Woodward retiring as city personnel director

April 25--Danielle Woodward, who will wrap up a 21-year career as the city of Owensboro's personnel director in July, thought she had missed her opportunity to work for the city when she began her career.

Woodward graduated magna cum laude from Kentucky Wesleyan College in May 1988 with majors in human resources administration, psychology and sociology. She had applied for a job with the city of Owensboro, but when that didn't materialize, she took a job with an Evansville company.

And then, a few months later, she got a call from the city.

"Steve Loyal (the city's personnel director at the time) called me," Woodward said. "He said he had an old job application from me."

Offered a job by the city, Woodward left the Evansville job and went to work at City Hall in October of 1988 at the entry level position of personnel/payroll clerk. Later she became payroll administrator, making sure employees got their checks, Seven years later in March 1995, she said Ron Payne, the finance director at the time, recommended her to become personnel director, replacing Paul Fields. She was 28. At the time, the city had 478 full-time workers and 123 part-time workers.

When she started, regulations governing hiring and personnel were comparatively few, Woodward said. Not so anymore.

"There are so many regulations now," she said. "There's the Americans with Disabilities Act, drug and alcohol testing for CDL drivers and the big one recently is the Affordable Care Act. In the '90s, regulations came slow. Now they come boom, boom, boom."

Whereas education background was big in the '90s, now the city wants people who also have a grasp of health care regulations, costs and budgeting, Woodward said.

"You've got to stay up on regulations and budgets," she said. "Seventy percent of our budget is personnel costs -- salary, health care and pensions."

Strict attention to the rules is necessary in the hiring process, Woodward said. "You can have a major lawsuit if it isn't done right," she said.

Working with other city employees is the most satisfying part of her job, Woodward said, and knowing she has played a role in bringing in good people to work for the city.

"That's the only thing that has held me here so long," she said. "We've got top-notch people."

Woodward, 49, said she wants to spend time writing novels, continuing to volunteer at the local animal shelter and teaching management courses as an adjunct professor at the Western Kentucky University-Owensboro campus.

"I've got a bucket list," Woodward said. "I want to have fun and enjoy life. I'll still get a job and do more with my hobbies and my family and volunteer. ... I've been very blessed. I want to thank all the city managers I've ever worked with and Mayor Payne, who promoted me. He gave me my start. I still want to work. I'm open for something different or the same."

Owensboro City Manager Bill Parrish said he never has to worry about the Personnel Department because of Woodward. He said her thorough training of the department's staff will ease the transition of the next director.

"Danielle has been a thoroughly competent personnel director for the city," Parrish said. "She has incredibly detailed knowledge of the various city personnel systems and policies that the city maintains. From hiring to health insurance to discipline and the payroll system, Danielle will be hard to replace. Her corporate knowledge is so vast -- she wrote the rule book -- she created the systems -- that anyone coming into this position will have difficulty filling her shoes. She always -- always -- always did her homework, knew all aspects of every personnel issue and provided sound advice on every personnel issue."

Steve Vied, 270-691-7297, svied@messenger-inquirer.com

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