By Adam Pagnucco.
As the new county council begins to take shape, we are going to hear a lot about them. That’s not unusual – politicians are great at drawing attention to themselves since that skill is necessary to win elections. But hidden inside the recesses of the council building are a team of MVPs you may have never heard of. They know more about the government than you and I ever will. They produce some of the finest analyses of the county that have ever been written. And they are a priceless asset for the taxpayers.
They are the council’s merit staff.
Broadly speaking, the county council has two kinds of employees: the ones who work on the personal staff of council members and the ones who work for the institution as a whole. The latter are in the merit system and, in the old days, were called “the fifth floor.” The merit staffers each have a portfolio of issues and departments for which they are responsible. In those areas, they are assigned to write about budget issues, legislation, operational issues and other things relevant to them. Effectively, they are the council’s in-house experts on those subjects. Their packets are published on the council’s website and serve as starting points for council deliberations. For the public, these packets are indispensable to knowing what is going on inside county government.
Equally invaluable are the folks who work at the Office of Legislative Oversight (OLO), which periodically issues deep dive reports of interest to the council as well as the public. Their role resembles the federal government’s Government Accountability Office. I am not aware of another nearby local government that has anything like the OLO. We are very lucky to have them.
When I was at the council, we had an all-star team of merit staff who helped us keep the executive branch honest. Glenn Orlin was the capital budget coordinator and one of the most knowledgeable transportation people in the state. His career went back to the 1970s, so Glenn was big before Madonna was. Marlene Michaelson oversaw the master plans and had done so for decades. One of my first conversations with her was about the 1994 Clarksburg master plan, which played a huge role in developing Clarksburg and also impacted that year’s county executive race. Who else was going to tell me about that? Marlene excelled at anticipating problems and figuring out how to fix them before they showed up on the dais. Jacob Sesker was the ace economic analyst, and with him, we could go toe-to-toe with the executive branch about economic development. Mike Faden oversaw a team of attorneys who drafted our legislation and kept us out of trouble. Overseeing all of them was Steve Farber, whom I later labeled as “MoCo’s Essential Man.” Farber knew more about the county government and its budget than anyone, had iron integrity, established the highest standard for all the analysts and was utterly devoted to the council as an institution.
There were other great staffers, but if I were to list all of them, this would be a five-part series. The point is that this team made us perform better as a branch of government. Without them, the executive branch would have wielded far more power and our debates would have focused much more on politics and much less on policy.
One of the best things Hans Riemer and I did when we arrived at the council was to meet with every merit staffer. We asked every analyst to describe their portfolio and to tell us what issues they were concerned about. Out of those conversations came one of our earliest initiatives – limiting the use of take-home vehicles. Council Member Marilyn Praisner had kept a wary eye on them in her long tenure on the council, but when she passed away in 2008, they multiplied like rabbits. After we raised questions about it with the executive branch, they took steps to limit their use to necessary activities – a nice saving for the taxpayers. That would not have happened without the merit staff telling us about the issue.
Here is a bit of advice for new council members: when you are drafting legislation, always involve the merit staff with that subject in their portfolio. That staffer may recall what happened the last time there was legislation on that topic, and if not, they can find out. They might predict how the executive branch will respond and possibly a few of the outside groups too. They can find analyses that will be helpful in crafting a good bill. They can recommend provisions in the legislation to head off problems. All of this is incredibly valuable to council members who want to excel as legislators.
Now there can be a downside to dealing with the merit staff: sometimes they tell you things that you’re not so crazy to hear. That’s part of their job. I admit, there were occasions on which I was tempted to say, “Who elected you guys?” But as one of my fellow chiefs of staff used to say, you just have to put on your big boy pants and deal with it. Also, let’s realize that hearing alternate points of view in private, including from the merit staff, can prevent you from making very public mistakes.
So to the new county council members and their personal staffers: go meet with these people, all of them. Pick their brains. Ask them what’s going on in their areas. Learn from them. Work with them to improve your own product, whatever it is. These are some of the most important things you can do to make sure you have a successful tenure at the county council.