A recent development in Travis County government shows that now would have been the time to have the stability that a county administrator could provide. Our county judge, Sarah Eckhardt, resigned to run for the State Senate District 14 seat that will soon be vacated by incumbent Sen. Kirk Watson.
While we have appointed a very capable interim county judge, who was our previous county judge (Sam Biscoe), and while we greatly appreciate his willingness to step in and help out, he will be the interim for a few months, until a new county judge will be elected to fill out the remainder of Eckhardt’s term through December 2022. That person may not have been in county government or might not have the knowledge base or experience to “hit the ground running.”
Since we don’t have a county administrator, Eckhardt has been defacto our county administrator, acting as the administrative head of all the departments that report directly to the Commissioners Court. In addition to that, all of the commissioners also deal with the administrative functions of the departments, because all of our executive managers report to subcommittees consisting of two county commissioners. For example, our emergency services executive manager reports to me and Commissioner Brigid Shea.
So we really have five bosses here at Travis County. Since we elected officials think independently, with five opinions, decisions take time and are hard to make and can give conflicting messages to our executive managers and county employees. Commissioners Court members should make policy, not be the administrators of day-to-day operations. How can our county be run effectively and efficiently this way? Even the commissioner who interrupted my time as Precinct 3 Commissioner (Karen Huber) said that “rule by committee” is difficult for an organization and that she supported the hiring of a county administrator for coordinated county management.
While we do have very capable executive managers, a county administrator would help them work more effectively and efficiently. And at this time of change at the top, a county administrator would help immensely because there’s always vulnerability with a change like this, especially if the top is in charge of operations. With a county administrator, a change at the top wouldn’t affect the running of county government and would ensure there wouldn’t be disruption in county operations. The operational functions of the county would continue, no matter what.
Travis County is, in effect, a sizable corporation and a billion dollar business. All such sized companies have a CEO or a COO, with that one person in charge of running the day-to-day operations of that business. A county administrator would be our CEO or COO. Over the years, Travis County has had consultants conduct several studies of our organization and produce reports suggesting organizational changes that they said would help us maintain services, be more efficient, slow the cost increase in our operations and slow the increase in our budget, which could slow the increase in your Travis County property taxes. They either suggested or came to the conclusion that we need a county administrator. Plus, practically all Texas urban counties have a county administrator.
Some members of our Commissioners Court feel it would take away their power without access to department heads or other county employees. But it actually helps and strengthens the Commissioners Court’s power. The Court sets policy and the County Administrator sees that departments carry out that policy. And any court member could easily have an “open door” policy that would allow any employee, no matter their position, to have access to that court member.
As for those studies I mentioned, the first recent study was when I came back as commissioner in 2013. I persuaded the Commissioners Court to hire a consultant to conduct a Travis County Organizational Review and Assessment, which strongly recommended that we should establish a county administrator. Another study conducted in 2015-2016 laid out the case of our need for a county administrator. In 2019, we hired another consultant to study Executive Responsibilities and Alignment Review – Travis County. For some reason, that study ignored the county administrator issue, but it was clear to me that we needed one.
And guess what? On March 10 we approved yet another contract (I voted no) with another consulting company (for $750,000) to help us create a Travis County Strategic Plan. I think we could have saved a lot of money by just hiring a county administrator.
Gerald Daugherty is the Travis County Precinct 3 commissioner.
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