SHEA CALLS IT QUITS

A man who groomed himself for government and public affairs at a young age is stepping down believing he has left Steele County’s government in a good place. 
“We have a clear path in the strategic plan, clear goals and objectives and have a mechanism in place to refine that and adjust that as needed,” said Tom Shea, who since 2011 has been handling the Steele County Administrator position. “We have really strong people in leadership positions both elected and non-elected. Virtually all the leadership in the county is on board with this concept of looking beyond their particular duty.”
Shea’s official last day as county administrator was Friday. A two-hour going away celebration was held for him. Former Waseca County Administrator Laura Elvebak replaces Shea.
Current Steele County Commissioner James ‘Corky’ Ebeling said Shea will make it easy for Elvebak to step in. “I haven’t seen the list, but he has a list put together of what’s loose, what’s hanging out there, what the hot topics are and what needs to be done,” Ebeling said.
Ebeling has known Shea most of his life. He really got to know Shea when he became a county commissioner. “As a new commissioner, he helped me along, mentored me as a new commissioner and helped me along to give his opinions on anything that I had,” Ebeling said. “He was really helpful on helping me learn some of the things you are never aware of until you get in here.”
Charlie Herrmann said he has known Shea’s family throughout the years and the fine job they have done in public service. “His father was kingdom of conscious in Owatonna for all the years of his life and it is nice to see the offspring following in his father’s footsteps and doing some distinguished stuff,” Herrmann said.
He believes Shea is special simply because he is a Shea. “Secondly, he has persisted in some situations where other people might have cut and run or said ‘I don’t want to do this anymore,’” he said. “I like his independent approach to every situation that he encounters. And I think the decisions he has made have been in the interest of his constituents as opposed to any personal priorities that he might have.”
Always a love for government
Since he can remember, Shea has been involved in government and public affairs. “I remember in 1956 when I was six years old an election night party with dad and friends,” Shea says. “When I got to be 10 I was really aware of President Kennedy.”
After high school, Shea attended the University of Minnesota and became involved in politics. What he says resonated with him was that all politics is local politics. “That is so true,” he explains.
Shea went to the University of Minnesota to become a social studies teacher. He didn’t finish at the University of Minnesota, but headed to Mankato State University to finish his course work. He did substitute teaching and all of his student teaching. However, he never finished school and went to work with his father in 1974 in the beer business. 
He got his first taste of politics in 1974 when he ran for office. He received 49 percent of the vote but he did not win. In 1976 he tried again ending up with 46 percent of the vote. Again no luck.  He got married in 1979 and then the next year he tried again. This time he was successful and served 2 two-year terms until 1984.
After that he got out of the political arena for some time. He had two children and was working fulltime in the beer business. “Family life, legislative life and a professional life don’t mix; especially for a young person,” Shea said. “I stayed active, served on the Owatonna Charter Commission and helped the city on a couple of things with the legislature.”
Then came the opportunity for county government. “If you sincerely believe in the positive impact government can have, county commission is the best job you can have because county government delivers state and federal programs,” Shea said. “You are close to the people.  You can do something at this level of government. You can really have an impact on local delivery.”
Shea became a county commissioner in 1991 and served until 2011. During that time he ran a newspaper for about five years, was a banker and also served as a small business management instructor at Riverland Community College. In February 2012, he became the Steele County Administrator. 
As he steps down, Shea said one thing he is proud that he assisted with is the transition from a coordinator to county administrator. Another achievement is establishing a strategic plan that has a service delivery organizational structure that Shea believes better aligns the variety of services that county’s deliver.
“Now we have 19 departments and we’re pretty specialized,” he said. “It has gotten very sophisticated.”
He added that for the county to continue to deliver the quality services that citizens have been accustomed it and do it in an efficient cost effective manner, the structure and delivery systems had to be brought up to current standards. He said it is important to use business principals in the operations of government.
Experience has helped
The number one thing that made Shea a good county administrator was his experience with Steele County, Ebeling said. “That is his biggest strength,” he said. “He knew Steele County inside and out. Him being a commissioner as long as he was provided him a lot of history on what has been done in the past and how things have worked.
Ebeling will admit that change does scare him at times. However, he said Shea was never afraid of change. “He was always looking at how we can do it more efficiently, more effectively,” he said. “He was always a leader in organizing or starting a group to think about how we can do things different.”
This led to such ideas as the 911 Center and Minnesota Prairie County Alliance.
There were also several projects that were not completed or even started. One of those was the Minnesota Prairie County Alliance. “The whole thing is not finished,” Shea said. “MinnPrairie is up and operational, but there are still some speed bumps that it is dealing with. 
“We don’t have the public works building. We don’t have a clear public works building solution,” he continued. “We have a few internal operating systems that it would be nice to finish those ups. That will happen because we have the structure in place and good people in place.”
For Shea the challenge during his tenure involved the word ‘change.’ “Change is hard,” he said. “Everybody involved in county government is here to serve the public not only in Steele County but our wider community. The challenge is keeping people focused on the prize. Government is here to serve the community, not just one sector of the community.”
As he ends his career in public service, Shea said he will miss the people he has interacted with during his time. He also will miss seeing people being successful or initiatives that were successful. “That is what you feel good about,” Shea said.
Although retired, Shea will still be around helping the new county administrator and the county commission on whatever projects they might need as a special projects assistant. Otherwise, he will be taking care of projects around the house, playing more golf and reading the newspaper in the morning instead of before he goes to bed.
For those getting into the public service profession, Shea’s piece of advice is “do it. Get into it with your eyes wide open. Make sure that your core values are aligned with being in public service.”