Oconee County Held Two-Day Staff Retreat For Department Heads At Stone Mountain

Oconee County department heads, at the invitation of Board of Commissioners Chair John Daniell, met for two days last week at Stone Mountain in what Daniell said was an effort at “team building.”

In the first day of the session on Thursday, former County Administrative Officer Alan Theriault led the group through a discussion about the budget process, communications, morale “or any other item important to the group,” Daniell said. Neither he nor current Administrative Officer Jeff Benko attended that session.

Friday’s session included a brief discussion involving Daniell and Benko of each department. “The goal was to allow brain storming on the director’s ideas for implementation and see where joint efforts may benefit,” Daniell said.

Including Benko, Daniell and Theriault, a total of 20 people attended the two day program, and County Attorney Daniell Haygood participated in the session on Friday.

Final figures for the cost of the retreat, including travel and hotel expenses, won’t be complete until Friday, Daniell said. He asked each of the 16 department heads to budget $600 from the department’s travel account to cover those costs, or $9,600.

For more on the story, go to Oconee County Observations.

Pictured: John Daniell