Butterflies are nothing new for anyone changing jobs, but when your new co-workers genuinely welcome you, it makes your first days go a lot smoother.
That’s what Stacy Cicero said when shen started just weeks ago as the new administrative coordinator for Shawano County.
“The one thing that really pleased me when switching jobs … I cannot speak more highly of the staff here,” she said. “They’ve been very welcoming. They’ve been very supportive. They’re excited to have new energy, new direction, and I am really impressed with the quality of staff in this building. They really know their work, and they care bout the community and want to do right by it.”
Her first day on the job was June 29. She’s met all department heads and is working to having sit-down meetings with each of them.
“I am really impressed with the work that people are doing, the ideas that they have, the passion that they have for their work, how they want to better the county and do good things for the people that are in their community,” Cicero said.
For 20 years, Cicero worked as executive director of Safe Haven in Shawano, which serves victims of domestic and sexual violence.
“The shelter building itself had been just built, so I had to hire all the staff, create all the policies, do the whole opening,” she said. “When I started, there were three employees, and when I left, we had 19 full- and part-time.”
Those two decades with Safe Haven brought her into regular contact with local law enforcement, the district attorney’s office and the courts.
“Working at Safe Haven, I was in the courthouse a lot, in the courtroom,” she said.
Now that she’s on the inside, she can see many of the safety issues brought up when discussing plans for a new courthouse — escorting inmates across Third Street from the jail to the courthouse, courtroom security for contentious cases and close contact in the halls between the victims and the accused.
“This was a great building 75 years ago, but it wasn’t built for the type of technology that we have today,” Cicero said. “The courthouse has grown in staffing. We also want to potentially have another judge. We have more ADAs (assistant district attorneys). We just need more space.”
She’s also more aware now of the space constraints and ADA compliance issues.
“I don’t know all the different aspects, but I can tell you that the team that has been working on the plan and the building have put a lot of thought, a lot of studying … a lot of time and energy and thought went into where they are now,” Cicero said.
In 2021, she resigned from Safe Haven and took a job with the Wisconsin Department of Children and Families.
“It was very difficult to leave an organization that was my baby,” Cicero said. “I built it from the ground up, with a lot of help.”
While at Safe Haven, she had worked with her predecessor at DCF.
“It was managing the domestic violence grants for programs around the state of Wisconsin,” Cicero said. “It was a natural progression.”
She worked from an office in her home’s basement, while using the Green Bay office as her base. She also traveled the state for site visits and drove to Madison for meetings.
Earlier this year, a friend suggested she consider applying for the administrative coordinator position. Her three children are now adults, so she opted to once again work in her local community.
Her older son lives and works in Chicago, while the younger son works in Shawano. Her youngest, a daughter, is studying to be a pilot at Fox Valley Technical College.
Working at Safe Haven, DCF and Shawano County are each unique experiences.
“I think the biggest difference I’m going to have to learn is county government work,” she said.
There are some things in common as well.
“I’m used to state work, state statutes, working with that type of thing, writing grants, reading proposals, budgeting, monitoring, all of those types of things, so that will come in very handy in this role,” Cicero said.
Budgets, collaboration and troubleshooting have been consistent themes in her career, as is communication.
“I think communication is going to be key,” she said, “but that’s a two-way street. If you put out events or meetings, you want the public to attend. We want input.”
Cicero has called Shawano home since 1994. Her grandmother lived in the city, and her mother grew up here. Her parents moved to Shawano in 1986 when Cicero was in college.
She studied psychology and sociology in college.
“The social work aspect was always something that I was going to go into,” Cicero said.
When her children were in school, she was involved in the parent-teacher organization. She has served on the Salvation Army board the past 20 years or so.
“It’s a nice community. It’s a great place to raise your kids,” Cicero said. “You have the low crime rate, and you don’t have to worry about driving across town in traffic. And you’re close enough to places like Green Bay, Appleton, Milwaukee, Chicago if that’s where you want to go.”
Today, she is also the chair of the Shawano-Menominee Resiliency Coalition, which operates Rise Wellness, a center for people in recovery, and is treasurer for the Behind the Badge nonprofit group that organizes Ball of the Badges each year.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
