On August 9, 2005, your Board approved an agreement with Management Partners, Inc. to conduct an organizational review of the County. The review was done for two primary reasons:
(1) About 75% of the County’s department and division/deputy directors are eligible to retire, all with many years of experience. The study was done to look at how the County could be restructured so that it could continue to be successful after top managers retire over the next five years.
(2) It had been over 10 years since the last major organizational review was done, so it was time to look at best practices and major issues facing the county in the future, and make recommendations on how our services can be improved.
The review was completed in March 2006. Management Partners identified 79 recommendations for change and improvement that covered a variety of organization-wide and organization structure issues. On April 4, the Board accepted the report and directed the County Manager to implement the report recommendations.
Organization structure issues addressed in the report were staffing for the Board of Supervisors; County Manager/Clerk of Board Office; Employee and Public Services; Public Works; Environmental Services; Housing; Alcohol, Tobacco and Other Drug Services; Children and Family Services; and Planning and Evaluation functions.
Management Partners came to the basic conclusion that County departments perform well. The collaborative nature of the County organization has worked effectively in service delivery. Given the complexities of county government, however, the span of control for the County Manager is significant. Management Partners identified several improvements to coordination and service delivery that could be made with some structural modifications. The analysis indicated even better performance could be achieved with greater coordination of work units that are dealing with inter-related subjects.
County Manager’s Office Reorganization
Recommendations were made to increase the role of the County Manager’s Office in multi-disciplinary problem solving and coordination among departments. Among the changes was a new role for the Assistant County Manager, focusing on complex, multi-disciplinary policies, and problems that require executive attention and assistance. A larger role for Deputy County Managers was proposed to increase inter-departmental coordination, service integration, and leadership by the County Manager’s Office.
A new Deputy County Manager for Community Services was recommended to coordinate and provide assistance to a number of aligned services and departments, many of which work with other local government agencies. The proposed Community Services group includes Public Safety Communications, a new Office of Economic Development/Real Property (incorporating the Real Property unit of the County Manager’s Office), and the departments of Public Works (incorporating the Capital Projects unit of the County Manager’s Office), Planning and Building, Parks and Recreation, and Housing. Additionally the responsibility for coordinating with the Local Agency Formation Commission and the San Mateo County Library Joint Powers Authority is placed with the Deputy County Manager for Community Services. Management Partners recommended expanding the role of the Deputy County Manager for Intergovernmental and Public Affairs to improve internal and external communications, and to develop and implement key strategic initiatives. The position of Deputy County Manager for Budget and Performance was proposed to be responsible for a new Administrative Services group. The new Administrative Services group would include the Human Resources Department, Budget and Performance (to include California Department of Forestry contract administration), and Internal Services (to include Purchasing, Copy Center, and Mail Center).
Employee and Public Services and Environmental Services
Through the organizational changes recommended in the report, two departments were proposed for elimination: Employee and Public Services Department and the Environmental Services Agency. The remaining functions of those two departments (not incorporated into the Community Services or Administrative Services groups) are proposed to be assigned as follows: Revenue Services to the Tax Collector/Treasurer; Animal Control and Animal Licensing to the Health Department; Agriculture, Weights and Measures to the Health Department (see next section), and; University of California Cooperative Extension to the Health Department. Additionally, the Tobacco services section currently within the Human Services Agency was proposed to be transferred to the Health Department.
With the exception of the changes described above, all other County departments were proposed to remain as currently organized. The timing of any of the proposed organizational changes and reporting relationships would be determined by the County Manager based on individual circumstances involving each affected department.
Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer
At its April 4 meeting, the Board requested further review of the recommendation to transfer the Agricultural Commissioner/Sealer division from Environmental Services to the Health Department’s Environmental Health division. The County Manager’s Office will review and compare the efficacy of the Agriculture division’s inspection and regulatory responsibilities with Environmental Health as well as the need for promotion of agriculture and healthy food choices in the county and develop recommendations for organizational location and transition schedule as part of September Revisions for final budget.
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