Productivity Committee Minutes 06/18/2008 COLLIER COUNTY GOVERNMENT
PRODUCTIVITY COMMITTEE
Minutes — June 18, 2008, 2 p.m.
Members Present: Larry Baytos, John Barlow, Syd Blum, Brad Boaz, Gina Downs,
Doug Fee, Jim Gibson, Steve Harrison, Janet Vasey and Jim VanFleet.
Members Absent: Michele Harrison, Joe Swaja.
BCC Liaison: Commissioner Fiala was in attendance.
Staff Present: Crystal Kinzel, Clerk's Finance; Carol Golightly, Sheriff's Office; Marla
Ramsey, Administrator Public Services; Kim Grant, Senior Operations and Management
Consultant; Steve Carvell, Purchasing; Amy Lyberg, Human resources; Jeff Page,
EMS; Barry Axelrod, IT; Leo Ochs, Deputy County Manager; Renee Finsterwalder and
Glama Carter from Transportation; Michael Sheffield, Assistant to the County Manager;
Barbetta Hutchinson, Office of Management and Budget.
Others Present: Ilene Stackel, Naples Daily News; Cape Coral Personnel: Carl
Schwing, Assistant City Manager, Terry Stewart, City Manager, Wanda Root; Dustin
Tidwell, Marco Office Supply; Mark Smith, Workplace Resource; Joe Gammons, Office
Furniture and Design Concepts; Phil Penzo, Marco Office Supply.
Larry Baytos called the meeting to order at 2:00 p.m.
Approval of the May 21, 2008 Productivity Committee Meeting minutes. Doug Fee
motioned, Jim VanFleet seconded and the group voted unanimously to approve the
minutes of the meeting of May 21.
Acceptance of the April 18, 2008 EMS Master Plan Review Subcommittee meeting
minutes. The group deferred the minutes to the next meeting.
Acceptance of the May 2, 2008 EMS Master Plan Review Subcommittee minutes. Syd
Blum motioned, Jim Gibson seconded and the group unanimously voted to approve the
minutes of the subcommittee.
Lean Government Initiatives. A presentation was given by the Cape Coral Officials in
regards to finding ways to pursue waste elimination, reduce cycle time, free up
resources and reduce the non-value added steps to processes. They presented
"Kaizen" - a method of creating a lean culture. This process includes the formation of
teams from within the selected department to review the process, determine steps that
are not necessary and ways to better utilize personnel. The most important factor of
this process is in getting the buy-in of the workers, including all unions. The entire
process is comprehensively completed within four days from start to finish. A question
and answer session was held at the end of the presentation. The City Manager said
that head count has changed, but personnel have moved into retiring positions and
vacancies. He also said that communities need efficiencies in place now before the
growth begins again.
Recommendation on EMS Units. Janet reviewed her report, noting good response time
when all units are counted. Janet motioned to approve sending the recommendations
from EMSAC to the BCC. Jim VanFleet seconded and the group voted unanimously to
do so.
Furniture Purchasing. Larry stated that this committee had a fact finding commission
and that all parties would have an opportunity to state their positions.
Mr. Tidwell, from Marco Office Supply asked for a year's worth of furniture invoices by
public petition. He reviewed his findings.
New Business
Request of the Board of County Commissioners that the Productivity Committee
conduct a review of the cost effectiveness and efficiencies in the County's Office
Furniture Procurement.
Larry stated that the committee had reviewed a great deal of fact-finding material, and
that all parties, including public speakers, would have the opportunity to state their
positions, starting with Dustin Tidwell representing Marco Office Supply.
Dustin Tidwell, representing Marco Office Supply started the discussion with a full
presentation of his findings upon review of a year's worth of invoices from the purchase
of office furniture. During his presentation, Mr. Tidwell stated the key points of his
position from the material that he had previously supplied to each Productivity
Committee member. Upon completion of Mr. Tidwell's presentation, Steve Carnell was
given an opportunity to state his position regarding Mr. Tidwell's claims. Mr. Carvell told
the group about his compliance to state contracts and the standardization of office
design in all county buildings by using Steelcase and Herman Miller furniture. Two
public speakers submitted slips to speak on this item. The first public speaker was
Mark Smith, the representative of Workplace Resource, who stated that installation and
delivery of all furniture is based upon state contract guidelines. The second public
speaker was Joe Gammons of Office Furniture and Design Concepts, who stated that
he considers their organization and Collier County partners —working together to save
tax payers money. The Committee determined the following items after much
discussion and presentations:
• No misbehavior or wastefulness. The Purchasing Dept followed the policy that is
in place. Nothing was done other than standard procedure. There has been no
grievous error and this is not a case of wrongdoing. Not something for the
Productivity Committee to get deeply involved in because we're not a body to
make purchasing decisions.
• The Productivity Committee did not feel that a subcommittee was needed to
study this topic further.
• It was determined that a licensed interior designer must be used to design office
groupings.
• Although, the committee is sympathetic to Mr. Tidwell's desire for this to be a
competitively bid county process, nothing has been done wrong. This is a
vendor protest which is common.
• Seems that Mr. Tidwell should make the case that his product deserves to be
looked at by the state, and become a state bidder.
• The county should conduct a formal review of the policy every few years. A
review really has not been conducted since the 1980's.
• Given the magnitude of the dollars, the County should perform a review every
few years and consider such questions as, are the policies appropriate for the
future? Should other approaches such as "hoteling" be used?
• Good issues have been brought-up. There are a number of facets that do need
attention. Perhaps the County Manager should put together a committee with
representatives from the budget office, clerk/finance, purchasing department, two
user agencies (one from the county and one from the constitutional offices).
• Perhaps the policy should be reviewed in a public process.
• Troubled that we're giving the contracts to one of two companies rather than
looking at several companies. If one company went out of business, we'd only
have one to look at. More competition is better.
• Unanimous- Found no misbehavior. The Chairman was authorized to write the
letter to the BCC with some suggestions.
Syd Blum motioned that Larry Baytos write a letter stating no wrong doing and offering
some suggestions for reviewing the bid process. Jim VanFleet seconded and the group
unanimously approved.
Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned at 5:07 p.m.
Next Meeting: The next regular meeting of the Productivity Committee Meeting will be
held at 2:00 p.m. on Wednesday, August 20, 2008. This meeting will be held in the
County Manager's Conference Room on the 2nd floor of the W. Harmon Turner Building
(Administration Building F).
Approved by Productivity Chair, Larry Baytos