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16 <br />VI. Look closely at reorganization options created by the potential retirements <br />resulting from the County's incentive program. <br />VII. Other duties as assigned (or as recognized by myself) needing management <br />oversight, input or direction. <br />Overview <br />Frank Clifton said that several of these items have some overlap and impact other functions <br />within the County's operating structures. When reviewing the information as presented, the <br />Board will see references between issues and functions highlighting expected outcomes or <br />impacts. Where impacts are obvious, they may not have been addressed. He said all of this <br />input is based on his professional experience, direct exposure as manager of two other NC <br />Counties and regular interaction with numerous county managers and staff in other counties <br />over a ten year plus period in NC. <br />He also called upon past experience as a city manager in other jurisdictions along with some <br />experience in private sector areas including manufacturing and land development activities. <br />Frank Clifton said that one tenet to keep in mind is there is "NO" one -size fits all perfect <br />method to do anything or everything. Any effort applied in delivering services must be <br />customized to local conditions BUT valuable lessons are to be learned from other applications <br />elsewhere. There is seldom an issue faced by local government "anywhere" that has not been <br />dealt with "elsewhere ". <br />Approach and Methodology <br />Frank Clifton said that it would have been easy for him to make a list of items for the Board <br />and the next manager to address and walk away saying the task is done. He said he <br />approached these tasks with two objectives. First, he said he felt it important to give the <br />BOCC his best effort responding to their directives. Second, regardless of who the next <br />manager is, they will have some personalized perspective of what that person will face and <br />can use this input to best judge what type of individual will be best suited and capable of <br />addressing these issues with some degree of success. Finally, "timing", "resources ", <br />"organizational response" and "persistence" will be the elements most impacting upon <br />successful change AND improvements will be incremental. (Slay one dragon at a time!) <br />He said his approach beyond addressing those challenges and opportunities that were readily <br />available and obvious, was to attempt to reach out to every department in an effort to gain a <br />better understanding of why "things are the way they are ". In most cases, department heads <br />and staff were fairly open about their operations. Many are proud of what they do and very <br />guarded about how they do it. Ms. Blackmon began a process of transitioning the organization <br />from that developed by Mr. Link over his 18 years as manager to more closely align with <br />today's challenges and "resource limitations ". <br />He said he spent time talking with Ms. Blackmon and Mr. Link to gain a personalized <br />perspective of their analysis of how the organization functions and could function better. Both <br />provided valuable insight and similar perspectives on factors that critically impact upon county <br />operations, and the ability of the organization to plan for and respond to change. He has <br />known both of these individuals for a number of years and value their opinions and <br />