Washington County's chief administrator Jim Schug says goodbye

Jim Schug, the retiring top boss in Washington County government, knows hundreds of his 1,100 employees by their first names. They don't always recognize him.

"I'm sort of well-known before the holidays for sending an e-mail to the staff wishing them a safe and happy long weekend and thanking the people who continue working through the weekend because of public safety, libraries, parks or whatever and wishing them all the best. Once I got a 'reply' from somebody who I think meant to hit 'forward' and was asking their colleague in the county, 'Who is this guy and why is he sending us this e-mail?' "

Schug, a 62-year-old Chaska native known for his gentlemanly manner and good humor, shares the story with a smile to point out that humility is a desired quality in leadership. He's been the county's chief administrator for nearly 17 years and has worked in various county government jobs for nearly 38 years. Schug, a Stillwater resident, leaves the county administrator's job on Jan. 26.

QWhen you tell people you're the county administrator, what do they say?

APeople don't have a very good understanding about the structure of county government. They're often confused whether my position is elected or appointed. But they do seem to quickly understand when I explain that I am the chief appointed officer of the five elected county commissioners. The [county] government in a lot of ways is not as visible as other levels of government despite the wide array of services and programs we deliver. A lot of it is visible -- the Sheriff's Office, patrol cars, county plows and so forth. Most of the human services programs, community corrections, public health programs, are things that are relatively invisible except to those individuals and families who are using those programs. A lot of county government -- if you're not using one of the particular services -- is somewhat out of your mind until you're in need of a program or your property tax statement arrives.

QWhat do you tell county employees?

AI greet every new employee, typically in their first month of employment. What I always emphasize is that Washington County has the advantage of being large enough that we have resources available to do the work, [but] we're not so large that people don't know each other across departments as a group working together to provide services. The other message is that we're a public tax-supported organization. In that role we have to be sensitive to the fact that people are paying taxes to provide the services and programs and we don't ever want to abuse the trust and the willingness of the community to support these services.

AEspecially in the 1980s and 1990s, the rate of growth was significant. We were growing as a county, we were growing in service demands, just trying to keep up with infrastructure that needed to be built or improved, demands on parks, libraries, all the programs we deliver. The county had to build a new jail and law enforcement center to address the growth in public safety. We ended up being much more involved in managing solid waste. We had a lot of growth, we had a lot of things going on. In a couple of economic recessions things slowed down a bit. The larger you get, the slower your rate of growth, but you still are adding lots of people every year and every decade. Woodbury, Forest Lake, Hugo, Oakdale and Cottage Grove are examples of cities along the west end of the county that have grown significantly over the decade. Washington County has really worked hard to retain a culture of personal, courteous service when dealing with individuals and not insulating county government from the people who live here. Washington County is second to none at providing good quality services at a low tax rate.

QWhich county departments have grown faster because of population changes?

ADuring this economic recession our Community Services Department has grown significantly. Not so much in terms of staff, because we've pulled that back to deal with the budget realities. If you look at the numbers of people who have used our medical assistance programs and housing services and food support [formerly called food stamps], our counseling services, all of those things have really grown significantly.

QWe've seen a strong shift in recent years away from state aid to counties. What will budgeting be like in five or 10 years in Washington County?

AI think there has been a fundamental change in all levels of government. That will continue for more than five years because of pressures we're going to have with demographics, the aging of the population, the need for services, but having to provide them within a constrained budget. I think Washington County has really positioned itself well for that.

AI will say that retiring is harder than I thought it was going to be. You do realize that your life changes quickly. One of my goals is to retire on a positive note, and I hope to do that. It's a good time to move on. We've dealt with very challenging budget and service issues over the past years, but we're very stable as an organization. We have a very solid financial plan. We have a Triple A rating from the [bond] rating agencies. Even though we've had to absorb a number of funding reductions, we've minimized the impact on services and employees. Our staff has worked with us cooperatively to make that happen. I feel very good about the state of Washington County government.