Minutes - 04-16-2001 - Laserfiche WebLink

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of Issues that this study would address. Commissioner Jacobs said that as the County Commissioners respond to these five focus areas that they will hear issues that ga beyond the study and can, at that time, take that information back to the County Manager. Commissioner Jacobs feels it would be good to let employees have input into this study. Commissioner Gordon said that she is shocked at the cost of this study and does not support spending $130,000 for a study. She feels internal staff could do some of this work. She said that not all of these issues are substantive issues for which money should be spent. She believes much of it could be done easily inhouse. She feels the County Commissioners should ask staff to do one or two areas and then report back to the Board. She does not feel that it will be the consultant's job to look at the interaction of all the departments and analyze the functions of all these departments. Commissioner Carey said that there are a variety of opinions of what should be studied and if a consultant should be used. He feels that it revolves on the credibility of the report. Part of the reason for doing any type of study like this is to get a fresh clear independent study so that the product will not be viewed as protecting one's turf from being scrutinized. We need to decide those areas for which we need to get a consultant. He has no interest in doing an inhouse study. The purpose is to add credibility that goes beyond our perception so that we can have this information. We need to decide what set of functions on which to focus. Chair Halkiotis said that it would be helpful if Elaine Holmes could find another County, which has done this sort of study and find out the pros and cans of doing such a study. Communications would be a good place to begin because all the departments communicating with each other would be a piece of this study. He also feels we should look at services to the elderly. Solid waste is being driven by outside forces and we need to be careful and get this under control. While Solid waste is important, he would start with Communications and move forward from there. Commissioner Jacobs agreed with Commissioner Carey. The NCACC recently did an organizational assessment and so did OWASA and TJCOG -three examples. He agrees with beginning with these five issues. Maybe communications should include Information Technology (IT} and coordinating the different areas. These areas need a new perspective and we would hope that we would get from this report alternative ways of doing things. He would add for solid waste that it is in transition from a landfill driven enterprise to a solid waste enterprise. He does not feel that we have the expertise internally to look at how to approach things differently. Also it would give our staff an incentive to look at different ways of doing things. He feels it will be good for the consultant to hear what the County Commissioners have to say about these issues. He supports this proposal. Commissioner Brown agreed with Commissioner Carey. She asked specific questions about what it would cover and what it would not cover. She asked about DSS and Health and Elaine Holmes said that it would not go into thane departments except as they serve the senior population. Commissioner Brown said that she would like to see one of these studies. John Link said that we can get copies of reports from other entities. When we talk about consultants, it may be that we have some resources at the University who may want to be involved in this study. Commissioner Brown asked if this would have levels of feedback from employees and John Link said that a consultant could do surveys that would get this information. Jahn Link said that he has no hesitancy at examining what we do. He feels that this organization works as hard as any organization he knows. The question is are we putting resources in the best location. Commissioner Brown feels that the Strategic Information Technology (I T) plan is crucial and should be included in the study.