Mayor Alvin Brown is considering a reorganization of City government that would save at least $2 million a year by 2013-14 and result in at least six direct reports, including a chief economic development officer whose duties would include overseeing a Downtown Development Authority.
Brown’s team envisions a time line for City Council to take final action Dec. 13.
The information was made available Friday by the administration following a public records request by the Daily Record.
Chief of Staff Chris Hand stressed this morning that the process has not been completed. He said the proposed reform of City government was “still a work in progress and the administration continues to seek ideas and input.”
Upon initial review, the information did not indicate a specific number of potential positions to be cut in addition to those already eliminated or the 225 positions Brown announced would be cut when he presented his City budget in July. Neither did it immediately state a specific number of potential new hires.
The records include emails and correspondence that include top mayoral appointees and the Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services LLC firm of Washington, D.C.
Alvarez & Marsal and The Robert Bobb Group, also of Washington, D.C., were engaged to conduct a “Government Planning and Executive Assessment for the City of Jacksonville” during the two weeks of Aug. 17-31.
Alvarez & Marsal and The Robert Bobb Group sent a letter dated Aug. 12 to Jacksonville Civic Council Executive Director Don Shea.
That letter outlined an estimated cost of $42,100, consisting of a $25,000 administrative fee and an estimated $17,100 in expenses, including $10,100 in airfare, $3,500 for hotel charges at the Hyatt Downtown at a room rate of $105 a night, $2,500 for meals and $1,000 for ground transportation.
It was signed by Alvarez & Marsal Managing Director Bill Roberti.
Roberti also sent a seven-page agreement dated Aug. 12 to City Chief Administrative Officer Kevin Hyde that “confirms and sets forth the terms and conditions of the engagement between Alvarez & Marsal Public Sector Services LLC and its affiliates and the City of Jacksonville,” including the scope of services and the basis of compensation for those services.
The agreement document sent to Hyde states that the total cost of services is $25,000, that the City shall pay the total cost of services at the end of the two-week period and that Alvarez & Marsal will be reimbursed for its “reasonable out-of-pocket expenses.”
The Florida Times-Union reported in August that the Civic Council would pay the tab. Hand said this morning he believed the Civic Council paid the fee and was checking to confirm that.
On Sept. 8, Alvarez & Marsal emailed a draft report presented to the City with its recommendations, including in the areas of consolidated services, information technology, benefits and facilities.
An email was sent by Kevin Clinton of the firm to City Deputy Chief Administrative Officer Karen Bowling.
The draft report, called the “City of Jacksonville Rapid Budget and Organizational Assessment” for 2012 shows on its cover page that it was presented by The Robert Bobb Group LLC and Alvarez & Marsal.
Both the City and the consultants show in their reorganization documents that Brown reports to the citizens of Jacksonville.
City reorganization proposal
The mayor’s office also included in the public records its own “City of Jacksonville Proposed Reorganization” document.
It states that its methodology was guided by the “Mayor’s policy priorities” and “reviewed” four areas of information: The transition report by former Mayor John Peyton’s administration, Brown administration reports, the Marsal & Alvarez report and “our personal departmental interviews and recommendation.”
According to the proposed reorganization document, it was prepared by Hyde, Bowling, Acting Director of Human Resources Jarik Conrad, former Florida Power & Light executive Jim Poppell, human resources executive Jim Johns, JAX USA Partnership President Jerry Mallot and Shea.
Hyde, Poppell, Johns, Mallot and Shea are listed as loaned executives, indicating they are volunteering their services.
The reorganization time line shows the proposal could be filed with City Legislative Services Nov. 2, be introduced to City Council Nov. 8, be up for its first reading Nov. 14, second reading and committee review Nov. 21, third reading and committee action Dec. 5, and full Council action Dec. 13.
The City proposed reorganization shows that the Chief of Staff; Chief Administrative Officer; Chief Economic Development Officer; Chief Financial Officer; Military, Veterans and Disabled Services; and the Education Commissioner would report directly to Brown.
In more detail:
• The Chief of Staff, a position held by Hand, would be assisted by a Deputy Chief of Staff, now Michelle Barth. Reporting to the chief of staff would be an executive staff, advisory boards and commissions, public affairs and intergovernment affairs.
• Reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer, a position held by Hyde, would be the Deputy CAO, now Bowling, and reporting through the deputy to the CAO would be Citizen Services, Employee Services and Intragovernment Services.
Citizen Services would include Neighborhoods, Public Works, Recreation and Parks, Fire and Rescue, Special Services and JPL, which is how the Jacksonville Public Library is known.
Employee Services would include human resources, the Administrative Services Division and risk management.
Intragovernment Services would include Information Technology, Procurement and Fleet Management.
• The Chief Economic Development Officer, which would be a new position, would work with the City administration, Finance and Compliance office and work closely with the private JAX USA Partnership.
Reporting to the Chief Economic Development Officer would be the Office of Economic Development; Planning and Zoning; the Downtown Development Authority; Public, Private Partnerships; and Sports and Entertainment.
The Office of Economic Development would include Small Business, the Enterprise Zone and Community Redevelopment Agency, Cecil Commerce Center and Incentives Negotiation.
The DDA would include a board. Reporting to the DDA would be Development and Redevelopment as well as Parking. The DDA would also work with Downtown Vision Inc. and Visit Jacksonville, which operate separately from City Hall.
