Agenda 10/24/2017 Item #16K 710/24/2017
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the proposed FY 2017 -
2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
OBJECTIVE: Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the
proposed FY 2017-2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
CONSIDERATIONS: The County Attorney reports directly to the Board of County Commissioners. In
order to assure that the County Attorney's work performance is coordinated with the direction of the full
Board, the County Attorney's contract requires that an annual Action Plan is developed by which the
County Attorney will be evaluated throughout the fiscal year.
Attached to this Executive Summary is a proposed Action Plan. The intent of the Action Plan is to
establish objective performance standards in which both the County Attorney and the County Attorney
Office can be evaluated. The Plan also includes specific goals and objectives which I hope to achieve this
year and is consistent with prior years.
FISCAL IMPACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with approval of this Action Plan.
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMPACT: There is no growth management impact associated with this
item.
RECOMMENDATION: The Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the proposed FY
2017-2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
PREPARED BY: Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
ATTACHMENT(S)
1. FY 2017- 2018 Action Plan for BCC (DOCX)
16.K.7
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10/24/2017
COLLIER COUNTY
Board of County Commissioners
Item Number: 16.K.7
Doc ID: 3923
Item Summary: Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves
the proposed FY 2017 - 2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
Meeting Date: 10/24/2017
Prepared by:
Title: Legal Office Administrator – County Attorney's Office
Name: Debbie Allen
10/11/2017 11:00 AM
Submitted by:
Title: County Attorney – County Attorney's Office
Name: Jeffrey A. Klatzkow
10/11/2017 11:00 AM
Approved By:
Review:
County Attorney's Office Jeffrey A. Klatzkow Level 3 County Attorney's Office Review Completed 10/11/2017 2:24 PM
Office of Management and Budget Valerie Fleming Level 3 OMB Gatekeeper Review Completed 10/11/2017 4:48 PM
Budget and Management Office Mark Isackson Additional Reviewer Completed 10/12/2017 10:43 AM
County Manager's Office Nick Casalanguida Level 4 County Manager Review Completed 10/16/2017 8:33 AM
Board of County Commissioners MaryJo Brock Meeting Pending 10/24/2017 9:00 AM
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FY 2017 / 2018 Action Plan
Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
The County Attorney is charged with the responsibility of planning, directing and reviewing the
activities and operations of the Office of the County Attorney. The County Attorney is the legal
advisor and counsel for the Board of County Commissioners, its advisory boards and advisory
committees. The County Attorney also provides legal counsel to and assists the County Manager
and his agencies in order to facilitate the goals and objectives established for the County Manager
by the Board of County Commissioners.
The County Attorney, through the assistant county attorneys and supporting staff, represents the
County in wide-ranging complex litigation relating to implementation of government policies and
capital projects, eminent domain, personal injury, property damage, workplace/personnel matters,
finance and land use. In addition to litigation, he is counsel to the County’s divisions and
departments for their daily operations. In this regard, the County Attorney is responsible for the
review of all policy documents (resolutions), legislation (ordinances and special acts), and the
drafting, legal review and revision of all contracts, real property conveyance documents and other
Board signatory documents.
The County Attorney’s Employment Agreement with the Board of County Commissioners
provides for an annual evaluation of the County Attorney's performance. By custom, this
performance has been measured against performance objectives set forth in that year’s annual
Action Plan, by rating each of the performance objectives on a 1 to 3 scale, with 1 being Below
Standards; 2 being Meets Standards; and 3 being Exceeds Standards. Individual evaluations are
then totaled and averaged to determine the Board's collective position.
The following is the County Attorney’s Action Plan for the 2017-2018 Fiscal Year. The Action
Plan is based on the broad areas generally expected to be performed by the Managing Partner of a
significant law firm, including: legal advice; leadership and organizational direction;
communications; fiscal management; and personnel management.
