On the first day of the final month of old government, Salt Lake County Mayor-elect Nancy Workman introduced what she considers the "Magnificent Seven."
"We're going to do things in a new way, a fresh way," Workman proclaimed in the Salt Lake County Commission chambers Friday. Then she presented the Cabinet that will support her as she inaugurates the county's new form of government on Jan. 1, 2001.
To head the county's three major departments, Workman replaced the old directors with three appointees from the private sector.
The most surprising choice was that of Leslie Reberg, current community relations manager of Qwest. Reberg is an active Democrat and was chief of staff for Democratic County Commissioner Randy Horiuchi during the 1990s. As the new director of Community Services, she'll be the lone Democrat on Workman's GOP-dominated administration.
The Republican mayor-elect's phone call was "completely unexpected," Reberg said. "She said, 'I want you to come down and help me run this place,' and I said, 'Do you know who you're talking to?' " Workman replied that she knew, and repeated the job offer, which Reberg later accepted. "I kind of like stress," she said.
"To appoint a well-known partisan Democrat shows courage on Mayor Workman's part," said Horiuchi, himself one of three newly elected Democrats on the mostly Republican County Council.
"I wanted somebody to bring in new, fresh ideas," said Workman. Reberg will oversee the county's contracts with the Salt Palace and the Salt Lake Convention and Visitors Bureau as well as county parks and recreation, fine arts programs and the Hansen Planetarium.
For director of Public Works, the mayor-elect appointed "an old friend who brings huge, vast experience in construction" to the job. David Stanley has held executive posts with the contracting firms West Rock, Westcon and Gibbons and Reed. He'll be in charge of the county's flood control, sanitation, highway and fleet operations.
John Rosenthal, currently First American Title Insurance Co. government relations specialist, was appointed to run the Human Services department. Before moving to the private sector Rosenthal spent 11 years in county government, including three as Administrative Services director for Commissioner Mike Stewart from 1986-89. As Human Services director he'll replace Kerry Steadman, who will become associate director, Workman said.
The mayor-elect, who has been Salt Lake County Recorder for six years, also appointed four county government insiders to top positions in her administration. County Commission Staff Counsel Alan Dayton will be deputy mayor; Commission Chief of Staff David Marshall will be chief administrative officer and Randy Allen, current fiscal manager for the Community and Support Services Department, will become Workman's chief financial officer.
While announcing her staff, Workman nearly forgot to bring forward Gerrie Shaw, who was standing behind Dayton. Then, just before ending her press conference, Workman stopped herself, wrapped an arm around Shaw, and said, "This is my best friend, my executive assistant." Shaw managed Workman's close race for county mayor and has been her administrative assistant for two years in the county recorder's office.
"This is my administration. I want my people in here," the mayor-elect said when asked why she chose not to rehire department heads Steadman of Human Services, Julie Peck of Community and Support Services and J.D. Johnson of Public Works. Workman said her slate of appointees differs from the County Commission's original outline because "nobody has ever known what I was going to do." The list of jobs, made by the outgoing commission for 2001 budgeting purposes, included a public information officer position. But Workman didn't appoint one. "We're going to reorganize that and make it a department," she said. "We don't know how it will work yet."
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