SNOW HILL The retirement of
Worcester County former Chief Ad-
ministrator Gerald Mason has re-
sulted in a domino effect of in-house
promotions, including this week's
shakeup inside the county's finance
office.
Some of those promotions will
likely come with learning curves,
said County Commission President
Bud Church. But Church added that
the commission was unanimous in
supporting the three promotions
that were triggered directly by Ma-
son's departure and expect a
smooth transition this summer.
Mason officially handed over the
county's top appointed position
Friday, June 21, to former Finance
Officer Harold Higgins. Higgins, in
turn, was succeeded by Phil Thomp-
son, his former assistant finance offi-
cer. Finally, Thompson will be replac-
ed by former Enterprise Fund Con-
troller Jennifer Swanton.
The cascade of promotions has
two major benefits, according to
Church. The first is that there will
not be any lengthy wait to fill the po-
sitions, which would be likely if they
were advertised and applications
sought. Second, Thompson, Hig-
gins and Swanton are already a
"team" familiar with county opera-
tions and have spent years working
together.
"Harold's been a team player and
we work well together as a team
and I think the commissioners' ac-
tions certainly recognize that, and
I'm pretty thrilled that the same ba-
sic team is going to remain together
hopefully into the foreseeable fu-
ture," Thompson said.
Thompson has 17 years of expe-
rience with the county, serving as
enterprise fund controller until his
promotion to assistant finance offi-
cer in 2004. He has experience in
accounting in the private sector and
is a member of government finance
associations and both the Maryland
and Delaware Society of Accoun-
tants.
Swanton also has experience in
accounting outside of government
finance and joined Worcester in
2005 as the enterprise fund control-
ler.
A release from the county de-
scribed the series of promotions as
a "well-orchestrated changing of the
guard" and also touched on how the
core team will be remaining.
"Thompson and Swanton, along
with Higgins and Budget Officer
Kathy Whited, are part of the out-
standing financial team whose stan-
dard of excellence has earned Wor-
cester County Government the GF-
OA Certificate of Achievement for
Excellence in Financial Reporting
for four consecutive years for fi-nan-
cial practices that exemplify ex-cep-
tional financial management," the
release said.
The commissioners unanimously
approved the promotions, revealed
Church on Wednesday.
"We were confident that we had
staff that was available. I'm very
happy with the way it worked out,"
he said. "I'm happy we had them in
place. They're very competent.
They know the system."
The idea of opening one or all of
the positions to an outside search
"was discussed," Church said, but
at the end of the day dismissed as
unnecessary and time consuming.
Thompson complimented the com-
mission on its cohesion and how
quickly all of the spots were filled.
He said the county tries to build "re-
dundancy" into staffing to some de-
gree so that unexpected departures
of high-level employees don't throw
a wrench in the whole operation.
Church confirmed that while
there is no specific succession plan
carved in stone, the commissioners
do consider the future when taking
on any employee.
"We don't have an official plan,
but when you hire someone you're
looking towards the future," he said.
Church added that he is "not con-
cerned at all" about the possibility
for disruption this summer as the
newly promoted become acclimat-
ed.
County Continues Inside Promotions
Phil Thompson, right, and Jennifer Swanton have assumed leadership of
the Worcester County Treasurer's Office as finance officer and assistant fi-
nance officer, respectively.
Submitted Photo
Page 28
June 28, 2013
The Dispatch/Maryland Coast Dispatch
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