Hennepin County Profile

Learn more about how Hennepin County works for you, the District 3 team conducts a profile series with employees of the county who live in the district. Each month we spotlight a different person from varying departments and occupations.  Find out about the day-to-day aspects of occupational fields and work environments at the county, and how each person’s work affects your life.

Todd Monson CARAG Neighborhood Department Administrator Human Services and Public Health Department

 

Describe your work.

I am now semi-retired, but for several decades, I worked on programs and policy initiatives for health and human services. That may sound boring, but programs and policies have a huge impact on people’s lives. One project I’m significantly proud of was when Hennepin initiated six home- and community-based long-term care programs that helped the elderly and people with disabilities to live at home rather than institutions. Any time we can connect people to services and give them more choice and control of their lives is a win. I also served as Hennepin’s public health director for more than 10 years, working on policies that improved health and addressed health disparities. Hennepin was one of the first counties in the state to pass a smoking ban.

What parts of your job did you find most challenging?

Health and human services are complex. I was challenged to not get caught up in the details of every program or every flavor-of-the-month idea. As a manager, it was important to me to have a longer view of where we were headed. What’s best for the county and the people we serve? It’s always easy to get deep into the weeds on program issues — the detail work is fun, concrete and rewarding. But details can also distract from keeping an eye on the larger goals of the organization.

What did you find most enjoyable?

Hennepin County is innovative. We were given the latitude to try new ideas (some of which didn’t work), learn from our failures and be innovative. Hennepin is large enough — we have 25 percent of the state’s population and a third of the jobs — that what we do affects the rest of the state. When we have ideas that we can develop into programs, and we can measure success, other counties and the state will follow. I’m also a flaming extrovert, and in various county jobs, I had the good fortune to meet and work with a wide variety of great people.

What is one thing everyone should know about the work you did?

I take a lot of pride in the work that the county does. Hennepin County is well run, and we have thousands of employees who come to work every day to help other people. We may sometimes come across as bureaucrats, but we are a mission-driven organization full of people who want to help their neighbors.

In many ways, counties are an invisible level of government, but we touch the lives of an incredible amount of people. One in four Hennepin County residents use health and human services. Most need services for a short time. But some, especially people born with disabilities, will need our services forever.

Info about department: Human Services and Public Health Department is the largest department in Hennepin County. Our vision: Better Lives, Stronger Communities. Our mission: We work to increase safety and stability of people, promote self-reliance and a livable income, and improve the health of the community.