Productivity Committee Minutes 03/20/1996 County Government
Productivity Committee
Meeting Minutes
March 20, 1996, 12:00 P.M.
Members Present Absent
Jack McKenna x
James Cavanagh x
Dave Craig x
Edward Ferguson x
John Hickey x
Bill Neal x
Karl Otto x
John Stockton x
Past Member
Victor Tatak x
Member Applicant
Marc Gertner x
Staff
Sheila Leith x
C.C.: Timothy Hancock
Introduction:
-Jack McKenna welcomed new member candidate Marc Gertner
-our other new member candidate is Mgen. Bernard Weiss who was unable to attend
today
-Jack thanked Vic Tatak who has just completed his term on the Committee for his
tremendous contribution
-everyone is sorry to see Vic leave as he has been a great asset to the Committee
-Vic thanked the Committee, he enjoyed working with everyone and would be pleased to
contribute in future, as opportunities arise
-Marc Gertner provided the group with a brief summary of his background and
experience
-Mr. Gertner is an attorney and previously served on the productivity for 5years
-he feels that this is a great community and wants to make a contribution
-the Committee is very pleased to have Mr. Gertner back
-Jack McKenna then reviewed the purpose of today's meeting
-today will be a `round table' discussion of the Committee's workload for the coming
year
Sub-committee Reports:
a. Budget Systems and Procedure-
-in the process of looking at the list of areas of study from their January 23,1996 Report
-asked that the Human Resources Sub-committee review incentive plans as this is
probably a better fit with their workload
b. Human Resources-
-prior Committee's recommendations on sick pay and vacation pay presently being
implemented
-many of the recommendations in the report of January 30, 1996 will likely be
implemented as the new personnel system is developed
-Committee can assist with the review of new software capabilities
-Committee is also interested in assisting the Human Resources Department in
developing measurements to manage the process
-leadership for a pay for performance/merit pay system needs to come from the County
Manager
-Sub-Committee has some concerns with the performance evaluation forms that are
presently in use
-suggest that the County compare their's with the Constitutional Officer's evaluation
forms
-Committee would like to see a member with expertise in software join the Human
Resources Sub-committee
-two areas in which Human Resources Sub-committee believes that they could assist:
1. -defining needs for software purchase
2. -training and education, career planning
Future Areas of Study:
-Committee needs to come up with a menu of new areas of study
-might be beneficial to meet with the County Manager and get his input
-the purpose of the Committee is to assist County government
-the new areas of study proposed were:
1. Climate Survey- a survey of employee attitudes in a number of areas including
diversity, prejudice, gender discrimination; timing would be good for an employee
survey as wage issues shouldn't be a factor now that the pay plan is in place
2. Purchasing-a total system review including inventory (just in time), buy in bulk,
standardization, national accounts
3. Reorganization- are the new organizational changes working? (may be too soon to
evaluate)
4. Government Grants-do we need a centralized function?
5. Impact Fees-review
6. Utility Fees-are they adequate to provide the infrastructure?
7. Focus Group- see what concerns come out of their meetings that would be relevant
to the Committee's mandate
8. Fiscal Policy-funding of capital projects
9. Life Cycle Costing
10. Fees for Service
-Committee entered into a discussion on the effects of the office modernization program
on productivity
-it was decided that that the Committee would invite the County's Information
Technology Director, Bill Coakley to the April meeting to give his Vision 2000
presentation
-Sheila Leith will invite Bill
Meeting adjourned 2:15 P.M.
Next meeting April 17, 1996, 12:00 P.M.
County Managers Boardroom, 2nd Floor, Administration Building