but has no actual value.

All my years in Citrus County, I have never seen this lack of public coordination between the Board and Administrator.

— The Administrator misses Board meetings. It’s not like every month, and I didn’t ask for specifics, but it’s enough for me to notice. Prior to Howard it was rare for the Administrator to miss a single Board meeting. About as rare as a commissioner missing one.

I’m not sure how this started, the idea that it’s OK for the Administrator to skip Board meetings, but it was a bad idea that’s only gotten worse. Who is strategizing with commissioners if the Administrator isn’t there? The only time they can do it is in public meetings. That’s not the job of underlings, yet that’s exactly who’s carrying the load.

Howard missed a County Commission meeting in April to attend a Florida Association of Counties leadership academy. I wish I was making that up.

— Howard has great relationships with individual commissioners; that’s clear. And he’s out in the community quite often. His weekly emails highlight the best Citrus County, and its government has to offer. He’s an enthusiastic Citrus County cheerleader. Again, this isn’t about Steve Howard.

— Let’s talk about the budget process for a minute. As long as I’ve been doing this in Citrus County, it’s the Administrator who proposes a budget. I recall prior administrators having a news conference (!) to announce the proposed budget. It was a formality that made sense.

This budget process we’re in now? There isn’t one. No one is taking ownership for budget priorities. Commissioners look to the administrator, who stares right back. Doesn’t anyone here know how it works?

As for our incumbents, not much help there. Commissioner Rebecca Bays has talked for years about shoring up this process, but we're no closer to that happening than when she first mentioned it. Chair Diana Finegan, meanwhile, shames fellow commissioners over slivers of tax millage while offering no substantial suggestions for spending reductions.

While the board flounders, the Administrator sits quietly. Budget meetings should be his show. Instead, he waits in the wings and pushes understudies to the stage. And if Commissioners want to blame someone for that lack of oversight, they need only look in the mirror. They created this setup.

Is the Administrator/Commission relationship working? You tell me.

Have a great Tuesday, friends.

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