July 23, 1996
LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETING
Pittman Room, Casanova Center - 8:30 a.m.

Present: Commissioners Bobby Green, Sr., Steve Cornacchia, Jerry Rust, Ellie Dumdi, Cindy Weeldreyer; Bill Van Vactor, David Suchart, Douglass Harcleroad, David Williams for Teresa Wilson, Sheriff Bob Mc Manus, Rob Rockstroh, Bob Keefer for John Goodson, Bennett Wilson, Chuck Forster, Steve Carmichael, Bill Hoyt and Mike Gleason, Arlene Marshall, Tanya Heaton, Jan Clements, and Frank Nearing. Jerry Pierce, Recording Secretary.

Commissioner Green welcomed the participants.

II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES FROM JANUARY 23, 1996 AND FEBRUARY 14, 1996 LEADERSHIP TEAM MEETINGS.

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Commissioner Green called for approval of minutes of January 23 and February 14, 1996 meetings, as well as discussion of item III., Review/Report Back on Last Leadership Team Meeting. He said there were no new projects and discussed recycled paper, reclassification, the diversity policy which will be revisited August 1, and improving the County’s image with the employment of a public information officer.

Green discussed the CAO training program and orientation for new employees regarding expected, established standards.

Bill Van Vactor said the number of late evaluations had been significantly reduced even though the goal of the management team had not been reached.

Green reviewed the last leadership meeting when the Commissioners had met at Commissioner Dumdi’s house and then met with the leadership team. He said this time the Commissioners decided to meet as a leadership team first, then meet as a Board. He asked for suggestions on how to build a better team; for more opportunities for team building exercises.

Van Vactor requested a discussion regarding a public information officer position for the County. He said when it was originally proposed, it was to be funded through Public Works. There was then a decision made to fund it throughout the County and a subcommittee met to rewrite the proposal and put it in the budget. Van Vactor said that Commissioner Cornacchia had expressed reluctance regarding the salary and Commissioner Weeldreyer had suggested a position that would be half time public information officer and half time volunteer coordinator.

Van Vactor said he was concerned that a public information officer is a full-time job and that coordination of volunteers is also a very significant task and that if those positions were combined, it would be too much for one person.

Commissioner Weeldreyer commented that as the County gets tighter, it’s pushing its employees. She said we were successful with the information desk run by volunteers and she said that there are many talented people out there, and for Lane County to continue, we have to look for sources beyond the traditional. She said someone is needed to do volunteer coordination. She discussed information from Portland and Salem regarding volunteer use there. She said we need to educate the public to our needs, and then we need to be able to put volunteers to use to fill those identified needs.

Harcleroad commented that the District Attorney’s office has been actively using volunteers for years and had learned that you must supervise and you must recruit and that it is a big resource drain.

Commissioner Dumdi said there was a tremendous opportunity to use volunteers in Oakridge and Florence. She said the demands on services are great in those areas and, with training, volunteers could be very useful. She felt a public information officer and a volunteer coordinator should be two separate positions.

Rockstroh said there are huge resources externally. DHR has a system already set up. He also said he had a bias against PR persons telling departments how to talk to public information contacts.

Weeldreyer said a public relations person should also work on internal information such as providing an on-line summary to employees regarding what happened at Board meetings. She said now employees rely on the news media to provide information on one or two subjects.

Weeldreyer said she believed there was consensus that it’s a good idea to have a public information position, either a firm or an individual. She suggested each department get their needs to Van Vactor, outlining how they would use an individual or a firm. She felt some money could be freed up for a half-time volunteer coordinator out of the $150,000 funded for a public information officer.

Forster said his agency has a wealth of volunteers who need a work site.

Cornacchia said the fundamental task of defining the product had not been discussed. He said we need to work on getting a well defined product on what a person or firm is to be doing and that moving forward before doing that would be premature.

Van Vactor said a work plan had been developed by Public Works and a subcommittee of the Sheriff, himself and others had worked on it. He said he believed that not going forward now would be a step back.

A subcommittee consisting of Doug Harcleroad as chair, Bill Van Vactor, Jim Gangle, John Goodson and Bobby Green will meet next week to determine what is already in place within the county, then interview people in this arena, compare costs, define expectations and set out limitations. They will report back by September 15.

Department Directors and Commissioners gave brief summaries of their major 96/97 work plans.

- Bill Van Vactor

Improve appearance around the area, maintenance

Establish the same E-Mail and scheduling for all County employees

Continue to support the indirect study

Continue to support the Juvenile Justice Center

Support A&T’s conversion for the year 2000

Support HRMS conversion for the financial system

- David Suchart

Diversity coordination - survey of employees

Recruitment for diversity and cultural competency study

Training coordinator begins August 1 - all employees to be well trained

Supervisors will be trained

Employee orientation

Financial and personnel system conversions. RFP in early fall. Convert financial systems by year 2000

Facilities improvement program - roof, structures

Working with Federal courthouse on possible rearrangements involving state courts

- Chuck Forster

Continue to provide quality services for the community

Create a policy body that builds on experience, skills and capacity of the Southern Willamette Private Industry Council and Regional Workforce Quality Committee with least disruption to services that are effectively serving the community

Address broad workforce development issues

Provide efficient, cost-effective services so the community benefits from maximized use of resources

Establish the flexibility to create, sponsor and maintain programs that are most responsive to Lane County needs

Create an environment supportive to the successful delivery of services by the Southern Willamette Private Industry Council staff and contractors.

