Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/116876
Sarasota News Leader March 22, 2013 Page 54 Turning to Reid, she said, ���Overall, I think Finally, Reid told them, ���We have a lot of emyou���ve done a really good job. ��� I think your ployees that work very hard, and they have goal has been to put things back on an even had a difficult year.��� path.��� SELF-EVALUATION She added, ���I do think that 99 percent of our staff are hard-working folks who do see themselves as public servants and do try every day to do a decent job, and that���s probably attributable to the upper-level staff.��� In a Feb. 20 memo to the commissioners, Reid presented a self-evaluation. He pointed out that when he was hired, county government had been wracked by the Procurement Department scandal that erupted in Hines joined Robinson and Barbetta in com- 2011, and staff had been disrupted ���by the loss mending Reid for the quality of the assistant of top executive leadership ������ administrators he had hired. ���You���ve put together a phenomenal team that���s doing a great He noted he had to ���address employees who job,��� Hines said, adding he was sure Reid had often exhibited a sense of malaise, paranoia told his new assistants before they came on and confusion ������ board, ������You���re not walking into a perfect His primary goal for 2012, he continued, is place.������ ���rebuilding the leadership capacity, culture and organizational pride��� of an entity that had Hines said to Reid, ���Now this is your year and been known as a premier county government. your staff���s year to shine and address some of these issues that have been presented.��� As an administrator, he added, he has utilized ���candid conversations and coaching at all levHe also noted the nervousness of some staff els of the organization��� to put the focus on members in addressing the commission during ���cultural changes and technical skills required meetings. Employees need to understand that to rebuild the leadership and managerial caquestioning is not personal, Hines said. pacity to again excel as a premier public ser���When it becomes personal to me is if bad vice provider. My initial year���s efforts remain news is not brought to us ��� or held back out a work in progress; each new review of procedures or problems showed us weekly, canof fear,��� he pointed out. didly, we were a weaker organization than I Reid thanked the commissioners, adding he first imagined.��� had enjoyed his first year and acknowledging, In his conclusion, Reid wrote, ���These are ���It has been a challenge.��� challenging times in our county���s history but He said he would be happy to talk with them I hope we are on the mend as our local econin a retreat setting about ways to improve omy slowly improves and the negativity of the communication. past [is put] behind us.��� %