City Council agreed last week to hire Novak Consulting Group out of Cincinnati for a $72,500 study of the city's organizational chart and government operations with a goal of improving efficiency and fixing any weaknesses that might be cited in the report.
A request for proposals (RFP) was issued in June and the city received seven responses.
"The Novak Consulting Group has performed this type of analysis for communities all over the United States," according to a staff report. "The engagement director and engagement manager both have direct experience working in local government management prior to going into consulting, including in Virginia. Their team members also have direct experience in specific local government fields such as public works and public safety. City staff believes that the Novak team will offer a knowledgeable and valuable perspective on our operations."
This review is one of City Council's goals and initiatives in the comprehensive plan, which is a guide for growth. City Council was expected to conduct the study last year and allocated $75,000 in the fiscal year 2012 budget, but the governing body never moved forward with the RFP until the Aug. 14 meeting. The funds came from the fiscal year 2013 budget's surplus fund balance.
"The consultant will provide a comprehensive evaluation of the City’s programs and services," according to the staff report. "Generally speaking, the scope includes the departments under City control, but not City Schools, Social Services, or the operations of Constitutional Officers. Existing data and studies will be incorporated into the scope of the review. The consultant may make recommendations for the City to outsource certain functions, add resources, reallocate resources, improve processes, or otherwise improve certain functions."
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this move by coucil really does show people in positions not deserved making more bad decisions. if they hadnt messed up, a need for this 73k company to come here would be non existant.
I don’t think an in house review of the residents (employees) would get us to where we need to go. I would be interested if anyone would take issue with that statement. As with any report it comes down to results and actions. My goal for this report is to foster a public discussion to inform, solicit input and implement the agreed recommendations. We need to do this to focus on where there are needs, and savings; as opposed to the normal hiring creep that goes on. If done correctly the money will have been well spent.
The City currently has career EMS employees working Monday through Friday, 5:30 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. After 6:30 p.m. on weekdays and all Saturday and Sunday, the City's rescue coverage is provided by the Fredericksburg Rescue Squad, a volunteer organization. While the career staff is exclusively made up of personnel capable of providing Advanced Life Support, the volunteer EMS members are more often than not certified in Basic Life Support. If a call comes in after career-staffed hours that requires ALS, such as a heart attack, then a BLS volunteer-staffed ambulance is supplemented by response from the Fire Department, which has firefighters on duty 24/7 who are certified in ALS. If that supplementation from the Fire Department occurs, a fire truck must necessarily be taken out of service because of the minimum staffing requirements of each fire apparatus.
I'm not a proponent of giving local services priority over anyone else in the selection process, but I do think extra effort should be made to make local services aware of these opportunities. Too much money leaves town, we should work harder to get more local proposals in the mix but still let the best proposal win.
At the last meeting the issue of using local firms was brought up by Councilman Howe. There will be discussions on what we can do to encourage the use of local firms and/or to ensure that they are made aware of RFP opportunities. Here is the link to the staff memo on the Organizational Study RFP and resolution for those who want a bit more detail. http://fredericksburgva.gov/agenda/2012/0814/11b.pdf
One quick correction though Stephen: there are professors at UMW who have this sort of expertise. One could easily put together a team of Ph.D. professors with business, management, and state and local government expertise if they wanted to. I don't know how much it would cost - maybe they charge far more for their time than these consulting groups do so it wouldn't be worth it. But the resources are there.
I haven't seen Back to School, but since it featured Rodney Dangerfield I'm assuming it wasn't a documentary. Some practical experience on your part with these people you're showing such disdain for might be beneficial.
One of my favorite quotes is from Otto Von Bismarck who said, “Only fools learn from experience. I prefer to learn from the experiences of other.” Not only have I consulted UMW faculty I try to get input from many other sources as I can. I post on Patch, FredTalk, my Facebook page, and on my blog, to try and getter a better perspective on issues as well as test the validity of my own positions. To paraphrase Tom Paine—Through debate and argument the best solutions come forward.