Twenty-three-year career helps Holmes in new role

Perhaps it is fitting that Lisa Holmes began her Tompkins County government career as a planner 23 years ago. Now, she is tasked with overseeing all the county’s plans, after becoming interim county administrator May 17.

Holmes is taking over for Jason Molino, who is leaving to be executive director of the Livingston County Water and Sewer Authority. Molino’s resignation as county administrator is effective June 11.

Holmes joined the county Office for the Aging as a planner in 1998, spending eight years in that role before moving up to director of the office for the next 12 years. Three years ago, Holmes became the deputy county administrator, serving alongside Molino. For the last 18 months, she has also served as the county’s interim human resources director.

During the pandemic, Holmes has largely focused on human resources needs for the county.

“I worked with the team to get out the best possible guidance to our employees and staff to enable them to continue doing the work they’re doing,” she said. “So many of our employees are essential workers, whether they were providing services through DSS, mental health or the sheriff’s office.”

Holmes also said the county had to “marshal a lot of resources” to respond to the pandemic. For example, staff was reassigned to work on contact tracing, testing and vaccination sites.

“What I think it has shown is that we have the bench strength to be able to do that, deploy those resources,” Holmes said, noting the leadership of Amie Hendrix, deputy county administrator, who “was tapped to lead the emergency response effort.”

“I can’t commend Amie enough,” Holmes said. “She has assembled an amazing team of leaders from within the county government.”

The county has been able to do a lot, Holmes said, but collaborations with community organizations have enabled Tompkins County to handle the pandemic as well as possible.

“Our ability to reach out and collaborate has been emphasized in the pandemic,” Holmes said. “It has led to our success in terms of our low infection rates and high vaccination rates.”

Holmes said the pandemic has been a “test of all of our reflexes.”

“The state guidance changes daily, changes on a dime,” she said. “We’ve had to be very adaptable and quick on our feet to make the changes locally and get the word out to the community.”

The effects of the pandemic are still creating challenges for county government, she said, and will be one of several top agenda items.

“Continuing to support the county’s COVID-19 response,” she said when asked about her goals as
interim administrator. “The county and Legislature have been working collaboratively with the city [of Ithaca] on reimagining public safety, and that’s certainly a priority moving forward.”

Holmes also noted that while the county’s budget process is a yearlong effort, the pieces start getting assembled this time of year.

“We really start engaging with department heads over the summer,” she said.

Holmes said it has been “terrific” to work with Molino, adding that she was having trouble finding the right words.

“Jason has been incredibly solid as a leader, and at the same time very visionary in terms of wanting to make things better, to make county government function better, not only for employees, but in the way the county does business and serves the public,” Holmes said.

Holmes added that “He has provided the vision and support necessary to make that happen.”

“He has rolled up his sleeves and put in long hours as much as anyone in county government to make that happen,” Holmes said. “He’s also done it with a lot of fun. It has been very fun to work with him, and he’s instilled this sense of camaraderie in the team.”

She described her leadership approach as collaborative.

“The role of the county administrator, and what I will be doing as an interim, is to enact the policy goals of the Legislature but also enabling and empowering our leadership staff of 27 county departments with the tools they need to lead their departments effectively,” Holmes said. “I guess my approach is, we have a great team of leaders, and I want to provide them with what they need to do their jobs well.”