June 3, 2009
Contact: Liz Bahrns
(703)792-6600
County Executive Announces Retirement
County Executive Craig Gerhart announced his decision today to retire from more than 31 years of public service. His last day with the county government will be on Friday, July 3. Gerhart will start work for Amtrak on Monday, July 6.
Gerhart will work for Amtrak as a full time independent contractor as the organizational strategist for Amtrak’s policy and development. He will serve as an advisor to the vice president of policy and development on organization and structural issues and challenges in light of the availability of federal stimulus funds. Gerhart will also be responsible for helping with consistent department-wide communication, goal setting and strategic planning.
“Prince William County government has been a part of my family for a very long time. This decision came after a lot of thought and consideration as to what is best for me and my family,” Gerhart said. “The opportunity at Amtrak allows me the chance to work with a national company in a meaningful way doing things that I really enjoy doing.”
As the county government’s chief administrative officer since 2000, Gerhart has had several major accomplishments, to include:
· The achievement by the county government to receive ratings of 90 percent of citizens satisfied with county services
· The establishment of a vision driven, values based organization, that resulted in both high levels of customer satisfaction and a workplace environment with 92 percent of county employees being proud to work for Prince William County
· The transformation of development review services to a one stop shop with reductions for most commercial occupancies in review costs and time
· The creation of a neighborhood services function to respond effectively to property code complaints and neighborhood issues
· The nationally acclaimed home help program
· The success of Progress Prince William, the county’s transportation program which has completed more than 94 lane miles of voter approved road construction
· The use of community partnerships, which has created world class community assets like the Hylton Performing Arts Center
· The creation of a historic preservation program that includes acquisition and restoration of eight historically significant sites
· The two bond rating upgrades in the past nine years; the last one to AAA
· Participating as a member of the Council of Governments Chief Administration Officers group and chairing the Northern Virginia Chief Administrative Officers, including regional leadership efforts for homeland security planning, coordination and response, and identifying regional service delivery opportunities
· Leading a team of 24 Northern Virginia regional staff dispatched to New Orleans on the heels of Hurricane Katrina to operate that city’s emergency operations center and coordinate response and recovery efforts for 14 days
“I’ve been very lucky to be a part of this organization,” said Gerhart. “I’m really proud of the way we have responded to some very difficult challenges, including the FY10 budget, the death of one of our own firefighters, the illegal immigration issue, and most recently, the investigation of wrongdoing by some employees in the office of information technology.”
Before he was county executive, Gerhart held the positions in Prince William County government of deputy county executive, assistant county executive, director of the office of management and budget, budget officer and assistant to the county executive. Before coming to Prince William County, he was an administrative assistant to the chief administrative officer for Montgomery County government and Prince George’s County government in Maryland.
