Greene named ‘National County Leader of the Year’

El Paso County Administrator Jeff Greene has been named “National County Leader of the Year” for 2009 by the National Association of Counties.

“From reorganizing all departments to working through huge deficits to balance the budget, County Administrator Jeff Greene has spent the last year moving El Paso County, Colorado through troubled times,” according to City and County magazine. “In 2008, he reorganized county departments by streamlining from 13 to four, saving the county an estimated $5.2 million annually.”

When Greene became county administrator during 2007, El Paso County’s budget and operations had  been adversely impacted by declining revenue, an increasing number of state and federally mandated programs and services and years of deferred maintenance and delayed capital improvements.  During 2008, the economy worsened and revenue further declined.

Greene saw that county government would be unsustainable without big changes.  Many county workers were asked to accept additional responsibilities and more than 200 lost their jobs.  Greene said those were the hardest decisions that had to be made.

“We lost many good people and when you put faces with the people, you stay up at night wondering what’s going to happen to them,” he said.

Greene joined the county during 2001 as the employee benefits manager.  He later served as director of employee benefits and medical services, as assistant county administrator and deputy county administrator.

3 Responses to “Greene named ‘National County Leader of the Year’”

1. Lon Says:
   August 7th, 2009 at 1:00 pm

   Well deserved Jeff.

2. Cheryl Cone Says:
   August 29th, 2009 at 5:16 pm

   Proud of a good man. Well deserved.

3. Ken G Says:
   September 2nd, 2009 at 5:11 pm

   I served in the reserves with Jeff several years back. Jeff is a great man of integrity, hard working, works for the people in our county and is a great leader to have in El Paso county.