The purpose of this weekly letter has always been to offer readers a window into the fourth floor of the Arundel Center, the corner office, my office.
Doing that honestly requires that I talk personnel, even though personnel matters are legally and traditionally outside the scope of public information.
The personnel that matter most in my day-to-day work are the Chief Administrative Officer (CAO) and the Chief of Staff (COS). The former sits within the chain of command between me and directors of departments and agencies. The latter oversees my office, which is the people who represent the administration as it engages with the public, the press, and elected leaders at every level of government.
Historically, CAO’s and COS’s clash. One is responsible for keeping government services running efficiently and the other for maintaining positive relationships with the outside world. Both report directly to the County Executive, and both are always driven leaders with strong opinions.
My CAO and COS don’t clash. They depend on one another.
Our CAO, Christine Anderson, is a dynamo - but I won’t talk about her here. Instead I’ll offer a spoiler alert. She’ll be featured in the very first episode of Pittman and Friends, a weekly podcast coming soon to a device near you.
My COS is Jeff Amoros. I have some things to say about Jeff, starting with the fact that he’s leaving us. His last day is Friday the 13th. Tomorrow.
Jeff spent seven years in Baltimore City government, in a City Council office, the Mayor’s Office, and the Health Department. I hired him during my first term as Director of Communications, and promoted him to Chief of Staff at the start of the second term.
Jeff is extraordinary. He does everything with self-discipline, kindness, and efficiency. He is always organized, always deliberative, and wastes no time. And his kindness makes people want to be as good as he is.
Or in the less professional terms that I prefer, Jeff’s a damn machine. No drama ever. Ego at the door. He just gets it done. But he’s also a total nerd and a teddy bear who loves to be the butt of everyone’s jokes. So we can’t help but love him.
So that’s a big part of why the team on the fourth floor has been so effective and so much fun for the last year and nine months. But Jeff’s leaving, so now what?
Now Jenny Proebstle. Starting Monday (actually starting Saturday and Sunday, but we pretend that it’s a five-day a week job) Deputy Chief of Staff Jenny Proebstle will become Chief of Staff.
I’m not worried. In fact, I’m looking forward to it (sorry Jeff). Jenny has been on the team since shortly after we took office and has been that super competent but quiet producer who everyone respects always. She understands me, understands Christine, understands the functions of our office, understands government, and understands the world within which we operate. Looking back, I feel like she’s been leading us already without being noticed. Looking forward I know that this is the right path for our team.
As we enter the last two years of an eight-year run, one of the things I’m grateful for is that we’ve produced a bunch of Jenny Proebstles. The experience of governing, and governing well, has been gifted to a group of talented people with careers of service ahead of them. I personally will watch them with pride, but more importantly, they will make this county and this world a better place. Just watch.
Until next week…