NORRISTOWN >> Josh Shapiro, discussing the diversity of Montgomery County, couldn’t stay put in his seat.
“It’s a pretty broad, diverse community and I think that’s one of its greatest strengths,” he said, launching out of his swiveling leather armchair to point to farmland in the western parts of the county and bustling main streets in the first ring suburbs of Philadelphia on a map of the county.
Monday, after five years as Montgomery County commissioner, Shapiro left that seat for good as his resignation took effect the day before his swearing in as attorney general in Harrisburg.
“In some ways Montgomery County is a bit of a microcosm of the rest of the commonwealth, so when I went to places in the commonwealth that other candidates didn’t go to, or that oftentimes Democrats wouldn’t go to, I felt very at home,” Shapiro said.
“I could talk about farming issues. I could talk about the effect of agriculture on the economy. I could talk about, in parts of Philadelphia, the ways in which we can deal with our diversity and deal with law enforcement in diverse communities. So I really felt that the work I did here in Montgomery County and the way in which I was afforded the opportunity to govern here, taught me a lot about the rest of Pennsylvania.”
When looking back at his time governing in the county, Shapiro has fond memories, not only of the staff that he said has become like a family, but of the accomplishments in local government. The Pennypack Trail, a 5.4-mile path that was completed in 2015, is one point of pride for him.
“My kids always make fun of me. I sort of geek out when I’m walking on the trails,” Shapiro said. “Particularly the Pennypack trail, just because it literally didn’t exist and now it does. I stop people, I ask them, ‘Hey, do you enjoy this?'”
Infrastructure, including the trails and structurally deficient bridges in the county, was a major focus of Shapiro’s tenure on the board of commissioners. Since 2012, repairs have been completed on 16 of the 62 structurally deficient bridges, with another 34 bridge projects in the county’s capital budget for 2017, meaning 50 bridge projects were underway in some fashion during Shapiro’s time as chairman.
“I always talk about core functions of government,” he said. “Infrastructure investment is one of those core functions, and hopefully an important part of my legacy here.”
Shapiro has a sense of humor about his more wonkish tendencies, calling his zero-based budget initiative one of his most exciting memories as a commissioner.
“Literally going through line by line, department by department, starting at zero and building back up, that was the hardest thing in government I’ve ever done. And what was exciting about it, for a nerd like me, is to think about how do I want to remake government and make it more effective and efficient,” he said.
While there are plenty of light-hearted moments in day-to-day governing, Shapiro takes his work seriously. He said that reviewing details of critical decisions often keep him, and other county staff, up until the early morning hours.
“I’d say that probably the toughest decision we had to make was relative to Parkhouse, that was just a massive decision that had so many different components to it,” Shapiro said of the sale of the formerly county-owned nursing home. “You’re dealing with people’s lives, you’re dealing with making a smart choice when it comes to a provider and you’re dealing with what’s the best in the long-term for the strength of the county.”
While Shapiro is taking on the role as the top law enforcement official in the state, he is not leaving Montgomery County behind. He plans to remain in his home in Abington with his wife and children.
“We have four young kids, so we’re staying in our home, and I’ll be moving around a lot,” he said.
And while there were plenty of tears and well-wishes during Shapiro’s final meeting as a commissioner on Jan. 5, the new Attorney General feels that the time was right to move on.
“I felt over a five year period that I would have accomplished what I set out to accomplish. I also think that these are not jobs that are owned by any one person,” he said. “You should do them, you should do them well, and then you should give others the opportunity to lead and put their imprint on them.”
