On the heels of county-wide budget cuts and the restructuring of departments including Animal Control and Construction Code, Grand Traverse County Administrator Tom Menzel will next target staffing and spending reforms in his quest to streamline county operations.

Menzel will present a plan to county commissioners next Wednesday (Jan. 27) to eliminate board approval of county staffing decisions and increase Menzel’s spending authority from $10,000 up to $25,000-$30,000. The administrator says the move will “cut down by half" the number of issues that go to the board for approval, empowering staff to more effectively manage county operations.

“There needs to be a clear separation between policy-making and implementation,” says Menzel. “It’s all based on trust. If you trust the person you hired to effectively implement the policies of the commission, you have to give that person the responsibility and authority to do so.”

According to County Prosecuting Attorney Bob Cooney, commissioners passed a resolution “years ago” during a series of hiring freezes that required board approval of any modification to the county’s staffing plan. Commissioners questioned the policy while discussing Construction Code staffing changes last week, with Commissioner Sonny Wheelock saying a “discussion had to be had” about ending the requirement.

“This (staffing proposal) should never have come to you,” agreed Menzel. “Staffing should be the administrative operations part of the organization.” Other board members also expressed support for changing the rule during the meeting. Menzel told The Ticker he previously broached the subject in one-on-one interviews with commissioners during his hiring process, saying it “hurts the organization” to have commissioners involved with staffing decisions – particularly positions with “union ramifications.”

“If commissioners are unhappy (with a department head), I want to be a focal point and have those issues come through me,” says Menzel. The administrator says he also wants to “limit the gamesmanship” of employees lobbying commissioners regarding budget and staffing matters. “I’m trying to force (the organization) to deal with things in a healthier manner,” he says.

Should the board approve the policy changes, commissioners would only vote on the hiring or firing of the county administrator going forward. Menzel notes commissioners would still hold “the power of the purse,” however, with the ability to provide staffing input through the annual budgeting process. He says the move would make county administrators “more accountable” for operations in the future. “(Commissioners) can always get rid of the administrator if they’re not happy with the way he or she is doing that job,” he says.

Additional changes could also be on the horizon soon, part of the “organizational redesign” Menzel promised in November when hired to lead the county. Menzel says he could have a new human resources director and deputy administrator hired as soon as this week, who will assist him in negotiating union contracts and overhauling employee purchasing policies as some of their first projects.

Menzel also plans to bring in an outside auditor this winter to thoroughly analyze the county’s IT and Sheriff’s departments for ways to “improve efficiencies,” he says. In addition, the administrator will present a plan to commissioners February 3 with recommended board and committee policy changes, including county per diem payments and meeting frequency.

“I think we have twice as many meetings as the city right now,” says Menzel. “That's one of the reasons commissioners are so involved in operations. So that’s something we’re going to be looking at...trying to limit some of those lengthy meetings and the number of topics (discussed)."