16.K.7.a
Packet Pg. 1099 Attachment: FY 2017- 2018 Action Plan for BCC (3923 : Proposed FY 2017 - 2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney)
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Goals for Fiscal Year 2017-18:
I will continue to initiate improvements to create a more efficient work environment. This will
include hiring and retaining the best employees, focusing on how to conduct business with better
customer service results, and making internal improvements that result in a more efficient and
effective work product. The County Attorney Office has completed its restructuring to assure that
Requests for Legal Services are completed promptly, and that there will be overlapping areas of
expertise within the Office. To increase our efficiency, this effort will require further
improvements in our planning, assignment of responsibilities, and establishment of accountability
to assure continued enhancement within the Office.
Specific areas that I propose as part of next year’s action plan are:
1. Oral Presentations at Meetings. I will continue to work to assure that both the County
Attorney's and the County Attorney Office's presentations at Board of County Commissioners’
meetings, advisory board meetings, and workshops are clear, concise and effective. All
presenters will be charged with making presentations that avoid legalese and focus on the legal
issue in a simple, understandable and brief manner.
2. Written Legal Advice. Both the County Attorney and the County Attorney Office will provide
professional, objective, unbiased legal advice to the Board of County Commissioners, its
advisory boards and committees, the County Manager and his agencies and employees as
necessary for formulation and implementation of legislative policies and projects. Responses
will avoid legalese and focus on the legal issue in a simple, understandable and brief manner.
3. Processing Requests for Legal Services. This year, this Office’s response time to Requests for
Legal Services (RLS’s) continued to exceed 90% of all RLS’s being processed within 48 hours.
There will always be a number of legal assignments, due to their complex nature, that take
weeks and even months to complete. Accordingly, this Office will continue to achieve a 48-
hour (or less) turnaround time on 90% of all future Requests for Legal Services received from
the Board of County Commissioners and County Manager agencies. A report will be run from
Client Profiles (this Office’s data management system) to determine turnaround time. This
will include preparation and review of documents for legal sufficiency prior to consideration
by the Board of County Commissioners for Board action, including, but not limited to,
agreements, contracts, deeds, leases, bonds, ordinances, resolutions, and other legal documents
requested by County Commissioners, the County Manager, or the staff.
4. Client Satisfaction/Peer Review. Client satisfaction continues to be a major goal of this Office.
In furtherance of this goal, I have instituted a practice in which performance evaluation reports
are sent to the various Division Administrators and Managers each year to assess the
performance of each attorney in the Office. The reports rate the attorneys on a 1 to 3 scale,
with 1 being Below Standards; 2 being Meets Standards; and 3 being Exceeds Standards.
Individual evaluations are then totaled and averaged to determine this Office’s collective score,
with a goal of 75% rating level for exceeding expectations. Client reviews will factor into each
of the Assistant County Attorney’s performance evaluations.
16.K.7.a
Packet Pg. 1100 Attachment: FY 2017- 2018 Action Plan for BCC (3923 : Proposed FY 2017 - 2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney)
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5. Fiscal Management. I will continue to develop and effectively administer an annual budget
for the Office of the County Attorney in conformance with policies adopted by the Board of
County Commissioners, while at the same time continuing to improve the quality of this
Office.
6. Public Records and Sunshine Law. This Office will continue to educate and update County
staff, and advisory board members through periodic workshops/seminars, (e.g. Sunshine Law,
Public Records Act, State and local ethics law). This Office will also conduct seminars with
staff on various topics of interest. Emphasis will be placed this year on creating on-line
materials that can be easily accessed by staff, advisory board members, and the public.
7. Litigation. We will continue to effectively and efficiently manage litigation using primarily
in-house counsel and secondarily through the use of outside counsel as needed. We will keep
the Board abreast of the County’s litigation through quarterly reports for the Board with respect
to current litigation, including potential or anticipated legal issues that may come before the
Board of County Commissioners.
8. Advertising. We will continue to ensure that all Public Hearings and ordinances are properly
advertised.
9. Agenda Items. We will continue to ensure that all Board approved contracts, ordinances, plats
and other documents are properly processed, recorded, and codified with Municode.
10. Advisory Boards. The Board tasked this Office to manage its Advisory Boards. We continue
to advertise new openings and bring appropriate Executive Summaries to the Board.
16.K.7.a
Packet Pg. 1101 Attachment: FY 2017- 2018 Action Plan for BCC (3923 : Proposed FY 2017 - 2018 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney)