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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAgenda - 04-16-2001-2ORANGE COUNTY BOARD OF COMMISSIONERS ACTION AGENDA ITEM ABSTRACT Meeting Date: April 16, 2001 Action Agenda Item No. SUBJECT: Organization Assessment -Plan and Approach .. __ . DEPARTMENT: County Manager's Office PUBLIC HEARING: (Y/N) No ATTACHMENT(S): INFORMATION CONTACT: Possible Focus Areas John Link, County Manager, Extension 2300 Elaine Holmes, Personnel Director, Extension 2550 TELEPHONE NUMBERS: Hillsborough 732-8181 Chapel Hill 968-4501 Durham 688-7331 Mebane 336-227-2031 PURPOSE: To consider a plan and approach for an organizational assessment to address specific areas impacted by changes occurring in recent years. The possible areas to be addressed include the following five: 1) Parks, open space and conservation, 2) Solid Waste, 3) Services to the Elderly, 4) Transportation and 5) Public information, communications and "e-government." BACKGROUND: During the November pay and benefits work session, the Board of Commissioner expressed interest in an organizational assessment and briefly discussed several possible areas for review. Staff has reflected on the needs and considered the most effective approaches to complete this assessment. Needs In terms of the needs, a number of external environmental factors have developed in recent years that impact the County's organization and services. Examples of such factors include: 1. Priority need to create parks and preserve open space at this critical time in the County's growth. 2. Assumption ofi Solid Waste management responsibility from the Town of Chapel Hill. 3. Rapid growth in the County's elder population and service needs, particularly the frail elderly and the continuing significant growth projected aver the coming years. 4. On-going growth in the County's transportation program, needs and challenges to be addressed. 5. Increasing demand and possibilities for "e-government" that arise from the growth of the Internet as a citizen communication tool. Interlinked with this is the County's need for a coordinated, vigorous public information and communication program with the partnership of the County Manager's and County Commissioners' offices. Specific areas to be addressed include press releases, citizen inquiries, and comprehensive electronic calendar for all department heads, Gounty Manager's office, Clerk to the Board and County Commissioners. Such a program needs to take .full advantage of all available communications media including the Internet, mailings, press releases, brochures and others. Assessment Approach It is recommended that the County pursue an approach that focuses on specific areas. The attachment outlines five passible areas based on the above environmental changes. Such a focused approach offers the best opportunity for a successful, timely outcome. In this way, the work can be managed as well as the concerns and sensitivities that inevitably result fram such a study. Assessment Objectives In general, for the five focus areas shown on the attachment, the organizational assessment objectives would be to: 1. Inventory the functions and their current alignment within the County organization. 2. Assess the functional needs, including any unmet needs, and the environment. 3. Evaluate the operational effectiveness of the current organization; that is, the quality of the current operations and services,. 4. Evaluate how the current organization is responding to the needs and environment. 5. Given the effectiveness, needs and environment,- recommend the optimal structure/organization of these functions to achieve the County's work objectives Consultant and Staff Use To conduct this focused organizational assessment, staff recommends that the Board pursue the following: • Use of outside consulting assistance to complete the operational effectiveness evaluation component of the assessment listed in the' assessment objectives (Objectives 3 and 4 above). This would be accomplished through interviews that may include employees, involved department heads, citizen customers, County Commissioners, and the Manager. In concert with the internal staff as noted below, use of the outside consulting assistance to also complete the inventory and. assessment of the present functions and organizational structure and identify possible future directions. The consultant would provide technical expertise on governmental organizational matters as well as administrative support in ultimately producing recommendations for the Manager and Board's consideration. An external consultant will provide an independent perspective, keep the project on-track and on time, and help bring ideas to the table on how to best address the organizational needs and environment. Among other things, the consultant would independently conduct and report on the operational effectiveness component of the study, including interviews with involved employees, citizens, involved department heads, County Commissioners, and the Manager. • Use of an internal work group led by Personnel Director Elaine Holmes to organize and lead the study and work with the consultant to complete the current function inventory, functional needs assessment and identification of possible organizational responses/structure to respond to the study findings (Objectives 1, 2 and 5 above). Timing Once the Board of Commissioners confirms the study plan and approach, including the specific areas to be assessed, staff will proceed to identify a consultant(s). It is anticipated that this could be completed in May and staff would present the proposed consultant(s), plan of work, schedule and estimated costs to the, Board in June. In this way, we could begin work on the assessment in this fiscal year and continue work during the summer break. FINANCIAL IMPACT: The general estimate of the consultant cost is in the range of $30,000 to $50,000. The type of effort would be similar to the scope of the Y2K consultant and that cost about $40,000. Following the Board's confirmation of the scope of work, staff will work with possible consultants to get specific proposals and costs. It is anticipated that most of the cost will fall in the next fiscal year (2001-02) and funds will be proposed in the Manager's Recommended Budget. Ta the extent any funds are required in this fiscal year, these will came from the Manager's contingency fund. RECOMMENDATION(S): The Manager recommends the Board discuss the organizational assessment plan and approach and provide direction to staff on how it wishes to proceed. Attachment Possible Organizational Assessment Focus Areas 'I. Parks, Open Space and Conservation In June 1998, the Board of County Commissioners established the new