MINUTES OF THE MEETING OF THE BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

October 20, 2005

 

 

 

The Board of County Commissioners of Brevard County, Florida, met in special/workshop session on October 20, 2005, at 9:00 a.m. in the Government Center Florida Room, Building C, 2725 Judge Fran Jamieson Way, Viera, Florida. Present were: Chairman Ron Pritchard, D.P.A., Commissioners Truman Scarborough, Helen Voltz, Susan Carlson, and Jackie Colon, County Manager Peggy Busacca, and County Attorney Scott Knox.

 

 

 

County Manager Peggy Busacca advised Emergency Management Director Bob Lay has a 9:00 a.m. meeting with the ESS and then will report to the Board with the same information he provides the ESS.

 

 

 

Chairman Pritchard congratulated Georgia Phillips of Rockledge for selection as Council Member of the Year, Susan Stills of Cape Canaveral as City Clerk of the Year, Patrick Chambers of Rockledge as City Employee of the Year, and Ric Holt of Cocoa as City Manager of the Year.

 

 

Solid Waste Management Director Euri Rodriguez advised of the status of the landfills; and stated they are ready to take on any hurricane that comes along. He advised of meetings with the Clerk of Courts; stated differences have been ironed out; and the Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan contract will be coming to the Board on October 25, 2005. He advised if a hurricane comes before October 25, 2005, the contract can be activated for the one particular storm; it can then go back to the Board to seek concurrence; and after that it will go back to the normal contract procedure.

 

County Manager Peggy Busacca inquired if by activating the contract, Mr. Rodriguez means bringing it to the policy group if necessary; with Mr. Rodriguez responding yes.

 

Chairman Pritchard inquired if there is any reason to wait until Tuesday; with Commissioner Voltz responding she does not see any. She inquired if the issues with the Clerk of Courts have been addressed; with Mr. Rodriguez responding yes. Mr. Rodriguez advised of meeting on Friday with Mr. Ellis, addressing the pending items, and reaching agreement.

 

Commissioner Carlson expressed preference to have everything in place rather than leaving it to the policy board.

Motion by Commissioner Voltz, seconded by Commissioner Colon, to execute Agreement with Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan to provide disaster debris monitoring, with term from October 20, 2005 through December 31, 2008.

 

 

Chairman Pritchard expressed support for the motion. Commissioner Carlson stated the contract is just for this hurricane; with Mr. Rodriguez advising the contract is an ongoing contract for three years, with three-year renewal.

 

Discussion ensued on activating the contract through policy group for one-time event, issues resolved with contract, and Clerk’s concern about the process. The Board reached consensus to consider the Agreement later in the meeting after conferring with the Clerk.

 

Commissioner Voltz withdrew the motion.

 

 

 

Strategic Planning Manager Leigh Holt advised of completing implementation of an organizational assessment following the Sterling criteria within the budget and timeframe requested; stated they received the reports in September; and recognized the Sterling Team Members, Jennifer Meyer from Human Resources, Bob Brown from Animal Services and Enforcement, Cheryl Page and Liz Alward from Parks and Recreation, Susan Szymula from Library Services, Debbie Coles from Natural Resources, and Hal Province and Lesley Singleton from Housing and Human Services.

 

 

Bob Seemer, Electronic Training Solutions, introduced his colleague Bruce Berger who has been working closely with the five pilot departments. He commented on the purpose of the workshop, analyzing the pilot departments, process analysis, and the agenda. He stated he got into the business as a consultant in 1971; and advised doing something locally is a challenge. He commented on reducing costs, reducing manpower, understanding the drivers of cost, improving quality so costs can come down, and addressing causes of poor quality. He stated employee satisfaction and quality of workforce is a significant element to improve service and quality; and concentrating on causes of problems. He stated day-to-day problems come from two sources, the system or organization and the employees themselves. He advised of measures or standards for success, wrong measures or standards, and standards being out of date; and advised of an example in a large public utility. He advised employees may fail if they are not properly trained; few organizations have well thought out employee development plans; and commented on not measuring effectiveness of training, cutting costs through reduction of training or staffing, and employee failure. He advised of failure due to employees not being well suited for jobs. He stated the most one can blame the employee is 16%; and if the employer is hiring the wrong employee, it is even less than that. He advised of a study done that shows that
92% of problems are caused by the environment or the system. Mr. Seemer stated before
blaming employees, the Board should think about the environment and the system the employees are working in. He stated quality and value must be from the definition of the customer; and offered an example involving a customer getting a permit. He stated managers are concerned about managing costs; but they need to think about quality of life for citizens, citizen satisfaction, employee productivity, and expense per capita.

