New County Executive Farley Sworn In; First Day Involves Spreadsheets

WAUKESHA — Tom Farley, 68, was sworn in Thursday morning as interim Waukesha County Executive after 31 years with the county, most recently as deputy director of facilities management, and spent the bulk of his first day in office working through an inherited email backlog that county staff estimated at 2,214 unread messages.

Farley took the oath at 9:04 a.m. in a brief ceremony in the county administration building, then returned to his new office, closed the door, and did not emerge again until 11:40 a.m., at which point he requested a stapler. County spokesperson Janet Kronke said Farley's first official act as executive was not, as some had speculated, any policy announcement, but a calendar request to schedule maintenance on the executive office's HVAC system, which he said had "always run about four degrees too cold" during his previous 31 years walking past it.

"No Ribbon-Cuttings"

Kronke said Farley has asked staff for "absolutely no ribbon-cutting ceremonies" during his tenure, a request he reportedly delivered without elaboration before returning to his monitor. "He said he'd rather use the time to get through the backlog," Kronke said. "I don't think he was speaking figuratively. I think he meant the actual backlog, in his inbox."

"He said he'd rather use the time to get through the backlog. I don't think he was speaking figuratively."

— Janet Kronke, County Spokesperson

Farley, who retired from his facilities role in June after three decades with the county, was tapped for the interim post by the county board in an 12-6 vote following the resignation of the previous executive. Board Chair Delores Yanke said Farley was selected in part for his familiarity with "how the building actually works," a phrase she said was meant literally, citing his knowledge of which conference rooms have functioning projectors.

A Spreadsheet-First Approach

By 2 p.m. Thursday, Farley had opened what staff described as a shared spreadsheet titled "Open Items," which by day's end contained 61 rows, sorted first by department, then by how long each item had been outstanding. Deputy Administrator Wade Furseth said Farley added a column for "assigned staff contact" and a second column for "actual staff contact who will respond," which Furseth called "an accurate distinction that nobody had previously bothered to make."

Farley declined an on-camera interview but provided a brief written statement through Kronke's office: "Thirty-one years gives you a pretty good sense of what's been sitting. I'd like to get some of it moving before anyone asks me to be in a photo." The statement was, per Kronke, typed and sent from Farley's county email account at 4:52 p.m., roughly the same time he confirmed the HVAC appointment for the following Tuesday.

No Announcements Planned

Kronke said Farley has no press events scheduled for his first week and has asked that his calendar remain "mostly open" through the end of the month, aside from the HVAC visit and a previously scheduled dental appointment he declined to move. She said residents hoping for an inaugural address or a stated set of priorities should instead expect "responses to emails, eventually, in the order they were received."

Furseth said the Open Items spreadsheet had, as of Thursday evening, seven rows marked complete, all seven of them facilities-related. "He fixed the third-floor water fountain himself," Furseth said. "Not metaphorically. He went down there with a wrench before lunch. I don't think anyone told him he wasn't supposed to do that anymore."