Environment and Resource Conservation Department (ERCD). This initiative was the culmination of several years of research and discussion on the role of Orange County in the preservation of natural resources. Among other things, this department's tasks include developing and implementing a program for the acquisition anal management of land for resource conservation. At the same time under its charge from the Board of County .Commissioners, the Joint Master Recreation and Parks Work Group has been pursuing objectives in collaboration with the environment and resource conservation initiative in significantly expanding the County's park resources. While participating in this initiative, the Couhty's existing Recreation and Parks department has focused its efforts on ongoing active recreation programming. The organizational assessment would address the optimal organization to effectively pursue the County's' vision of where it wants to be in terms of parks and parklands. This would include identifying current responsibilities for parks and parklands in ERCD and Recreation and Parks and assessing the most effective division of those responsibilities between these departments. Under the function of active recreation, we also may want to look at possibilities that the new parklands may offer such as for nature programming; ie, youth nature walks, fitness trails. Related areas to consider in this assessment might include adding responsibility to the ERCD for coordination with the State Forestry program to provide a clear organization linkage between the County and this program. Also an organization linkage might be established between the ERCD and the Soil and Water Conservation Department. 2. Solid Waste In April 2000, the County assumed responsibility for Solid Waste management from the Town of Chapgl Hill and established a new County Solid Waste Department. At present there are Solid Waste functions found in both the Solid Waste Department and the Public Works Department. Solid waste functions presently in the Public Works Department include: • Operation and maintenance of the County's six staffed Solid Waste Convenience Centers. • Collection of waste from convenience centers, County buildings, and various school sites, and its transport to the landfill. • Recycling in County office buildings. • Enforcement of the County's May 1993 Solid Waste Ordinance and investigation of citizen complaints arising there from. • Public education and assistance on solid waste/recycling/reuse matters. The objective of the study of the organization of the solid waste function would be to inventory the current functions and assess any desirable realignment of functions among Solid Waste and Public Works to best accomplish the County's solid waste objectives. 3. Services to the Elderly As noted in the County's Master Aging Plan, the County's elderly population is increasing at an estimated rate of 132 percent over the next 20 years. Within this population, the oldest- old, those individuals 85 and older, will see the greatest growth rate and require the most intensive services. At present the County's services to the elderly are located..in three County departments: Aging, Social Services and Health. Among these departments, there presently exists overlap and some fragmentation in services such as in Information and Referral (Aging and Social Services), In-Home Aides (Aging and Social Services), Community Alternative Program (CAP) for disabled adults (Aging and Social Services), Adult Day Care (Aging and Social Services, and Health Promotion (Aging and Health). Given the needs and environment, the study would address how the County might best position the organization and services to effectively address the current and significant challenges ahead to serve this population. 4. Transportation The Department on Aging's Transportation Division provides transportation service to the general public and the clients of community service agencies, primarily in the County's rural areas. The Master Aging Plan presented in September recommends that the County investigate the feasibility of dividing the responsibilities for Transportation and the Department on Aging into two separate entities. The stated objective of the Master Aging Plan recommendation is to "...improve the efficiency and effectiveness of Orange County's administration and funding of aging services now and in the future." This ties in with the environmental factor noted in Item 3 above of the increasing County population of alder adults and thei"r service needs. In addition to the transportation service function, the County has transportation planning functions located in the Planning Department and also those that occur in relation to regional planning. If the transportation function is to be separated from Aging, then a related question is whether it should be established as a separate department or aligned in some other way within the County organization. In the Master Aging Plan, the recommendations Hate that the State Department of Transportation consultant will be updating the Transportation Development Plan for FY 2000-04. Perhaps that study could be broadened to examine these organizational questions in conjunction with the County's organizational assessment. 5. Pubiic Information, Communication and E-Government 6 During the Board's December retreat as well as in other recent discussions, Commissioners expressed an interest in assessment of the public information and communications function and needs, including how this function should be best aligned within the organization and whether additional staffing is needed. The Board cited the need for more citizen informational materials such as booklets, review of citizen notices, and need for greater coordination of the efforts, among other things. The Board also has Hated the need far comprehensive electronic calendaring to facilitate meetings and citizen access. Related to the above consideration is the tremendous increase in use of the Internet over recent years and the need for the County to maximize citizen access and use of this resource in moving toward "e-government." This has been a priority interest of the County's Information Technology committee. With the partnership of the Manager, the Clerk to the Board, the Manager's office and Commissioners' office, the public information, communication and e~government initiative could be folded into the organizational assessment and, through the study, provide an inventory of the current functions, evaluation of present operational effectiveness, assessment of the organizational needs and recommendations far the Board's consideration to provide the comprehensive, vigorous public information and communication program desired.