 

Chairman Pritchard inquired what does expense per capita measure and where is the value behind x amount of money per person. Mr. Seemer stated when a citizen can see the expenses of the County per citizen and that they are growing slower than the consumer price index, there is a feeling that someone is managing effectively. Chairman Pritchard inquired if expense per capita continues to grow, where is the relationship to the quality and satisfaction. Mr. Seemer responded that is why organizations need to manage more than just one leg of the stool; and commented on different areas to be managed.

 

Discussion ensued on improving quality, lesser expense per capita, accommodating growth, capital requirements, planning for the future, comparison of County and big box store, outsourcing without standards and measures, and problems in Department of Children and Families due to outsourcing.

 

Mr. Seemer advised of the five basic principles, customer focus, management by fact, long-term thinking, continuous improvement, and respect for people. He requested the Commissioners advise of the characteristics of successful organizations.

 

Discussion ensued on employees who feel valued, increase in bottom line, recognition of internal and external needs, good integration, lower costs and higher value, cross training, organization that changes and grows, employee satisfaction, encouraging education, promoting from within, encouraging input from customers, customer or employee engagement, decision making at the lowest level, authority to make decisions, knowing the goals, technology, priorities, core competency, and realistic goals and objectives.

 

Mr. Seemer inquired what makes things realistic; with Chairman Pritchard responding it has to be measurable. Mr. Seemer advised it would also be necessary to understand capability. Commissioner Carlson advised it is management by facts. Commissioner Colon commented on leadership of a successful company; and stated in the County that would be the Board, which sets policy.

 

Mr. Seemer commented on the assessment tool to evaluate the five pilot departments and the Sterling criteria; and advised where each issue fits into the assessment tool. He advised the assessment tool is the check-up tool for an organization; it is focused on leadership; and in leadership he looks at the approaches used and deployment. He stated other areas are strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement analysis and knowledge management, human resources, process management, and results. He stated results are looked at in four areas, customer related, financial related, employee related, and process related; results are driven from approaches; and if approaches can be improved, good results
can be expected. He stated there were six findings: (1) importance of County-level measures of success; (2) strategic planning process; (3) citizen needs and satisfaction; (4) processes not
managed in a way to make sure things are done better, faster, and cheaper; (5) performance not reviewed holistically; and (6) results not being tracked.

 

Bruce Berger stated three basic questions are asked to develop a process management system; and they are what do you do, how do you measure it, and how to evaluate and improve the process over time. He explained how to develop a flowchart showing the process of resolving citizen complaints.

 

Discussion ensued on variations of the process, methods to resolve problems, handoff between Commission office and County Manager, working with staff, problem solving methods of individual Commission offices, capacity to bring in multiple departments for holistic solution, determining customer satisfaction, and end process indicators.

 

Chairman Pritchard advised the Commissioners have five different ways of solving problems; explained the process in his office; and commented on unincorporated area and volume of calls. Commissioner Colon advised of the necessity to respond to calls from unincorporated and incorporated areas.

 

Discussion resumed on phone calls, working with incorporated areas, working with the County Manager, working with staff, and different methodologies of different Commission offices.

 

Mr. Seemer advised the Commissioners are learning from each other; and advised the flow chart shows the best path. He advised of the effect of turnover, vacant positions, and poor training; and inquired how can they learn from the complaints so they do not have to repeat the process. He stated each process should have three types of measures, quality and accuracy, timeliness, and cost; they should identify what it costs to handle complaints and keep driving those costs down; and they would want to find ways to prevent complaints.

 

Commissioner Voltz commented on addressing systemwide complaints based on individual complaints.

 

The meeting recessed at 10:40 a.m. and reconvened at 10:58 a.m.

