Agenda 09/29/2009 Item #12B
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Agenda Item No. 128
September 29, 2009
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EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the
proposed FY 2009-2010 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
OBJECTIVE: That the Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the proposed
FY 2009-2010 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
CONSIDERA TIONS: 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 an annual Action
Plan by which the County Attorney will be evaluated throughout the fiscal year. Specifically,
the Agreement provides as follows: -
"Employer and Employee shall negotiate in good faith to establish, within one
hundred and twenty (120) days after execution of the County Attorney
Employment Agreement, a performance based merit system through which
Employet~ shall be eligible for a merit adjustment upon the successful completion
of measurable goals and objects to be completed or attained by the Employee
during the 2009 fiscal year and each fiscal year thereafter during the term of this
Agreement. "
Attached to this Executive Summary is a proposed Action Plan. The intent of the Action Plan is
to establish objective performance standards by which both the County Attorney and the County
Attorney Office can be evaluated. The Plan includes recurring goals and objectives, as well as
special projects which I hope to achieve this year.
FISCAL IMP ACT: There is no fiscal impact associated with approval of this Action Plan.
GROWTH MANAGEMENT IMP ACT: There is no growth management impact associated
with this item.
RECOMMENDA TION: The Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the
proposed FY 2009-2010 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
Prepared by: Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney
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Agenda Item No. 12B
September 29, 2009
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COLLIER COUNTY
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
Item Number: 12B
Item Summary: Recommendation that the Board of County Commissioners reviews and approves the
proposed FY 2009-2010 Action Plan for Jeffrey A. Klatzkow, County Attorney.
Meeting Date: . 9/29/2009 9:00:00 AM
Prepared By
Jeff Klatzkow County Attorney Date
County Attorney County Attorney Office 8/19/20093:00:03 PM
Approved By
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Jeff Klatzkow County Attorney Date
County Attorney County Attorney Office 9/22/20093:22 PM
Approved By
OMB Coordinator OMB Coordinator Date
County Manager's Office Office of Management & Budget 9f22f2009 3:42 PM
Approved By
John A. Yonkosky Director of the Office of Management Date
County Manager's Office Office of Management & Budget 9/22f2009 3:53 PM
Approved By
Leo E. Ochs, Jr. Deputy County Manager Date
Board of County
Commissioners County Manager's Office 9f22/2009 6: 16 PM
file://C:\Agendatest\export\I 35-September 29,2009\12. COUNTY ATTORNEY REPORT\... 9/23/2009
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Agenda Item No, 128
September 29, 2009
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FY 2009 / 2010 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, represent the
County in wide-ranging complex litigation relating to implementation of government policies
and capit!).l 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 Action Plan illustrates and reviews Board expectations for the County Attorney
for the 2009-2010 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.
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Agenda Item No. 128
September 29, 2009
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Goals for Fiscal Year 2009-10:
I have and will continue to initiate changes 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 changes that result in a more efficient and
effective work product. With the closing of our Horseshoe Office and permanent reduction in
staff through voluntary attrition, 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 agency.
Specific areas that I propose as part of next year's action plan are:
Continuing Goals -
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. Last year, utilizing our electronic records system,
we determined that for the period April through June 2007, the average turnaround for an
RLS (Request for Legal Services) was 11 days, with 3% of all RLS's being processed in 48
hours or less. Smaller samples taken from prior years showed that an II-day turnaround has
been a longstanding practice with the Office. I found this to be unacceptable. After a
challenging few months, we were able to increase this Office's response time to consistently
achieve an 80% completion rate on processing RLS's within 48 hours of receipt. As always,
a number of legal assignments, due to their complex nature, take weeks and even months to
complete. Accordingly, on a going forward basis, this Office will achieve an ongoing 48-
hour (or less) turnaround time on 80% 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.
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Agenda Item No. 128
September 29, 2009
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4. Client Satisfaction! Peer Review. Client satisfaction is 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. Attorneys who
consistently deliver outstanding performance will be rewarded, and those Attorneys who
cannot achieve satisfactory reviews by their clients despite multiple reassignments will
eventually leave the Office. Client reviews will also factor into each of the Assistant County
Attorney's performance evaluations. In short, the County Attorney will ensure that Assistant
County Attorneys and support staff are motivated to work to their full potential, that
excellent performance will be recognized and rewarded, and that poor performance will not
be tolerated.
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 improving the quality of this Office. During
the Fiscal Year prior to my becoming County Attorney (2008), this Office's budget for
Personal Services was $3,173,600, with 13 Attorneys and 18 Support Staff. Next year's
proposed budget for Personal Services seeks $2,575,300, with 10 Attorneys and 15 Support
Staff. This represents an almost 19% reduction in personnel costs, and was accomplished
with no loss in service through voluntary attrition and by closing our offices at CDES to
consolidate this Office's operations. The proposed budget contains permanent cuts of 8
positions, with I budgeted but unfilled Attorney position. This position will likely need to be
filled when normal activity resumes in permitting and land use. It is my intent to continue to
permanently reduce this Office's Support Staff through normal attrition until I reach a ratio
of approximately 1 Support Staff person per Attorney, which my research has found is
typical throughout County Attorney Offices in this State.
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.
7. Litigation. We will continue to prepare and distribute concise 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.
Projects for this Fiscal Year
1. Records Management. The County Attorney Office currently has several hundred boxes of
documents in storage. It is the goal of the Office to work with the County's Records
Management Liason Officer to either destroy old materials pursuant to the Records
Management Retention Schedule set forth by the State of Florida or scan the documents into
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Agenda Item No. 128
September 29, 2009
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our document management program. This will eliminate all off-site storage, resulting in
savings to the County of approximately $10,000 per year.
2. Update Municode. Based upon private concerns, this summer we had a volunteer check
Municipal Code Corporation's (Municode) Code of Laws and Ordinances against the actual
ordinances adopted by the Board. It quickly became evident that there were numerous errors
and omissions between the Board's actual ordinances and the published ordinances in
Municode, including the omission of entire ordinances. Apparently, no one in the County
has been proofmg the published Municode Code of Laws and Ordinances. This Office is
presently working with Municode and is in the slow process of correcting these errors and
omissions. I intend to have this process completed by the second quarter of the fiscal year.
On a going forward basis, this Office now proofreads all Ordinances passed by the Board,
including those related to the Land Development Code, as they are published by Municode,
to ensure their accuracy.
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3. Create an Internship Program with Ave Maria School of Law. We are in the process of
creating an Internship Program which will enable any second or third year law student from
Ave Maria School of Law interested in local government law to intern with this Office at no
cost to the County. Working under the supervision of an attorney, the intern would work
approximately 8 hours per week for a 12-week period, rotating through such areas as Code
Enforcement, Litigation, Land Use and general Board of County Commissioner issues.
Based on my conversations with other County Attorneys who have such programs, properly
managed, law student interns increase the productivity of a County Attorney's Office at no
cost. Another benefit is that over time this program will create a recruiting pool of potential
assistant county attorneys for this Office.
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