Issue link: https://newsleader.uberflip.com/i/83745
'IN PUBLIC SERVICE' Randall Reid Photo by Norman Schimmel SARASOTA COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR RANDALL REID TALKS ABOUT HIS STEWARDSHIP OF A PREMIER COUNTY IN THE STATE OF FLORIDA. By Rachel Brown Hackney Editor When Randall Reid arrived at work early in the morning of Jan. 23 — his first day as the new Sarasota County administrator — he found a lot of empty offices, he told The Sarasota News Leader during an interview in late August. People had retired or moved on to other jobs. Ten employees had left in the wake of the Procurement Department scandal that had erupted in the spring of 2011 — the upheaval that ultimately also cost former County Administrator Jim Ley his job. "So when I got here," Reid said, "it was Bill and I." "Bill" is Deputy County Administrator Bill Little, who will be retiring in February. "What I was doing was kind of forensic," Reid said: "'Well, here's an outline of a body on a floor. Who was here and what did he do and is anybody doing it?'" He added, "Some days, I was on 30-minute schedules. I know to some people it's been more like a doctor's office. You'll be sitting here and the door will open and Dianne will stick her head in" to say the next person is waiting. (Dianne is Dianne Robertson, Reid's execu- tive assistant. He calls her "a real blessing,"