 

 

 

Emergency Management Director Bob Lay advised Hurricane Wilma is unique in that it is not moving the way they would like to see it move; it has been moving around for several days in the Yucatan peninsula; and now they think it may strike the Yucatan. He stated it is only moving approximately seven miles per hour; the wind speed was 160 miles per hour sustained winds; and the central pressure is the lowest ever recorded. He stated the future track depends on the Great Lakes low that is pushing down; and displayed a map showing the storm. He stated as it starts to move forward and turns, it will accelerate tremendously into the Florida peninsula; and
that is their concern. Mr. Lay pointed out the track from Friday to Sunday; and stated it is a tremendously fast moving storm, which does not give them a lot of preparatory time, and they also do not know where it is going. He displayed the three-day and five-day forecasts; stated
the windfields go out for approximately 200 miles for tropical storm winds, and 50 miles for hurricane force winds; it is tracking south of Brevard County; but the County has been in the windfields for some time. He stated most of the heavy wind is in Commissioner Colon’s District. Commissioner Voltz stated it would also be in her District in Barefoot Bay. Mr. Lay displayed models of the hurricane.

 

Discussion ensued on what pushes it to make a turn, direct impact to the Yucatan and crossing Cuba, areas of hurricane watch, rebuilding to Category 5, shelters, current projection, rainfall forecast, various models, impact to the Keys, and impact to South Brevard.

 

Mr. Lay provided each Commissioner with a copy of the Governor’s Executive Order; stated the State EOC is at level 2 and Kennedy Space Center and Patrick Air Force Base are at level 4, which means they expect 50 mph winds within a 72-hour period; and advised of conference calls. He stated Biketoberfest in Daytona Beach may create problems in terms of evacuation and fuel; they do not have any indication that the Governor is going to call for the execution of a regional evacuation plan; but they have been polled in terms of spaces available to shelter in a host environment. He stated from Brevard County to Tampa and south is at risk; they will not get a better feel for it until the storm moves a little more; and they could not host at this point. He stated there are no reported shortages of fuel in the County; they are using eight days of sustainment as the measure; so they are at green status. He stated they had a special needs advisory group meeting; and commented on supplies, workers, and activation of special needs shelters. He commented on upgrading the information system, new equipment at the EOC, need for host and risk shelters, availability of shelters for people in manufactured housing, people living in FEMA trailers or trailers that have not been repaired yet, evacuation timing, special needs sheltering for South Brevard, power restoration, transportation corridors, key service stations, and identification of critical issues and shortages.

 

Commissioner Colon stated in 24 hours they will know better, but that only gives 24 hours to respond; and inquired what can they tell the citizens now. Mr. Lay stated there is a storm; it probably will hit in the State; and everyone needs to look at and follow their family plan. He stated people should have adequate medicine, water, and supplies; people should be able to self-sustain themselves for 72 hours; and cautioned people to be careful with generators.

 

Commissioner Carlson inquired about impact to roadways; with Mr. Lay responding there have been discussions about shoring up roadways; and commented on policies for construction on roads to allow for evacuation. Mr. Lay advised initially the winds will be coming from the ocean side directly from the east and northeast, so there will be some beach erosion. He advised other Councils are meeting; the storm has slowed down so it requires patience; and once it starts, it will move quickly.

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired what is the recommendation for Barefoot Bay; with Mr. Lay responding later today he will be recommending opening shelters for those in manufactured
housing. He stated the points of distribution will be published after the storm goes through; and they are in better shape then they were last season. Commissioner Colon inquired if the residents of Barefoot Bay would be brought to the schools in Palm Bay. Mr. Lay responded it
would be shelters; it would depend on whether they had to have risk shelters or host shelters; a lot of host shelters are churches and other facilities; and risk shelters are opened under hurricane conditions; but if it is something less than that, they can use host shelter standards.

 

County Manager Peggy Busacca stated Assistant County Manager Ed Washburn verified with Clerk of Courts Scott Ellis that he is comfortable with the Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan Contract as it has been amended.

 

Motion by Commissioner Voltz, seconded by Commissioner Colon, to execute Agreement with Post Buckley Schuh & Jernigan to provide disaster debris monitoring, with term from October 20, 2005 through December 31, 2008. Motion carried and ordered unanimously. (See page for Agreement.)

 

 

 

Assistant County Manager Don Lusk stated after the Board decided to go through the Sterling process, there was a staff meeting of the Community Services Group, which has four of the five Departments; and commented on the mapping and Department Directors seeing issues with new eyes. Mr. Lusk introduced Bob Brown; and advised of his achievements and those of Animal Services.

