THE WINNERS in Tuesday’s general election in Chatham County had about 24 hours to rest on their laurels.
Now it’s time to get to work.
Meg Daly Heap, who beat one-term incumbent Chatham County District Attorney Larry Chisolm, won’t take office until January 2013. But it’s not too early to plot out a strategy on how to rebuild the prosecutor’s office.
It’s a major repair job.
When Mr. Chisolm took office in 2008, he inherited a veteran staff that had a reputation as being one of the best in Georgia. Unfortunately, he opted to fix something that wasn’t broken. This triggered an exodus of experienced prosecutors and staffers, which affected performance.
Concurrently, the incumbent’s management style prompted a wave of personnel problems within the office. Staffers filed complaints. A federal jury agreed that one employee had been harassed and awarded her $270,000. Morale plunged.
Meanwhile, the relationship between the District Attorney’s Office and local police departments became frosty. Instead of working on the same page for safer streets, prosecutors and police weren’t even in the same library.
Ms. Heap, who easily beat Mr. Chisolm by capturing 56 percent of the vote, has her work cut out for her. You don’t right a capsized ship overnight. Still, there are some things she can do, like developing a reorganization plan that makes this office function as it should.
As someone who worked for former District Attorney Spencer Lawton, who stepped down in 2008, Ms. Heap should know what works. As Mr. Chisolm’s former chief prosecutor for a short time, she should know what doesn’t work, too.
Likewise, Sheriff Al St Lawrence, who eked out a close win over McArthur Holmes to keep his job, must keep the pedal to the metal on his operational plans for the new county jail that’s scheduled to open next year.
This big-ticket county project also has big dollar signs attached to personnel costs, as it will require more employees to operate because of its larger capacity.
He also should address the matter of serving outstanding warrants in a timely manner, which Mr. Holmes raised in the debate between the two men at the Savannah Morning News.
Al Scott, who defeated Eddie DeLoach in the race for county commission chairman and takes office in January, should be preparing a plan to recruit and hire a new county manager.
The county is about to experience a major brain drain at the top because of retirement. Assistant County Manager Pat Monahan, who is respected and well-liked in the community, will be leaving at the end of the year. County Manager Russ Abolt is expected to follow suit at a later date.
Mr. Abolt has served under five chairmen (Charlie Brooks, Bob McCorkle, Joe Mahany, Billy Hair and Pete Liakakis, the current chairman). Mr. Scott will be his sixth. When he goes, 25 years of experience and institutional knowledge goes with him.
Fortunately, Mr. Scott knows how to hire top execs — he did it while serving on the Georgia Ports Authority board, when it found and hired Curtis Foltz to succeed Doug Marchand to run the state’s mammoth port operations in Savannah. He can be expected to take a similar approach in hiring a county manager — finding an experienced, energetic person who knows the importance of strategic planning.
In the case of Dan Massey, it’s simple.
Mr. Massey, the Superior Court Clerk for the past eight years, won a third term in a nail-biter over Tawana Garrett. The incumbent, who is respected by judges and lawyers for his abilities and professionalism, may have to do a better job of politicking before the next election.
But for now, Mr. Massey’s routine is unchanged. He just goes back to work.