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What does it take to make a successful transition of government?

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. – It’s been one month since the general election in November, and statewide office transition teams have been working tirelessly in their efforts to prepare everything for the takeover in January.

Office of Administration Commissioner Doug Nelson says that while this particular transition period comes with its own unique challenges, the work so far has gone over quite well.

“OA has the duty of running the transition office, and this is a unique time because we have five offices transitioning,” Nelson said. “We’ve leaned on our departments, and we want to make it as smooth as we can for Gov.-elect [Eric] Greitens and his team.”

The newly-elected officials have spent a large amount of time assembling their teams, and have also spent the past couple of weeks meeting with the current members of each office and learning from the outgoing administration.

“Generally, it’s a little bit different at that point because the Attorney General’s Office works with the incoming attorney general, the treasurer’s office works with the incoming treasurer, etc. I think each office does it differently,” Nelson said.

They’ve also met with several of the state’s departments, getting a crash course and briefing on what each department is currently working on, as well as learning the needs of the department.

It’s a lot to take in for each new administration, but especially for the incoming governor. With just two months between the election and the inauguration, Greitens has a pretty busy to-do list.

“There’s a lot to do, and there are a few immediate concerns you have to address,“ Rob Monsees said. As deputy director during the transition under the Blunt administration in 2004-2005, Monsees has experienced the tough and rigorous hours required to get everything in place.

”Probably chief among those concerns would be the transition budget, and so you take all of these recommendations that have come in under the old administration from all of the different agencies, and essentially by the end of the year, you have to be pretty far down the path on most of the decisions on your first budget,” Monsees said. “There’s so much stuff to do, and a short funnel… but there’s a lot of opportunities as well.”

A lot of work goes into preparing the budget, but the new administration has a strong and talented group at the Division of Budget and Planning to help them in the process.

“They’re meeting daily with our budget folks trying to prepare his budget because it’s going to have to be ready to go in mid-January,” Nelson said. “So they’re looking at all of those issues and at the same time trying to build their team and ingest.”

The non-partisan staff manages budget requests, legislative proposals, critical issue papers and more from each department and agency, and rolls them up the chain to be presented to the interim budget director. The decision on who to name for the position is an important one, as they are one of the key people in the new administration, representing the new point of view on all of the decision items that are in the budget.

Tasked with sifting through all of the requests, reviewing current revenues and withheld funds, and working to produce a balanced budget is a painstakingly long task. Monsees recalls his time under Gov. Matt Blunt, saying he remembers working weekends and even holidays to help get everything squared up.

“It’s pretty much 24/7 until you get to inauguration day,” Monsees said. He recalls working in a hotel room on conference calls about the budget while vacationing with his family in Florida.

Many have speculated that one of the first actions by the new governor may have to be dealing with a shortfall of money, estimated to be around $200 million. It may sound like a large amount to some, but one can also go back to 2004-2005, when Blunt took office. Monsees and the members of the Blunt transition team aided the governor in preparing a budget for the 2006 fiscal year, facing a $1.1 billion shortfall.

“The reason those numbers can get so big is because the state law says you’re obligated to uphold the law, which says you’re going to do certain things that cost ‘x’ amount of money,” Monsees said. “It’s hard.”

In addition to preparing a budget document, the new governor and his team have to establish a legislative agenda and decide on the type of constituent services operations he wants. He also has to write an inauguration address and State of the State speech, both of which take place in January.

The most important decisions right out of the gate for each newly-elected official is choosing the personnel to help them along the way.

“You are also trying to identify as many people as you can that would be in a position to serve in all of the different Cabinet-level positions, which are directly under control of the governor,” Monsees said. There’s also a number of positions to fill in the roles underneath to make the everyday mechanisms of government run, including liaisons, communications, aides, and legal counsel.

It’s no easy task, and for the Greitens administration, it could be more difficult. Greitens and his team have made a point of working independently from the longtime political insiders of Jefferson City, but the newly-elected governor has also handpicked a few former Missouri Republican officials and candidates to help him. The biggest names on the list of people aiding the Greitens’ team are former House Speaker Catherine Hanaway and former State Treasurer Sarah Steelman.

Greitens’ campaign manager, Austin Chambers, is now serving as his senior adviser, while his campaign treasurer, Jeff Stuerman, and former Republican House budget committee chairman Rick Stream are assisting Greitens with the budget. And Greitens’ team has had one major advantage in their transition efforts: the full cooperation of outgoing Gov. Jay Nixon.

“I can tell you, so far, the transition has gone very well,” Nelson said. “There’s a lot of communication at the high level, with Gov. Nixon and Gov.-elect Greitens – they’ve had good meetings. I think it’s going very well.“

While the workload is quite a heavy one, Monsees says there’s plenty of reason to be optimistic.

“It’s a daunting task, but I have a lot of faith that people, when confronted with those things, they typically step up and do well,” Monsees said. “I feel like we did a good job with the Blunt transition, and I have no reason to expect anything different from the Greitens’ transition. I think people are generally excited, and looking forward to learning about what the new administration will look like.”