Five Questions: Tim Smith

Q: What were your previous jobs with the county?

A: I joined the county in 1992 as their storm water engineer, and worked in that capacity until 2000, when I took over as administrator of the resource management department. Resource management is building regulations, planning and zoning, environmental services and building operations – or as we like to say, “The Department of Everything Else.”

Q: What does your new job entail?

A: For all the departments under the county commission - resource management, along with the purchasing, budget, human resources and information services departments, county highway department, and emergency management departments – I’m now the supervisor of all of those activities.

One of my first tasks is to help manage information flow to the commission, to make sure they get the information from the staff that they need, and that the staff knows how to interact with the commission.

That may sound simple, but it’s not.

Q: Why did the county create this position now?

A: Our primary reason to go with something like this is that … it becomes difficult for the commission to fulfill their community leadership roles and their roles as administrators. Back in the 1800s when a three-person county commission was set up both as political leaders and administration officials, times were much less complex. But in today’s world, with all of the details we have to take care of every day, doing business becomes difficult. You have to make sure three calendars jibe to get them together, it has to be a posted meeting, all of those things. Even something fairly routine can be difficult.

Q: You mention facilitating communication – has that been an issue in the past?

A: Let me give you an example. You manage a department, and you run into a commissioner and you have an issue. Do you discuss it then? Do you discuss it with all three of them? What if you act on the advice of one commissioner and it happens to be a sensitive issue to another commissioner? What if you have an issue that comes up this afternoon and it’s urgent, but all three commissioners aren’t available until Friday? Having me here doesn’t alleviate all of those issues, but if it’s an administrative call, I can make it. If not, I decide if it needs to go to the commission as a whole. I’m the traffic director.

Q: What is the biggest challenge the county faces?

A: The biggest challenge we all face – whether it’s here at the county or at the city – is that money’s tight. Now more than ever it’s imperative that we work collaboratively and cooperatively with the city of Springfield. Where they may have a serious issue with the police and fire pension, we have a serious issue in our criminal justice system – the jail and the courts. How do we provide the facilities for our criminal justice system, and how do we fund the personnel needed? These are things we can’t work (on) in a vacuum apart from the city of Springfield – obviously we serve the same citizens.

Interview by Jeremy Elwood.