Baltimore County Executive C. A. Dutch Ruppersberger III announced the removal of county Personnel Director Richard N. Holloway yesterday, his first leadership change among department heads.
In February 1993, Mr. Holloway presided over one of the most tumultuous chapters in county government history, when 392 county workers were told that their jobs had been eliminated as part of an extensive rearranging of county agencies and budget cuts caused partly by the recession.
Both Mr. Holloway, 47, and Department of Aging Director Dr. Philip H. Pushkin, 57, were called in to see Mr. Ruppersberger Friday.
A change in leadership at the Department of Aging is expected to be announced next week.
No new department directors have been announced, leaving acting directors in charge at the departments of personnel, public works, fire and health.
Mr. Ruppersberger's first move contrasts with Roger B. Hayden's replacing of five department heads in 1990 during his first week as county executive.
Mr. Holloway, who took over his job in February 1992 after joining Mr. Hayden's staff in August 1991, said he regretted leaving the $76,406 post. "I appreciate the opportunity to serve in Baltimore County government," he said.
Deputy Personnel Director Anthony J. Sharbaugh will be acting director, said Communications Director Robert Hughes.
Mr. Ruppersberger said firing people is "the worst part of the process" of starting a new administration, but said he wants the "flexibility to get somebody to implement my gain-sharing program."
Gain-sharing is a program that Mr. Ruppersberger mentioned frequently during his political campaign. He wants to use it as a way to motivate and reward extremely productive groups of county workers -- especially when the money for general across-the-board pay raises may not be available.
Neither Mr. Ruppersberger nor Dr. Pushkin would comment on the latter's status yesterday, though several sources said the former Health Department official will be given a new county job. Dr. Pushkin, a dentist and a general in the Maryland National Guard, worked in the county health department from 1968 until December 1990, when he took over at the Department of Aging.
Several other Hayden-appointed department heads expect to be fired, but Mr. Ruppersberger, who took office Dec. 5, said he expects few additional moves until after the holidays.
In other personnel action, two county police officers who have served for years as drivers and bodyguards for several county executives were reassigned to other police duties. Officer Kirk G. McCleary, who has worked in executive protection since 1976, has served through the terms of Executives Theodore G. Venetoulis, Donald P. Hutchinson, Dennis F. Rasmussen and Mr. Hayden. Officer Woodrow J. Klein has worked the detail since November 1986.
Two other officers have taken over the duties, which may be shared with other specially trained police working as a team, officials said.