Tim Firestine: Chief Administrative Officer
of Montgomery County
In a new position and ready for a new
way of doing business

by Tamra Tomlinson

Newly appointed Chief Administrative Officer for Montgomery County, Timothy Firestine is looking forward to the opportunity to implement changes to "the way we do business." One of the first would be the creation of "one door" through which residents could communicate their problems and concerns with the county. The ideal would be a system in which residents would know exactly who to call to have their problems and concerns addressed and through which they would be able to track the progress of their inquiries and requests.

Along the same lines, Firestine would like to see changes made to the county's "back office" processes that will eliminate inefficiencies. For example, many county employees are still required to fill out paper timesheets. The information from those timesheets must then go through several data-entry and filing processes. Also, the county's hiring process still involves completion and filing of multiple copies of forms. He believes that these and other paperwork-intensive procedures in the county's process of paying bills and paying employees are overdue for streamlining.

Though Firestine says "I never thought I'd grow up to be a public servant," he found himself intrigued by the economic component of the study of public administration. "I really liked that stuff," During the course of his career, he has come to view public finance as not so much a matter of accounting as of making decisions for certain outcomes. Those decisions, Firestine says, are about "real stuff" that affects county residents every day. "Every day is different. You feel like you're doing something that makes a difference."

The county government's web site details the Chief Administrative Officer's responsibilities as coordinating of "management review and decision-making on policies, programs, plans, budgets, legislation, regulations, and similar matters." Firestine says that executing those responsibilities will demand that "people are rewarded or held accountable" for the results that they produce.

One of Firestine's long-term objectives is to "really push" to increase the county's stock of affordable housing. The first step toward that objective was the establishment of a task force of "very smart people" who will "look at what's worked in other places" and consider how successful programs in other cities and counties can be adapted here. He also listed youth and gang initiatives, support for seniors, enhancements to public safety through increasing police presence on the streets and hiring of more firefighters as matters that will increase in importance as the county's population continues to grow.

Firestine spent his first 12 years in Montgomery County's Office of Management and Budget and held the post of Director of the Department of Finance from 1991 to 2006. He also worked as an adjunct professor in the graduate School of Public Policy at University of Maryland and served as president of the Maryland Government Finance Officer's Association from 2004 to 2005.

He grew up in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Albright College in Reading with a bachelor of arts in political science and then earned a master's degree in public administration from the University of Pittsburgh. He now lives in Darnestown with his wife and three sons, a six-year-old and four-year-old twins.

Firestine admits to some initial ambivalence about accepting his current appointment, but said that he soon realized that it represented an "opportunity to play a stronger role in the things that I was excited about." So far, he hasn't been disappointed. "It's a fun job."

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