Douglas County Administrator Eric Linton — the top non-elected official in county government — is expected to be appointed the city manager in Dunwoody pending a vote by the city council there on Dec. 8. Linton has served in Douglas County for 14 years and was promoted to county administrator in 2006 by the Board of Commissioners. That day, Linton said, was one of the best days of his career in Douglas County. “I think one of the best days was when I moved up from planning and services director into the county administrator role,” Linton said. “That was a good time for me. For the board and the chairman to have the confidence in me to come into this role and to guide the county in the right direction, that was a great day for me.” Linton speaks fondly about his time serving as county administrator, which was challenging as he faced trying to guide the county through the recession. The recession hit Douglas particularly hard, with housing values, and in turn tax revenues, both way down for much of Linton’s tenure running the county government. “When I came in in 2006 it was good times and then the recession started to hit,” Linton said. “We saw it coming and we watched the financials carefully. We looked at the numbers and adjusted the budget through the year and always stayed in the black. The county never went into the red all that time for that. We never had to do any furloughs for the employees. Coming out of that we were able to get an increased bond rating for the county. That was huge. So financially, the county is in great condition and we weathered that storm very well. That was a huge undertaking and you didnt know when the storm was going to be over. Hopefully, we think now, it is tapering, and we think it is going to rebound in Douglas County in 2015 or 2016 budget cycle.” Some other moments Linton takes pride in during his time as county administrator were using the SPLOST budget passed for the new jail and the improvements at Boundary Waters Park. “That took a community-wide effort to get that accomplished and to raise enough money to build that facility,” Linton said about the jail. “It is a state-of-the-art facility and probably the best one in the state of Georgia and in the south east in terms of quality of construction and of design. That was a huge deal. Another thing we did was working on Boundary Waters park. Getting that from the time we purchased the property to the planning and designing of what goes on the property and building the ball fields down there. We have eight baseball fields there, two soccer fields and we are finishing the football field this year.” Linton said the key to his success in Douglas County was something he learned very early in his career. He said that listening to the concerns of citizens and always being available to them was something he always focused on. “I discovered it was best to take an issue head on and to meet with the people and explain to them because a lot of people don’t understand government,” Linton said. “It scares them. Especially when it deals with their issue. ... I’ve always met with people and that’s always been my strength. I meet with them and explain it in layman’s terms. They aren’t going to get a bunch of bureaucratic red tape. I want to explain to them the process and navigate with them through the process. I’ve always been approachable, from that point and enjoyed working with people.” District 3 Commissioner Mike Mulcare reiterated that sentiment when asked about what Linton has done for Douglas County. “I think one of the things that stands out for me about Eric, while he was never an elected official, he was always a public servant,” Mulcare said. “He took the needs of the people to heart. It should be no surprise that his skill sets are being sought after by other places. ... He did not take a bureaucratic mindset. He was very hands-on. Eric never hesitated to reach out to a citizen. That will be a facet of his talent that will be difficult to replace.” According to Douglas County’s website, Linton was hired at the end of 2000 as the planning and zoning director and then promoted in 2003 to the development services director. Then in 2006, the Board of Commissioners voted to approve Linton as county administrator. Commission Chairman Tom Worthan agreed with Mulcare that Linton will be very difficult to replace. “When former Administrator Mike Cason retired in 2006, the board agreed with my recommendation to hire Eric as county administrator,” Worthan said in a written statement. “Eric has worked very closely with the Board of Commissioners and has done a good job of working closely with me running county government on a daily basis. Eric is a very bright young man and is well respected by our department heads and employees. It has been my pleasure working with Eric over the past eight-plus years and I wish him well in his new position as city manager with the City of Dunwoody.”
Posted on: Sun, 30 Nov 2014 00:14:20 +0000
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