7 ways Joe Abruzzo wants to fix county government

Affordable housing, staff retention and artifical intelligence are on his list.

Curious what Palm Beach County Clerk and Comptroller Joe Abruzzo might do once he takes the wheel of the $9 billion machine that is county government?

Here are some of the ideas he pitched to county commissioners last week before they voted to hire him for the nearly $500,000 post to replace retired County Administrator Verdenia Baker:

• Create high-density zoning districts to increase the availability of affordable housing. 

• Give applicants seeking development permits a point person to guide them through the process. He said developers complain they get conflicting answers from different county departments, putting them on a frustrating merry-go-round

• Bring AI to county offices. He said 40% of the work in the court system is now handled by artificial intelligence. It’s also time, he said, for the county to go paperless.

• Revamp the county’s website, which he described as “antiquated.” Ditto PBCTV, Channel 20.

• Create an Office of Advancement for roughly 7,000 county workers to map out their careers in hopes they won’t jump to the private sector.

• Hold public forums in all seven commission districts to find out what people want. 

• Meet quarterly with the managers of the county’s 39 municipalities.