Productivity Committee Minutes 04/21/1999 County Government
Productivity Committee
Meeting Minutes
April 21, 1999, 4:00 P.M.
Members Present: Commissioner Carter, Karl Otto, John Stockton, Charles Getler,
Judith McCaffrey, Janet Vasey, Wolfgang Schulz, Bob Cahners, Ed Ferguson, Sharon
Hanlon and Donald Campbell
Members Absent: Bill Neal and Bill Ebben
Staff: Gary Vincent, Bob Fernandez
Introduction: Karl Otto opened the April 21, 1999 meeting of the County Government
Productivity Committee (PC) at 4:00 P.M. and welcomed Sharon Hanlon to the
committee.
New Business
Approval of February 17 and March 17, 1999 minutes: Unanimously approved.
Other New Business: Bob Fernandez reported that the County's annual audit had been
completed and that the County received an unqualified audit opinion. He stated that his
goal is to have no management practices comments in the annual audit. He stated that the
only area of concern was the efficiency of the Department of Revenue (DOR). The
problems seem to be the cyclical nature of EMS revenue, billing software issues, and the
fact that DOR eliminates EMS's contact with their customers. He told the Productivity
Committee (PC)that he was bringing in a consultant to review DOR and that he wanted
to inform them of that ahead of time because the PC had reviewed DOR last year and had
found no problems. He also stated that the scope of the current project was different than
the scope of the PC's review. The members of the PC stated that they could do the
evaluation and save the cost of the consultant. Mr. Fernandez stated that he would use
the consultant and ask the PC to review the findings. Sharon Hanlon stated that she has
been involved with EMS billing issues for some time and that the timeliness of billings
has been a recurring problem. Janet Vasey stated that she thought DOR had received an
additional fiscal clerk to assist with EMS billing in the current year's budget. She said
she would confirm that.
Mr. Fernandez stated that he was proceeding with the 1 cent sales tax. He also said that
he had gone to the editorial board concerning their reporting of the issue. He said that the
paper had admitted erroneous reporting and apologized. The PC again offered their
assistance in presenting the proposal to the public.
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Commissioner Carter stated that he was concerned about the county sewer systems'
ability to handle a major hurricane and suggested that the PC evaluate the issue. The PC
agreed to look into it.
Old Business
Ed Ferguson presented the final report on the Domestic Animal Services project and the
PC approved it for presentation to the BCC. Because there were no recommended
actions, the PC asked that, rather than make a formal presentation to the BCC, the report
be provided to the commissioners individually for their information.
Karl Otto reported that he had made a preliminary inquiry into the PWED review and that
he should be able to complete the project by himself.
Wolfgang Schulz asked to be relieved from the Equipment Maintenance & Storage, and
Loss Prevention subcommittees due to other commitments over the next few months.
Donald Campbell was assigned to the Equipment Maintenance & Storage subcommittee
and Ed Ferguson and Sharon Hanlon were assigned to the Loss Prevention subcommittee
which will commence work on their project this summer.
Janet Vasey reported that their subcommittee would have a final report in time for the
BCC budget workshops in June. She stated that they had reviewed the rationale and
methodology for allocating costs to Fund 111. They are considering recommendations to
allocate some Fund 111 cost to the Community Development fund(113). They also
found that over a half million dollars could be cut from the reserve for impact fee waivers
account, which would be a one time savings for the tax payers. They are considering
whether the tax support of the Golden Gate Community Center should be from Fund 111
rather than the General Fund. They are also considering whether the Immokalee Airport
should be subsidized from Fund 111 rather than the General Fund.
Charles Getler reported that he would be meeting with Steve Carnell the following week
to continue the follow-up on the Purchasing Study.
Comments/Suggestions: The meeting adjourned at 5:45 P.M.
Copies of all outlines and reports provided by members and subcommittees of the
Productivity Committee are maintained in the main project files in the Office of
Management and Budget.
The next meeting will be Wednesday,May 19th, at 4:00 P.M. in the County
Administrator's Conference Room.
cc: Commissioner Barbara Berry Robert F. Fernandez, County Administrator
Commissioner Pamela Mac'Kie Mike Smykowski, Budget Director
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Commissioner John Norris
Commissioner Timothy Constantine
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