 

Bob Brown of Animal Services and Enforcement stated in the analysis, they identified five areas to map; and out of that they got 19 potential opportunities for improvement. He stated the opportunities run across the board; and advised of questionnaires, establishing baselines, developing action plans, and implementation. He went over the elements shown in the matrix; and commented on inside and outside telecommunications, volunteer service patrol, wireless laptops for field officers, Director’s checklist, and customer satisfaction survey.

 

Commissioner Scarborough advised in responding to complaints staff will be making one person happy and another unhappy; so inherent in the response will be a 50% negative response all the time. Mr. Brown stated hopefully the customer survey will correct that; commented on the customer survey being able to qualify the data; and advised in any enforcement situation there will never be a 99% satisfaction rating. He commented on setting a baseline, seeing improvement by February, employee satisfaction, employee productivity, increase in call resolution, decrease in response time, efficiency saving, increasing quality, and providing same service to more people without increasing bottom line. He stated in terms of lessons learned, they found that processes can be improved with accurate data input, costs can be reduced by timely responses and improved quality of services, and it is better to give citizens what staff knows they need rather than what staff thinks they want. He advised the next steps are to put into place the process improvements identified, establish baselines to measure performance, and involve more employees in process improvement efforts.

 

Discussion ensued on overall score, room for improvement, sustainability of the process, input from the community, controversial issues, Clerk’s functions, measuring departments in context of difficulty, putting weight to complaints, and couching questions for positive response.
Mr. Lusk advised the libraries learned a lot; the new eyes thing continues; and Susan Szymula will address it.

 

Susan Szymula of Library Services advised they analyzed four processes; and they will be concentrating on the second process, cataloguing and processing new library materials. She advised they came up with 20 process improvement possibilities; and some have already been enacted. She went over the matrix; commented on changes that were made; and displayed the process flow chart for processing and cataloguing new library materials. She outlined six possible improvements, providing additional training for staff, having local libraries process materials that are in the computer system without sending them to a centralized office, training local tech processors to identify and use appropriate information when doing cataloguing, having spine labeling and covering of library materials done at local library level, and considering purchasing catalogue records already completed from additional vendors; and advised of the status of the improvements. She stated customer satisfaction is expected to be improved because materials will be processed and ready for customers in two weeks instead of six; staff has been temporarily reassigned to work on the backlog of materials waiting to be processed; and by the end of December, an additional 2,000 books and 2,000 audio-visual materials will be made available. She commented on increase of employee satisfaction and productivity, and continued analysis of efficiencies eliminating need to hire additional employees. She stated they learned through the process that the things they were thinking about and the steps they were taking were validated; they can continue to look for efficiencies; and they can further improve customer satisfaction. She stated the next steps include training 17 library services staff members in the process mapping and analysis techniques; they want to analyze the improved processes in at least three of the support programs; and they want to continue with the reallocation of the technical processing personnel that began in October 2004.

 

Discussion ensued on efficiency savings, drop in cost of processing items with outsourcing, reallocating staff, improvements systemwide, customer survey cards, and different ways to get information.

 

Library Services Director Catherine Schweinsberg stated they recently purchased an online survey, and will be able to get that report computerized so they can send a compilation report.

 

Discussion resumed on the overall score for Library Services not being significant.

 

Natural Resources Director Ernie Brown commented on the value of an organizational audit for a new manager, outcomes providing tools to improve the organization, and information from the audit moving the department forward. He advised of his background in organizational leadership and development.

 

Debbie Coles of Natural Resources Management stated ETS staff led them through four mapping processes; and she will focus on the surface water protection permitting process. She stated their improvement matrix identified 23 areas for improvement; and they ranked each. She displayed the flow chart for the surface water protection permitting process; and advised there are seven action items identified to improve the process including adding sample application to the website, allowing customers to pay by phone or website, allowing submittal of
application via website, providing link on website for customers to select competent contractors, develop application checklist, and develop best practices remedies and construction options. She commented on the flowchart, identifying action items, schedule for action items, application form, customer satisfaction survey, and baselines. She stated the benefits are improvement of customer satisfaction, employee satisfaction and productivity, reduction in rework, and improvement of quality of life for citizens. She stated lessons learned include that all processes can be improved, by improving quality rework and costs are reduced, and understanding what the customer really wants can improve processes; and advised the next steps will be to train five employees in process analysis techniques, analyze and improve five more important processes including those that are used by multiple departments, and to develop and incorporate process measures into the employee evaluation system.

