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| Prisons chief replaces top-level staff |
| By miamiherald.com - Steve Bousquet |
| Published: 08/24/2011 |
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TALLAHASSEE -- Gov. Rick Scott’s choice to reform Florida’s prison system came from Indiana and quickly decided that the agency needed new leadership. From Indiana. In a few months, Corrections Secretary Edwin Buss has hired more than a dozen people from his former state. They include his second-in command, chief financial officer, personal secretary, regional coordinator and a warden — 14 people in all with a combined salary of more than $1 million. Dan Ronay, Buss’ deputy secretary and chief of staff, is the highest-paid Hoosier hire at $120,000 a year. He held a similar position in Indiana under Buss. Ronay, known as “Chief,” said he and Buss needed to move quickly to improve the nation’s third-largest prison system in the wake of a scathing report by Scott’s law-and-order transition team. “Our team found that DOC is broken,” the report said. “It is lacking leadership, vision and courage. . . . We found that a pattern of promoting from within has created an entrenched culture resistant to creativity and innovation.” Ronay said he read the report six times. In his first few weeks on the job, he fired more than 30 people and began building Buss’ team by hiring and promoting others from within, while also raiding the Indiana system. “If you come in and you don’t know too many people, how long is it going to take you to fix your agency and do the things you need to do?” Ronay said. “When you reform things, there’s some hurt, and there’s some anxiety. People don’t like change.” Also on Buss’ Florida team are the prison system’s chief financial officer, Ronald Miller Jr., who is paid $115,000, and Bill Carr, an assistant secretary for re-entry programs, at $110,000 a year. Both men held similar posts in Indiana. All but three of Buss’ Indiana hires earn at least $70,000 a year, according to salary data provided by the department. Read More. |
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