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Hernando Today

County Bosses Await Streamlining Plan

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By MICHAEL D. BATES

Hernando Today

Published: January 22, 2009

BROOKSVILLE - County Administrator David Hamilton is scheduled to unveil his much-anticipated reorganization plan Friday.
County commissioners will spend the next few days dissecting it and then, come Tuesday's meeting, discuss it as a board.

However the plan shakes out, there is one thing Hamilton should get credit for - at least in the eyes of County Commission Chairman David Russell. And that is the process leading up to the drafting of the plan.

Russell said that process depended on large measure to Hamilton's skill as an administrator in getting county staffers, department managers and Constitutional officers to come together as a single unit.

Russell said these people laid aside any territorial divisions or individual agendas to offer suggestions that will hopefully result in a streamlined plan for Hernando County as it faces a budget-strapped future.

Russell said getting all the stakeholders involved is a task never before accomplished in Hernando County.

So what is Russell hoping to see from the plan?

Too soon to say, he said.

But what he doesn't expect to see is a mass blood-letting of jobs.

"It's not about people losing their jobs," he said. "It's realigning tasks and streamlining. There will be some top positions that will be absorbed into a smaller structure, but we don't anticipate anyone losing their jobs."

However, there will likely be offers of early retirements and the loss of jobs through attrition, he said.

Deputy County Administrator Larry Jennings said what county commissioners will discuss Tuesday is a refinement of the reorganization plan Hamilton presented to the board in October.

The board will also discuss the steps needed to implement that plan. Under the concept Hamilton put together, a leadership team will be part of that reorganization, Jennings said.

In October, Hamilton delivered on his promise to streamline county government by unveiling a first version of his multi-pronged reorganization plan that would realize a minimum half-million savings after its first year of operation.

With the downturn in the economy and the continued population growth, reorganization is not an option but a necessity, Hamilton stressed.

To that end, Hamilton proposed forming a "leadership team," designed to replace the system now in place of 26 department heads, including Constitutional officers - not to mention the 50 operating divisions spiraling out from those departments.

Reporter Michael D. Bates can be reached at 352-544-5290 or mbates@hernandotoday.com.

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