Sports and Entertainment would include Sports, Events, SMG and Film & Television.
In addition to the organizational charts and the time line, the proposed reorganization outlines action steps that include:
• Organize recommendations and prepare for decisions.
• Fill positions when candidates are identified.
• Task each department and division to submit operational review by Jan. 31.
• Each department would then submit suggested cost reductions of 15 percent through right-sizing, innovation, contract negotiation and privatization.
• The suggested savings would be incorporated into the fiscal 2012-13 budget.
• Specific measurements of governmental effectiveness would be prepared to begin a Jan. 1 measurement and benchmark.
Another time line shows that screening for potential candidates for second- and third-level positions and salary decisions for second- and third-level appointees would take place by late November.
According to the plan, the goals of reorganization are to better align City government with the interest of its stakeholders; direct attention and resources to the mayor’s top priorities; position City government for the “new” economic reality in fiscal 2012-13 and beyond; clarify roles and primary responsibilities; and simply to improve effectiveness and efficiency.
The stakeholders are listed as citizens, Council, City employees, constitutional officers, the business community, regional partner,; national development targets, the interfaith community, the academic community, nonprofits and an area called “transition.”
Brown’s policy priorities are listed as economic development, education, public safety, pension reform and quality of life. Listed as economic development priorities are jobs, business growth, Downtown development, the port, the military and small business.
“Simplify” includes two statements about organizational charts. The first is that the charts should be helpful in focusing the organization’s attention on the major outcomes it is trying to achieve or deliver. The second is that the charts should be visually appealing and provide easy directions to find what is needed. “You should be able to find what you need within 10 seconds of looking at the chart.”
Bobb/Alvarez & Marsal assessment
Separately, the Bobb/Alvarez & Marsal two-week assessment reviewed the budget, the current and recommended organizational structures, a dozen departments and more.
Its recommended organizational structure listed direct reports to Brown: The Chief Financial Officer (Ronnie Belton), the Chief Administrative Officer (Hyde), the General Counsel and Economic Development. Chief of Staff (Hand) also was directly connected.
A permanent general counsel has not been appointed. Former General Counsel Cindy Laquidara left at the end of the fiscal year Sept. 30.
Here are a few of the many recommendations of the assessment’s department breakdowns:
Jacksonville Sheriff’s Office. The City should consolidate the JSO and Fire dispatch operations to improve public safety by improving response times; the JSO should continue to manage its own IT applications that support crime data analysis and operational improvement initiatives; the City should implement a desk audit of JSO employees to identify a 10 percent reduction in personnel costs; a targeted savings of $18 million in fiscal 2012-13 could be realized through a combination of managed competition, negotiated salary reductions or personnel cuts.
Public Works. The City should study owned and leased space; the City should implement a desk audit of Public Works employees to identify a 10 percent reduction in personnel costs; a targeted savings of $2.8 million in fiscal 2012-13 could be realized through a combination of managed competition, negotiated salary reductions or personnel cuts.
Central Operations. Full implementation of the 2007 Administrative Services centralization would eliminate redundancies of 15-30 full-time equivalent positions and save $77,500-$1.5 million in fiscal 2012-13; benefits should be reviewed; negotiations should begin immediately for labor contracts that are scheduled to expire at the end of fiscal 2011-12; opportunities to reduce change orders, streamline the procurement process and recover cost overruns could save $5.6 million; the City should ensure that a mayoral designee approves all grant applications; the City should establish limits on the number of miles that employees are permitted to take home their assigned fleet vehicles.
Jacksonville Fire and Rescue Department. The fire museum should be a candidate for a public-private partnership; the City should implement a desk audit to identify a 10 percent reduction in personnel costs, with a targeted savings of $7.7 million in fiscal 2012-13.
Environmental and Compliance. The department should be renamed Environmental Services and report directly to the CAO; it should be a major focus of the mayor in an effort to create a “green” focus in all of the City’s business decisions; the City should outsource its parking meter management to a third-party, including parking meter maintenance.
Recreation and Community Services. The City should establish a foundation to provide support for programming; the City should evaluate options for the rationalization of and potential closure of recreation centers and elder centers.
Public Libraries. The City should evaluate options for rationalization of the locations of existing library branches to account for community demand; the City should require an operational budget impact analysis as part of the capital budgeting process; the City needs to cause an overhaul of the model for supporting information technology investments in the public libraries through improved customer orientation; clarify the IT policy that says libraries may never turn off computers after hours, which leads to unnecessary energy consumption.
Economic Development Commission. The City should consolidate all economic development functions under the direction of a leader aligned to the mayor’s economic development vision; the City needs to look at its overall economic development functions and account for the interrelatedness between the responsibilities for planning, housing and economic development Downtown, at Cecil Commerce Center and the balance of the City; the City should examine and adopt best practices related to the legislative process for approving economic development incentives an projects.
Information Technology. The City should hire a Chief Technology Officer to inventory all IT infrastructure and capabilities across all departments and agencies; the City, Council and independent agencies should conduct a citywide IT assessment to determine improved volume pricing terms, redundant costs and human resources and organizational overlaps; determine the cost-benefit of the two major activities of the full implementation of shared services and potential savings from outsourcing fully scaled operations.
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