To continue to exceed Job Training Partnership Act performance standards

To promote the integration of services at the Willamette Career Center

To expand the Internet job search service to rural Lane County

To continue to improve the administrative relationship with Lane County government

To implement, along with other workforce partners, a one-stop Career Center System throughout Lane County

To promote staff input in organization decision-making

- Bob Keefer for John Goodson

ENGINEERING

Over 20 contract projects at over $9 million - 15 road and bridge projects next year

ODOT coordination

RFP - road performance audit

Transportation plan

Road fund financial plan

VEGETATION CREW

Self directed work teams

FLEET SERVICES

Becoming competitive in the market place - bringing business to County shops

WASTE MANAGEMENT

Working on leachate problem at Short Mountain

Solid waste plan, working on household hazardous waste facility to be developed

PARKS

Parks 2000 plan - how to stay off general fund

Enhance volunteers and marketing

Have a $1-1/2 to $2 million investment in marinas and are trying to replace facilities which should not be tax supported

Looking at revenue bonds for Orchard Point

State parks looking at problems and efficiencies, maybe some exchanges - also working with Corps of Engineers on possible trades

- Ben Wilson

Looking at funding, staying off the general fund - with the indirect charges, it is now partially back on the general fund

West Lane County service delivery

LCDC periodic review, funded grant to do inventory

Upgrading process system

Property search on line

GIS system, make it available

Lane Code on line

Compliance program has been improving credibility - get closure to some issues

Enforcement - civil violations

Permits - applications are slightly down but the dollar amount is up so the revenue is about the same

- Rob Rockstroh

Stabilize system from a customer service standpoint to the public

Legislation for managed care for mental health - joining with AOC

New opportunities - Child Mental Health

P and P transfer - the big issue is can we do it for the amount of money the state will give us

Subsurface environmental health - land use - sanitarians, septic service delivery

Commission on Children and Families - we need to do a better job

Personal goal of having a more manageable amount of people reporting to me - have more time at work

Working with judges and PSCC on way to get money in system

REGIONAL INFORMATION SERVICES

- Bill Hoyt

Gone through some changes, taken on a lot of work and now experiencing some attrition among employees

Focus on internal management

Centralizing services

Provide better access to Geographic Information System on line

Internet and network security

Dial out access to network

Server disk, back-up, excess storage

Volume purchase agreement to save money

Main frame migration plan

Criminal Justice system

Public-private partnership significant effort

- Doug Harcleroad

District Attorney’s association putting together a state-wide package which cannot be run on 286 machines

Mushrooming case load

If city tax base passes, they will be putting on 35 new people and that will impact our case load

More cases will be coming - nothing will turn that around

File storage is a problem

Enhance the Victim Services program.

Do a better job on domestic violence

The District Attorneys’ legislation is looking at eliminating the defense of mental illness or defect

$100 million is being spent every 2 years on indigent defense

Maintain and hire top flight professionals

Mirror community’s ethnic diversity

Take a proactive approach to crime prevention

Longer term financial stability

- David Williams for Teresa Wilson

Risk Management function is now being handled by Northland during the investigator’s leave of absence

Trina Laidlaw is the 4th attorney in our office and will assume the contract review function and will be working towards simplifying the contract review process

- Steve Carmichael

Dealing with increase in the work load

Juvenile Justice Center - we will be a national model

Primary prevention

Developing opportunity for accountability - teen courts - warning letters

Need a community based system

Grant - New Opportunities - substance abuse grant

Working with PSCC to develop plan for adults and juveniles

Getting new computers

Developing data on juvenile offenders

Using 60 - 80 volunteers for a very extensive system; hired a volunteer coordinator

Commission on Children and Families - need to work better with them

- Bennett Wilson

Put together vision, mission and goals

How to keep current

Training

E-Mail/Schedule Plus - get everyone on line

Internet i.e., information on BCC mtgs. etc., available to staff

External - home page - provide citizens a look at County

Upgrade HRMS and financial systems

- Sheriff Bob McManus

PSCC is working on issues

SB 1145 construction project at jail

Anticipated personnel changes

Always projects - County Fair, concerts, etc. - resources down

- Jan Clements

Transition is active

Met with Clague often and will continue to meet with Lieutenants

A formal transition team will be developed in September

Scheduled for training classes

Will have 18 month focus period to move forward

Looking at adequate funding

- Mike Gleason

Has been with the County for 6 months

Takes seriously the need to present positive face to County

One of the better facilities in the Northwest

Working with CVALCO, some use of room tax for repair and maintenance

50-60 events per month including sports and the ice program

Indoor soccer, indoor basketball and indoor baseball all will be coming

Major celebration place: Fair, Asian Festival, 4th July etc.

