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Welcome to my new blog!\u00a0 With a new year and a new role in public service comes a new way to stay in touch.![\"gallery\"](\"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/executive\/wp-content\/plugins\/ckeditor-for-wordpress\/plugins\/wpgallery\/images\/spacer.gif?t=F7J8\" "\\"gallery")
<\/p>\nWelcome to my new blog!\u00a0 With a new year and a new role in public service comes a new way to stay in touch.<\/p>\n
I am heading into my third week as County Executive and I\u2019m more excited than ever to lead a fantastic group of employees as we serve our residents.<\/p>\n
My focus the last two weeks has been on learning as much as possible about County operations.\u00a0 The breadth of the services we provide to our communities \u2013 not to mention the sheer size of the County in miles \u2013 is impressive.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m getting out to work groups and trying to meet as many County employees as possible.\u00a0 It may take a while but I\u2019m committed to hearing what\u2019s working and learning ways to more efficiently and effectively serve the citizens of Pierce County.<\/p>\n
A highlight for me this week was my trip to visit with the Code Enforcement group in Public Works.\u00a0 Many thanks to Jim Howe and his crew for the helpful insights.\u00a0 I was amazed to see how many people participated in stopping some illegal dumping.\u00a0 Our group included the Sheriff\u2019s department, SWAT officers, the Department of Corrections and the Health Department.\u00a0 It was great to see the benefit of strong partnerships!<\/p>\n
Looking ahead to next week, I\u2019m honored and humbled to be a speaker at Monday\u2019s celebration of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. I invite you to join us at the Tacoma Convention Center at 11:00 for what is sure to be an inspiring and uplifting event.\u00a0 Or, you may wish to join the City of Lakewood\u2019s MLK celebration on Saturday, January 17<\/mark> at 10 a.m. at the McGavick Conference Center at Clover Park Technical College.\u00a0 Our own Don Anderson, Mayor of Lakewood and new Senior Counsel for the County, will be speaking, as will Council Chair Doug Richardson.\u00a0 In any case, I hope you find a special way to honor the legacy of Dr. King this weekend and throughout the year.<\/p>\n I\u2019d like to give a couple of shout-outs to two teams who have been doing a great job.\u00a0 First, many thanks to Bruce Wagner and his road crew for making sure our County residents have safe streets to travel.\u00a0 They have been working around the clock outside in the freezing weather while most of us are tucked away in our warm homes. We owe them a huge thank you for their great work and commitment to our County.\u00a0 In fact, the crew received great public recognition last night from Rep. J.T. Wilcox when several of us from the County met with the Pierce County legislative delegation. His compliment comparing our roads to Thurston County roads was especially significant since Rep. Wilcox lives in a rural area of the region.<\/p>\n I\u2019d also like to recognize our Medical Examiner\u2019s office.\u00a0 Dr. Clark and his team recently earned their re-accreditation from their national organization. Day in and day out they perform an important role for our residents, and they do it with great skill and care.\u00a0 Congratulations!<\/p>\n As I close, I\u2019d like to thank some of the people who have made my transition to Pierce County so easy.\u00a0 Sandra Spellmeyer in Risk Management and Maura Maye in Human Resources have been a tremendous help in getting our new executive team on-boarded and ready to work.\u00a0 Another person who made it much easier for me to quickly get up-to-speed is former executive and now State Auditor, Pat McCarthy. She and Connie Perry worked diligently to make sure I had what I needed to get to work and hit the ground running. Thank you!<\/p>\n I hope you\u2019ll stay connected with me through this blog.\u00a0 I plan to update it at least once a week with things I\u2019m learning and doing on behalf of Pierce County.<\/p>\n Thanks,<\/p>\n Bruce<\/p>\n [Best_Wordpress_Gallery id=”3″ gal_title=”Learning and listening at Pierce County”]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Welcome to my new blog!\u00a0 With a new year and a new role in public service comes a new way to stay in touch. I am heading into my third week as County Executive and I\u2019m more excited than ever to lead a fantastic group of employees as we serve our residents. My focus the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_uf_show_specific_survey":0,"_uf_disable_surveys":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[38510],"tags":[],"aioseo_notices":[],"yoast_head":"\n![\"Bruce\"](\"https:\/\/blog.piercecountywa.gov\/executive\/files\/2017\/01\/Bruce-blue-signature-300x157.png\")
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