1 Man Does 4 Jobs--and Is Judged a Success

You think you have it tough? Consider Frank Zolin.

He works 55-hour weeks juggling four jobs for 229 bosses. Zolin’s title is county clerk/executive officer, and his job is to see that the Los Angeles County Superior Court--the largest court of original jurisdiction in the English-speaking world--has everything it needs to do its work--from the courtrooms to the judges, clerks and court reporters who staff them.

He is at his desk by 7 a.m., sometimes attends three lunches on the same day and regularly balances a dozen major projects while fielding phone calls from lawmakers, judges or county supervisors.

When legislators consider court financing or how many judges a court needs, they count on him for statistics and suggestions. When his secretary promoted a cookbook, she counted on him for a recipe for amaretto Jello.

One of Zolin’s biggest projects has been the merger that resulted in his wearing four professional hats.

Aware of the Board of Supervisors’ goal of consolidating 58 county departments into 20, Zolin last year proposed merging the two offices that served the Superior Court and that were housed together in the County Courthouse--his own court executive office with 1,050 employees and the county clerk’s office with 950.

Supervisors gave preliminary approval to the proposal last Dec. 18, after the retirement of County Clerk John Corcoran, and are expected to complete the merger by the end of this year.

Colleagues credit Zolin, with his affable, approachable style, for making the merger one of the smoothest of any in the county.

“I think the merger wouldn’t have been possible had Frank not been there,” said Ray Arce, 48, who has worked for Zolin as director of juror services for seven years. “I’m not sure anybody else could have brought it off.”

Zolin solicited ideas about the merger from all levels and abandoned his own “flat” style of management, in which 18 department supervisors reported directly to him, for a deeper structure with only four immediate subordinates. He also listened to complaints and reassured labor unions and employees that nobody would lose jobs or pay and that clerks would retain their Civil Service status.

Eliminating 19 management positions through attrition and by ending some duplication of facilities, the merger will soon be saving taxpayers $500,000 a year.

Zolin, 53, became the court’s third executive officer 16 years ago, charged with planning and providing current and future court facilities and staffing. Created by law in 1957, the post permitted a second hat, that of jury commissioner overseeing selection and assignment of jurors.

His predecessor had delegated the jury duties, but Zolin assumed them. He reasoned that it would lend more clout for him, rather than a subordinate, to testify in cases in which attorneys challenge the selection of jurors.

The other two hats--county clerk and ex officio clerk of the Superior Court--came with the merger. The clerk handles marriage licenses and fictitious business names, and the ex officio clerk of the Superior Court processes all court documents and evidence.

His new jobs have not changed the length of Zolin’s work weeks or the number of meetings he attends. He simply delegates more work, which aides predict may take a personal toll on him because he is a “hands on” manager who likes to know details of every project in his domain.

‘Difficult to Delegate’

“I am accountable to so many people, it is not feasible for me to release a report without really being familiar with it,” said the tall, lean, chain-smoking Zolin. “I know it is appropriate management technique to delegate, but I find it is very difficult to delegate so many things.

“They say a lot of executives feel lonely at the top,” he said. “I feel lonely in the middle. I work for 224 judges and five (county) supervisors and I have 2,000 employees. Any stress comes from the pulling and tugging, because my basic responsibility is to develop a consensus plan to try to keep us moving forward.”

Whatever stress he feels, he wears it well.

“He is someone who never shows strain,” said Marion Haire, executive secretary to the presiding judge. “He has no moods. In the face of adversity, he always thinks of the positive things to be done.”

Zolin has no discernible enemies.

Even Raul Acosta, assistant county clerk, who would have been a candidate to replace the retired Corcoran as clerk, gives Zolin high marks.

‘Minimal Ego-Bruising’

“Frank has handled the merger extremely well, with minimal ego-bruising,” he said. “He has charisma or whatever. He just has a way about him.”

Superior Court Presiding Judge Thomas T. Johnson said the merger has been so free of problems that he has hardly even noticed it. That, he believes, is because of Zolin’s ability to negotiate with everyone in the court’s best interest.

“I really can’t recall anybody he has had any trouble with,” he said. “Once in a great while a judge will complain that he is taking too much authority. The answer is he is supposed to take charge of a good many things, and most of the judges like it that way.”

Zolin, who is paid about $81,000 a year, was born in Chicago, grew up in Hollywood, studied public administration at California State University, Los Angeles, and was an administrative deputy in the county Department of Public Social Services before switching to the court. He lives in Glendale with his second wife, Carole, a personnel analyst in the county administrator’s office.

His office is lined with photographs of prominent judges and with awards ranging from a plaque from the American Judicature Society praising him for promoting effective administration of justice to another from the California Country Club for a hole-in-one.

“His hobbies,” said Linda Sirk, his secretary for seven years, “are golfing, golfing and golfing.”