I bring to the county many years of solid business knowledge, experience and always with emphasis in ethical practice. I have led departments in three Fortune 500 companies. By law, tax professionals must adhere to ethical conduct in their practice or suffer serious penalties and/or prison time. My 25 years of experience in maintaining a practice allows me to carry over valuable skills and values to the government sector. From a management style perspective, I lead from the front. I will not micro-manage. Micro-management is inefficient in that it requires a large mount of time. It is also ineffective as it creates lack of trust in your leaders and poor morale.

I acknowledge that employing ethical behavior within the role of the County Commissioner's daily function is necessary. A County Commissioner must lead by example. In recognizing such, one of the first the first things I will review is our current policy with respect to the soliciting of bids for goods and services rendered to the county. Should a sound policy not be in place, I will work with my fellow commissioners and department heads in creating an effective and ethical policy. Also, the display of ethical practices must first start from the top.

County Commissioners must encourage bidding and to be ethical it must be open. The county wins when it promotes competitive bidding. It shows the taxpayers that the county is working to look for the best balance between quality and cost. While you can not directly motivate an outside contractor to do what is right you can still maintain oversight to insure that the quality of goods or services meets previously defined expectations and the county's ethics requirements.

The selection process of county employees can be conducted under ethical fair hiring practices. Periodic reviews of department head hiring practices will verify whether they are in compliance. Accountability for their actions will encourage them to use good judgment. Additionally, team leaders must be ethical in their decision making process as it will bring out good values in employee performance and thereby, good services rendered to you - the county customer. Periodic written communications distributed in the departments addressing ethics will further encourage appropriate behavior.

Department heads must have the confidence of the commissioners in their ability to perform their job function without worry of "micro management." Simply put, they have been selected and deemed qualified for their position - let them do their job. The annual job performance review will be the tool to monitor their compliance with ethics policies.

The County Commissioner must NOT allow the county to operate in less than an efficient manner. I will encourage department heads to perform by ensuring that they have the necessary tools to accomplish the mission and the latitude to carry it out. Additionally, I will show them that I have the utmost confidence in their capabilities for, it is my belief that this very action will bring out the very best in an individual leader.