County Innovations and Solutions

Tom Davison was becoming unmoored.

After a failed business left him with a lot of time on his hands, he took a federal job that had him driving 45 miles each way from his Gwinnett County, Ga. home. When budget sequestration in 2013 cut him down to two days a week, he needed something to do.

"I was getting on my own nerves," he said. "I had to do something. That's when my wife told me to volunteer. It wasn't a matter of needing money, I needed something for myself."

Davidson's wife, who works in Gwinnett County's human resources department, steered him toward Volunteer Gwinnett, a sophisticated database of opportunities to help out in county government launched in 2012. The program serves as a volunteer position clearinghouse for the county, tying together what were disparate volunteer programs across several departments. Davidson found a perfect project helping out in the real estate division.

"I didn't have enough to do at home, working two days a week," Davidson said. "Volunteering was an opportunity to make a contribution and feel good."

The real estate division was sitting on hundreds of sets of paper records waiting to be digitized, each of them containing hundreds of different real estate forms. Although the division staff was charged with adding those records to a database, the daily demands to process new business meant scant progress was being made.

"When I go t there, they said the project had just sort of lingered for a long time," Davidson said. "Everyone had good intentions, they planned to get to this, but there just wasn't time."

Davidson's work history with residential real estate sales and commercial development left him with a wealth of knowledge of the system that gave him an advantage starting the project.

"I was familiar with deeds, closing statements, appraisals, surveys pretty much everything the county would keep records on, and I knew how to organize them," he said. "It wasn't too technical. It was just a volunteer job so they didn't need a technical expert, but I definitely felt like it was a way I could use what I knew in a productive way."

Kay Sibetta, the program coordinator for Volunteer Gwinnett, said it isn't hard to recruit volunteers to do this kind of work because like Davidson, they often have a desire to give back.

"When you go to the mall, you have something specific you want to buy; you zero in where you'll buy it," she said. "People who volunteer with the county have specific interests, whether it's sports and recreation, animals, technology or helping other people. We've been able to communicate the county's needs to the public and let them know we have a place for them, whether they want to volunteer for a few hours once, or over a long-term period."

Starting in February 2013, Davidson worked 16 hours a week for a few weeks, while maintaining his part-time job.

"It was like eating an elephant," he said of the task. "I just chipped away at it. I think , in the end, it was more efficient to have one person in charge of the project and focus on it, rather than having everyone in the office have to learn it and work on it when they could."

By August 2013, he saw an opening for a full-time job with the county and was hired for a full-time real estate specialist position. He still maintains the database, but now spends most of his days researching property issues the county faces, like obtaining easements for water and sewer lines and acquiring property for county use.

"I wasn't auditioning for a full-time job when I volunteered, but it turned out that way," Davidson said. "I love this job, I really do. It's diverse, interesting and rewarding."

Sibetta said several participants in Volunteer Gwinnett have parlayed those opportunities into full-time jobs.

One morning, Davidson and his colleague spent time assembling agenda materials for the county commissioners.

"What we're doing will be used by the county government," he said. "That's pretty cool."

County Innovations and Solutions features award-winning programs. Property Tracking with Volunteer Help was named Best in Category for volunteer programs in the 2014 NACo Achievement Awards.