Holmes focuses on year ahead under new title

Late last month, the County Legislature appointed Lisa Holmes as county administrator, almost a year after she took over as interim county administrator for Jason Molino in May of 2021, according to a recent press release. The past year has been a busy one for Holmes, so she shared her progress so far and what’s on her agenda for the rest of 2022.

Out of all the work she’s done since becoming interim county administrator, Holmes said that among her proudest achievements is getting through her first budget season under her new title.

“I’m proud of having done that and recommending a budget that was both fiscally responsible but also restored several positions in key areas after the cuts that we endured because of the pandemic,” she said. “So, that I’m proud of, and also allocating the American Rescue Plan funds through that process in a way that invests in the county’s infrastructure.”

Holmes added that she’s been especially appreciative of and impressed with her colleagues’ response to the pandemic throughout the past year and beyond.

“I also continued to be really proud of the county’s response to COVID, very little of which I can take direct responsibility for, but [I like] just being part of the team that responded and continues to be at the frontlines of the public health response to that,” she said.

While she had some experience in county government as deputy county administrator prior to becoming interim county administrator, Holmes has gained even more experience since last year. She said she’s made considerable progress facilitating effective communication across county departments and sectors.

“We’re involved in a number of different areas, from maintaining public safety to roads and bridges, to mental health, public health,” she said. “It’s a lot about getting people in the right roles and communicating with them and making sure that they have the resources they need to do the work that they need to do. Communication is a big, big part of this role — communication with our department heads, with our County Legislature and with the general public to make the public aware of what’s going on with the county as well.”

In that vein, Holmes said that while she hasn’t made a lot of new connections under her new title, she has “enhanced” many of her previous connections, including between county administration and municipalities.

“I’m looking forward to deepening those even further,” she said. “For instance, I recently joined the Ithaca Area [Economic] Development board, IAED, and the TCAT board in the last year. … [We’ve] enhanced our relationships and our communications with other municipalities as well, first out of necessity to get information and share information about COVID. But we’re going to continue those meetings with our municipal partners, towns, villages and city just to make sure that we keep communication flowing.”

Holmes sees her appointment as county administrator as both a “privilege and a responsibility,” she said.

“It’s one that I take really seriously,” she said. “And I’m just pleased that I was considered for the role and that my experience with the county can be seen as an asset and can be used to help us moving forward.”

Holmes’ appointment also marks the first time in history that the county has had a woman in the county administrator role. She remarked on being the first to break the glass ceiling, so to speak.

“It’s pretty amazing,” she said. “It didn’t enter my mind as I was considering it, but nonetheless, I’m really pleased to and humbled to be in that role. And yeah, it’s surely about time, but … I’m pleased to be in that role. I was reading an article lately about women in local government and how few women there are in these roles but how that is been growing lately. And so, I’m glad to see that.”

This historic move didn’t go unnoticed by the Legislature, as seen in Legislature Chair Shawna Black’s remarks during the meeting last month.

“Lisa has the respect of so many of her colleagues,” Black said in the release. “As a county, we should be proud that we’re hiring our first ever female Tompkins county administrator. Fewer than one-third [of] top local government officials are women leaders.”

The Legislature’s decision to appoint Holmes was unanimous, so unsurprisingly, other legislatures had positive words to share.

“I’m so thrilled to vote on Lisa being our county administrator,” Legislator Anne Koreman said in the release. “It’s something that we should be proud of — that someone so talented and dedicated can work their way up through the county. I can think of no one better to do this job. I have the utmost faith in Lisa.”

With her first year almost behind her, Holmes is already looking ahead. She said that there are “a number of initiatives” that she’ll be focusing on in the coming months and throughout the rest of this year, including the next county budget.

“[It] is a sizable budget and something that we have began work on and forecasting for this month and working with all of our departments and the Legislature on,” she said. “We’re also continuing the work and initiatives around reimagining public safety in partnership with the city of Ithaca. So, there are a number of projects in that plan that we are working to advance.”

Holmes added that she and the Legislature will also focus on the Community Recovery Fund Program, which was announced last fall (see tinyurl.com/y9velyt5).

“The Legislature has committed to a Community Recovery Fund, and we are continuing to advance that forward,” Holmes said. “We’re in the middle of a selection process, … selecting a consultant to help us advance that forward in the next few months. And, as an employer, we’re undertaking a compensation study across all of our positions and bargaining units to make sure that our wages and benefits are competitive in the local market and across job titles.”

The pandemic will also continue to be top of mind for Holmes and many others in county government.

“We will continue to be in a role where we’re ever watchful about the pandemic and about trends that are happening locally or across the state that may impact our residents,” Holmes said. “We’ve also been attempting to transition into more of a recovery phase. There are many social and economic impacts as a result of the pandemic that we were faced with as a community and, really, as a nation.”

Though Holmes certainly has a lot on her plate for the rest of this year, she said she’s looking forward to the work and is “very interested in continuing, maintaining or improving our local government services to make them responsible, accessible, efficient and in line and meeting the needs of our community.”

To learn more about Holmes’ appointment as interim county administrator, visit tinyurl.com/ya9bmyfa.

Jessica Wickham is the managing editor of Tompkins Weekly. Send story ideas to them at editorial@vizellamedia.com.