Meet Hyattsville's New City Administrator

Hyattsville's new city administrator, Jerry Schiro, says he has a lot of catching up to do when it comes to learning the nuances of the issues facing the city.

"After only being on the job for two or three weeks now, I have some initial observations," said Shiro. "But I am sure I don't have the in-depth knowledge about some of the issues we have before us that some of the other staff or council members might have have right now"

Budget, Benefits Top Priorities

With less than a half a month until the start of the next fiscal year, Schiro said passing a budget is the immediate priority for city leadership.

"Right now the biggest issue before us is getting the budget adopted and dealing with the OPEB issue," said Schiro, referencing efforts by city leaders to reign in the costs of retiree benefits for former and current city employees. "That is taking a lot of staff time and elected official's time at this point."

Schiro said that, so far in his tenure, discussions of retiree benefit changes have taken place only at the administrative level. He has not yet had a chance to discuss those changes with city employees at-large. 

"Anytime you take benefits away from employees, it's a sensitive issue, especially with retirees," said Schiro. "I certainly understand the employees and retirees concerns, but I also understand that the council has a responsibility to cap some of this liability. They take the employees' concerns very seriously as well."

Retirement Rejected

Schiro, 62-years-old, is already once retired. The last full time job he held was  in 2010, though he did some municipal administrative consulting in the region during this time. But the lightened work load and extra free time wasn't his style.

"I didn't get along well with retirement," said Shiro. "That's one of the things that drove me back into a full time position."

Considering why he chose to apply for Hyattsville's top administrative spot, and taking on a job which requires long hours ontop of a long commute to and from McClain, Va., Schiro said that he enjoys the challenge of local government too much to stay away. 

"Frankly I like my work. I have dedicated my entire career to it," said Schiro. "I think Hyattsville is an interesting city, in terms of some of the things going on here, certainly a lot of exciting things are going on here."

Challenges

For Schiro, a veteran city administrator, Hyattsville presents some unique quirks which he has not yet dealt with. 

For one, this is the first municipality divided into wards that he has worked in. This is also the largest city council he has worked for. As many longtime Hyattsville political wonks know, the city's 11 member legislative body is the second largest city council in all of Maryland, behind only Baltimore. 

Schiro said that he wants to help implement programs to make Hyattsville financially and operationally sustainable over a long period of time. 

Key to that is forging a good working relationship between the city administrative offices, the elected officials, and most importantly in my mind, the citizens," said Schiro. "I work for the  mayor and city council, but I view my job as to serve the citizens of Hyattsville."

"Balancing that is not always easy, but I try to keep my priorities focused on the citizens I serve," said Schiro.