 

Chairman Pritchard inquired about the potential problem of having a field officer inspect, the issue is resolved, but the field officer who found the problem is not the one who comes back out and the second officer finds another problem. Ms. Coles responded there is not as much problem with that because they have only one Code Enforcement officer.

 

Discussion ensued on seeing processes in a new way, following steps on the flowchart to get to a resolution, how Natural Resources deals with complaints, Code Enforcement, multiple Ordinances, developing and reviewing Ordinances, and mapping interpretation of Ordinances.

 

Interim Parks and Recreation Director Don Lusk stated Parks and Recreation worked as hard as other Departments; he has been looking at the Department from a different perspective in the last month; and after the reorganization, Parks and Recreation is one of the largest Departments in the County. He complimented the Parks and Recreation employees for their hard work; stated it is not a data driven department, and was ripe for the process mapping; and they can discuss what was learned; but for the sake of time they will move on today.

 

Chairman Pritchard stated Parks and Recreation came out the lowest in the Sterling scores; and inquired if Mr. Lusk was surprised. Mr. Lusk responded he was not surprised; and commented on prioritization and five different types of projects including referendum projects. He noted he is not saying it is not a good unit as there are more good things than bad things; the construction just became a large discussion item; and they never got to discuss the good things.

 

Discussion ensued on construction and implementation of tracking mechanisms.

 

Leigh Holt stated Housing and Human Services was not originally one of the pilot departments; but it was added later. She stated they looked at four processes, providing housing rehab and repair services, providing emergency assistance to low-income households, managing human
service contacts, and providing advisory board support. Ms. Holt stated there were 24 opportunities for improvement; and they have implemented nine already, and intend to implement the rest over the next six months.

 

Al Yorston of the Housing and Human Services Department advised he will be presenting one of the four processes, how it supports and manages advisory boards. He stated Housing and Human Services has eleven different advisory boards and more than 300 citizens who
participate; some were created by Resolution by the Board, others are statutorily required, and some are mandated through federal or State funding requirements; and advised of the variety of advisory boards that are supported. He explained the process flowchart; and stated they not only map the processes but identify quality measures to insure the changes are making improvement in the process. He stated the three particular measures identified for advisory board support are percentage of board members satisfied with the progress being made toward goals and objectives, the percentage of board members that are satisfied with the support received from staff, and percentage of board members participating in the meetings. He advised they have included quality measures in personal employee evaluations; and there are six steps in the action plan, three of which have already been implemented. He stated they have standardized advisory board resolutions as well as advisory board agendas. He commented on the customer survey evaluation form being distributed to all advisory board members at the conclusion of meetings to get feedback; and state all survey results will be compiled into a database.

 

Commissioner Carlson inquired about savings in grant management; with Ms. Holt explaining the grant process, collective tracking, looking for common denominators for grants not received, and better choice of grants to apply for. Mr. Lusk advised the grant locator service tracks those things on the County’s behalf.

 

Ms. Holt advised of benefits of the process improvements; stated there will be a reduction in waiting time for housing rehab/repair assistance and more citizens will be able to get assistance; the Community Action Team will serve more citizens because unnecessary calls will be reduced; more grant funds will be available for human services and programs will improve due to increased monitoring; and advisory boards will be more successful in achieving their goals by implementing identified best practices. She advised they learned that customer needs can be documented and satisfaction can be improved; processes can be streamlined across the board; and process mapping allowed staff to identify challenges and develop solutions. She stated they will continue to implement the action plan; they are assigning staff to track performance measures, and they will report outcomes regularly to maintain staff focus on performance measures.

 

Discussion ensued on performance of case managers in the field, comprehensive approach, mapping emergency assistance process, implementing improvements, revising customer satisfaction survey, and referrals from utility companies.

 

Commissioner Colon inquired about people trying to get around the system. Housing and Human Services Director Gay Williams advised staff does that tracking; there is a community
effort to monitor the resources in the community; it is done through a management system that is inclusive of all the other non-profit agencies that provide assistance; and they are able to track whether or not clients get services. She commented on customer service and satisfaction.

 

Chairman Pritchard inquired if Ms. Williams was surprised by the scores; with Ms. Williams responding they welcomed the opportunity to get feedback on what they are doing and how they are doing it, so the scoring was not too bad, but there is always room to grow.

 

Discussion ensued on monitoring employee burnout, employee surveys, and TLC Committee.