Can park 3000 plus cars - new access into the facility by this year

Developing a major Christmas celebration

Maintain not being on the general fund

Major commercial venue, exposition - trade shows- conventions

Commissioner Green said that out of this process, and others, he would like to have established goals posted throughout Lane County for every one to see and then to be able to measure performances.

Commissioner Weeldreyer said she would work toward bringing the public information position and a volunteer coordinator on line. Said she’d like to see resolution to some long standing issues such as Horse Creek and the Highway 58 safety project.

Commissioner Dumdi said she wanted to work on developing a special service district specifically for law enforcement. She said she’d also like to see resolution of the Clear Lake Watershed issue.

Commissioner Rust said he was working on development of a new County logo and he’d like to resolve wastewater, Hyundai issues, stop the O&C transfer and work on room tax issues.

Commissioner Cornacchia said he would like to get a true product out of the PSCC, and has concerns about commitments from the biggest partner. He’ll work on coordination and consolidation of Commission on Children and Families, and seeing it integrate with HHS, YS and become financially legitimate. He said he will also work on removing the Department of Revenue’s boot off the neck of counties.

Commissioner Green talked about financial stability and how that meshed with what PSCC is doing. He talked about his concerns regarding divided interests in the PSCC.

He provided a document (in file) showing that financial stability has been a number one priority for Lane County for many years. He suggested there needs to be a commitment to a process and said he was looking for ideas on developing a strategic planning team. He said the tax base needs to be increased and an education process developed. He said a strategic planning team needs to be in place to gather information and produce recommendations to this team and said that then decisions can be made as a team. He asked if not us, who? If not now, when? If not tax base, what?

Commissioner Cornacchia agreed that financial stability has always been a goal of Lane County but did not accept that the inability to achieve those goals was due to lack of planning or commitment.

Commissioner Rust said he thought the team approach was good and that not all the eggs should be put in the property tax basket. He said cost avoidance needs to be looked at, i.e., in Assessment and Taxation, getting as many units off general fund as we can and looking at other revenue sources.

Commissioner Dumdi said we need to go out to the public, perhaps with a questionnaire in the newspaper, hold community forums and hearings and be pro-active.

Commissioner Green said the PSCC needs to resolve the public safety system around consolidation. He talked about Charlotte, South Carolina where the city and county had consolidated their public safety services and it was working well. He said he would be sharing that information later.

Commissioner Weeldreyer said a lot of our work and planning is done. The needs of the County are known. She said people still don’t know what Lane County does and that we need to look for new ways to get that information out. She said the information part is the key to looking at a tax base.

Harcleroad said in May of 1998 we are looking to cut $10 million and he sees the five commissioners, along with Public Safety, the District Attorney and the Assessor, as having the responsibility to come up with a plan that would be a one-time deal with everybody on board, including cities. He said we also need to think about the Washington County Plan, saying we can’t be everything to everybody, i.e., the County is not in the parks business unless the parks pay for themselves.

Commissioner Green said there needs to be a collective team effort with the stakeholders identified and an analysis done of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats.

Gleason said we need a tactical team meeting bi-monthly and that in order to win any election, we need to win 65% of South Eugene. He thought the County could get the City Council to hold off until March and put out a new package.

A lunch recess was taken at 12:38 p.m.

Green said he would like a commitment to developing a strategic planning team and a commitment to trust that strategic planning team. He acknowledged there were already some givens and asked to hear more ideas.

Van Vactor said we needed to identify the "it". A revenue measure in 1998? Prepare for a vote in 1998? A long term measure that grows as the County grows? Rural areas and law enforcement districts? He said we need to start nailing down goals.

Cornacchia said there is real value in brainstorming, for example, a real estate transfer tax to fund A&T.

Keefer suggested a "what if" process, looking at everything, cost avoidance, marketing things better, and deciding what we want.

Gleason said the County needs to look at 1997 because the City will go out before 1998. Said we need to choose a course of action.

Green said he was committed to getting a team of stakeholders together.

Weeldreyer said her push was for public information and coordinating volunteers because we need an outreach effort to define what Lane County is.

A team was developed, consisting of Commissioner Green, Chair; Bill Van Vactor; Doug Harcleroad; Mike Gleason; Commissioner Dumdi; Rob Rockstroh and Bob Keefer. They will report back in September.

A subcommittee will look at the County Values and Guiding Principles and bring back a recommendation to the management team.

A volunteer is needed to run the charitable giving campaign. Respond to Van Vactor as soon as possible.

Commissioner Rust talked about the Washington County Plan and thanked everyone who had sent him copies of their plans. He asked that anyone else who had any long-term plans of any kind in effect in their departments, please share them with him and the Policies and Procedures committee will collate them.

Next meeting scheduled for October 1, 1996, 8:30 a.m., location to be announced.

There being no further business, this meeting adjourned at 1:05 p.m.

 Jerry Pierce, Recording Secretary

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