County hoping to streamline as chief administrator settles in

The county’s new chief administrator is already talking changes after only three weeks on the job. And ABC-7 is learning more about how his position could shift how county government works.

Steve Norwood doesn’t even have a permanent office yet, but work is already underway to shift staff and the workflow of county government.

“There’s a lot of business at hand,” Norwood said. “And a lot more things that are required by state law to go to the court than a municipality is.”

Norwood has a lot to get up to speed on. And to help, there’s a sizeable reorganization of staff who report directly to him as he tackles current and future issues.

The new office of the chief administrator will have a total of 11 employees, including Norwood. Most will be shifted and consolidated from other departments.

Norwood’s own position and two others were moved from directly under the county judge to the new chief administrator department. The fleet manager and grants manager will be moving from court staff to the new department as well.

Two budget staff and two vacant positions from the auditors office will also be shifted along with the contract manager and assistant contract manager. The operation analyst will be moving from human resources.

There is one new position – the budget officer – created directly under Norwood’s office.
All of these positions have been budgeted for, and will help Norwood in working towards an important goal of streamlining county government.

“In the absence of a chief administrator, someone sort of like the traffic cop to run the day to day operations,” said County Judge Veronica Escobar. “In the absence of that individual, we created committees and governing by committee. That’s what we have done all these years.”

Escobar added that she hoped the staffing and responsibility shifts would increase transparency and accountability, and save the county money as the whole process gets streamlined and requires less time.