Georgetown, Del., February 28, 2006: Sussex County government is in the midst of a reorganization effort that will see added staff, different titles for some familiar faces and the reassignment of some duties to newly created positions, all in an effort to ensure a responsive government that is efficient and adequately prepared to take on the challenges facing a growing community.
County Administrator Robert L. Stickels announced today, February 28, 2006, that several significant staff changes are underway or about to begin within various county departments, including Administration, Accounting, Utility Billing and, most notably, Engineering. Many of those changes have occurred, or will take place in the coming days.
“There’s a lot going on right now within Sussex County’s government, and it’s important that the residents and taxpayers know that, because this is their government,” Mr. Stickels said. “We’re instituting a number of changes that I hope, once completed, will help us to operate more efficiently and thereby improve the services we provide.”
Some of the changes the public will see include:
- Hal Godwin, who has nearly two decades in public service as a former councilman and mayor of Newark, Del., and most recently served as the town manager of Milton, Del., will begin his duties March 1 as administrative assistant to Mr. Stickels. Mr. Godwin will assist the County Administrator in a variety of ways, from attending meetings on the county’s behalf when the Administrator is unavailable to following up on constituent requests;
- Gina Jennings, who will fill a vacancy in the Accounting department, begins her tenure also on March 1. Ms. Jennings brings to Sussex County accounting and financial experience, both in the public and private sectors. As a former finance director for the Town of Milton, Ms. Jennings understands how important it is for government to be a good steward of the public’s money and trust;
- Patricia Faucett, formerly of the Accounting department, will move to Utility Billing as assistant director. There, Ms. Faucett, just as she did in Accounting, will continue to work with numbers. Now, she will help oversee an office responsible for collecting payments for sewer and water services. Ms. Faucett begins training for her new role on March 1. Director Leon Collins will retire October 31 after 27 years of service to the county.
Perhaps the greatest changes are occurring within the Engineering department, which is seeing the addition of several new positions and the shifting of some roles among its staff. Those changes include:
- The hiring in June 2005 of Jim Hickin, who as one of the county’s project managers, spearheads ongoing and future expansion projects at the Sussex County Airport. Mr. Hickin has worked in the public and private sectors, serving in the U.S. Air Force and most recently working as a commercial airline pilot. Those experiences have brought the county knowledge of the latest federal regulations that govern general aviation airports like the Sussex County Airport near Georgetown;
- Bob Jones, who has worked some 20 years in the private sector with a local construction company, most recently overseeing construction staff. Mr. Jones will begin March 1 as a project engineer. Mr. Jones will assist in the design and construction of waste water expansions and other capital projects, such as a new Engineering building to be built in downtown Georgetown;
- The reorganization of duties in the leadership of the Engineering department. Because of growing demands on the 128-employee department – the Planning and Permits division alone issued more than 2,500 sewer permits in 2005, almost five times the number issued 10 years earlier – it has become necessary to spin off some of the duties once held by Assistant County Engineer Russ Archut. Mr. Archut will now focus his energy full-time as the Assistant County Engineer, planning sewer projects and expansions alongside County Engineer Michael Izzo. His additional duties as Director of Planning & Permits have been split between two new positions;
- John Ashman as Sussex County’s new Director of Utility Planning, ensuring that new sewer systems built by private entities meet county specifications. Mr. Ashman, who began work Feb. 6, comes from the private sector, having worked for more than a decade as a vice president and engineering manager with a company that manufactured highway products for the state Department of Transportation;
- Gary Tonge as Sussex County’s new Director of Utility Permits. Mr. Tonge, who previously managed the phone system in the county’s Information Systems department, took his new position Feb. 16 and brings with him more than two decades of field and managerial experience working in the telecommunications industry. He will oversee the issuance of permits for new sewer connections, as well as manage sewer district boundary expansions.
“We’re just trying to plan ahead now so that we can manage the growth Sussex County is experiencing, and will continue to experience in the foreseeable future,” Mr. Izzo, the County Engineer, said.
Mr. Stickels said change won’t stop there.
In the next four to six weeks, Mr. Stickels will recommend that County Council begin advertising for a new position to be created -- Deputy County Administrator – to eventually take the reigns of managing the county government.
Mr. Stickels said the shuffle of duties and hiring of new staff are necessary steps in the evolution of a county government that today employees nearly 650 people serving a growing population exceeding 160,000 residents, many of them transplanted from surrounding regions.
“In addition to bringing on more staff so that we may adequately meet the needs of a growing county, Sussex County also has to have leaders in key positions to help those new hires get up to speed and learn our operations,” Mr. Stickels said. “The reality is that in the coming weeks, months and next few years, this county is going to begin an inevitable transition, one in which our senior-most employees will begin taking their retirements and leave their posts and duties to a new generation of staffers.”
At least 10 department or division heads, including Mr. Stickels, are or will be eligible for retirement in the next year. Only one so far, Mr. Collins, has expressed the intent to retire. But Mr. Stickels said it’s incumbent upon county government to plan ahead and be prepared now for the eventual departures.
“I want to make sure now that the Sussex County government is doing all it can to ensure a smooth transition, to bring in people with varied perspectives, backgrounds and experiences, so that in the end, our employers – the taxpayers – see a well-oiled machine continuing to serve their interests efficiently, effectively and seemingly effortlessly,” Mr. Stickels said.
In the coming weeks, Sussex County’s Office of Public Information will begin a series of short profiles on the employees who will be assuming their new responsibilities at Sussex County government. Those will appear online at sussexcountyde.gov/news-releases and in various local and regional newspapers.
We invite Sussex County’s residents and taxpayers to get to know them and the rest of their county government.