Posted on 05/09/2002 7:47:47 PM PDT by BraveMan
In his first meeting with administrative holdovers from the Ament era, County Executive-elect Scott Walker on Wednesday reassured county department heads that his anti-cronyism pledge was no "Inquisition."
Walker, who revealed that a $50 million projected deficit hangs over next year's county budget, outlined the details of his campaign pledge to make all department leaders reapply for their jobs.
He will not do so, he said, until he completed personal interviews with each.
"I'll talk to you first regarding the future of your departments," he said.
The process could last three weeks, but Walker said he would not wait that long to fill crucial vacant posts. Acting department heads now are running human resources, human services and administration.
He requested that all department chiefs submit within two weeks a ranking by priority of their programs and also give him their vision of their departments' future. That would give him time to review their ideas before he makes decisions on whether to keep top administrators or seek new blood.
"We've got limited money available," noted Walker, who promised in the April special election to freeze tax collections next year. "How best should we spend it?"
One of Walker's three 30-day campaign pledges was to require every department head to reapply and then dismiss those who are around by reasons "other than merit." Cronyism and nepotism, he said during the campaign, are chronic problems at the courthouse.
He also agreed, in getting the endorsement of Citizens for Responsible Government, to seek to require his appointees to waive the controversial pension sweeteners that drove F. Thomas Ament from office. He did not mention that requirement at Wednesday's cabinet meeting. He said this week he was seeking a legal opinion on how to enforce such a waiver.
"This isn't looking to be an inquisition," Walker said at Wednesday's session. "I'm not just interested in how you got your job, but where you think your department should be headed."
Walker promised to open the county budget process to more public hearings and better inform county supervisors of major changes.
He predicted he would bump heads with the County Board over the issue of making supervisors part time. He says he wants to end needless micromanaging by supervisors.
He quoted Teddy Roosevelt: "The best executive is one who has sense enough to pick good people to do what he or she wants done and self-restraint enough to keep from meddling with them while they do it."
Some 25 department heads and their top assistants attended the meeting in Interim County Executive Janine Geske's conference room. Also present were District Attorney E. Michael McCann and other independent elected officials whose budgets are approved by the county executive and County Board.
Earlier Wednesday, Walker began informal meetings with county supervisors in their offices on the second floor of the courthouse.
Geske officially turns over county government's reins tonight at Walker's inaugural celebration at the Milwaukee County Zoo, scheduled for 5 to 8 p.m.
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