Ms. Holt requested the Board complete a customer satisfaction survey before leaving; and commented on using the advisory board system in other departments.

 

Commissioner Carlson inquired about streamlining Parks and Recreation committees; with Mr. Lusk responding it will be looked at.

 

 

 

Mr. Seemer stated the first recommendation under leadership is to define the measures of success so the Board can set expectations for the County; and the measures can also be used to evaluate effectiveness on a regular basis and demonstrate that citizens are receiving value. He stated it is more than just focusing on cost and fiscal management; but it involves workforce, and citizen satisfaction as well as quality of life. He commented on the staff presentations, need for strategic planning process that includes a human resources component, and segmenting the citizens and determining prioritized needs so all processes can be aligned to meet the needs. He recommended developing performance measures in each department and driving them down to the individual employee; and commented on accountability for all people, evaluations, reviewing performance at all levels on a regular basis, employee satisfaction, and managing processes in each department. He presented an action plan for the seven recommendations; stated the recommendations are summary level recommendations; and there are many smaller recommendations that will be addressed as the action plan is implemented. He advised it is a tight timeline; and it should be implemented within six months. He stated by the end of this fiscal year, the County should realize the true value of what it has embarked on.

 

Discussion ensued on connecting the strategic plan to the Comprehensive Plan, fiscal responsibility, constraints, employee satisfaction surveys, return rate for surveys, getting higher response rate, taking action on results, evaluation by third party, and online surveys.

 

Commissioner Voltz stressed the importance of getting the highest possible return. Mr. Seemer stated they found that time is valuable; and sometimes it is necessary to use alternative approaches to get information. Commissioner Voltz inquired if Mr. Seemer will put that together; with Mr. Seemer responding yes. Mr. Seemer advised it should be part of the strategic planning process; they will want to get the baseline information upfront; and the
priorities should be focused on the holistic pieces of the organization. He advised of the need to understand what needs to be improved. Commissioner Colon suggested a survey to evaluate the County Commissioners.

 

Commissioner Scarborough commented on showing dissatisfaction to government, role of County Commission and different departments, departmental analysis, teamwork, integrating to complement the County as a whole, bringing in innovative ideas, willingness to risk failure, and going beyond a status quo analysis.

 

Mr. Seemer stated by creating a vision at the County level, the Board can give employees and citizens hope that by improving the process, it is capable of achieving anything it wants to do. He complimented the Board on being open enough to invite an assessment and face the
results. He inquired if today was a good use of the Board’s time; with several Commissioners responding affirmatively.

 

Chairman Pritchard stated when they last met he asked Mr. Seemer what was the bottom line, and he gave a couple of items such as the low Sterling scores and finding the employees do not like to work in a disciplined department; and inquired if he came up with any others. Mr. Seemer responded every assessment in every organization leaves him with a feeling, and the feeling here is that leadership wants to do the right thing; the workforce gets itself into trouble because it wants to do too much to satisfy the customer; and when dealing with that kind of attitude, all they have to do is provide some tools and techniques so they can understand how to do things better to achieve those expectations. He stated the bottom line is the County can ramp up very quickly with the current workforce; and with the leadership being provided by establishing common measures and communicating them to Ms. Busacca and staff, he does not think staff will let the Board down. Chairman Pritchard stated a lot of people were surprised by the outcomes.

 

Discussion ensued on the scores, approaches, firefighting rather than prevention, comparing the County to private organization, providing basic services, addressing how to get out of a slump, external intervention to change, continuity of leadership, building on what was done, taking decision making to the lowest level, 80% of people comfortable being held accountable for their work, 25% of people feeling process used to evaluate work is good, feedback from employees, and County Manager’s open door policy.

 

Ms. Busacca stated many departments have not had the opportunity to undergo this process; the Board established $225,000 to move forward; and requested direction. Commissioner Scarborough requested the issue be put on the agenda. Commissioner Voltz requested it be put on the November 1, 2005 agenda.

 

Chairman Pritchard stated the County is at a point where it has to do this; he is very satisfied with what Mr. Seemer has done; and encouraged everyone to consider Mr. Seemer as the facilitator of the process. He stated they are not going to be able to accomplish as much if they try to do it in-house; and they need the outside expertise driving the process. He stated when they have the recommendations, they can go into a monitoring mode and have Mr. Seemer come back quarterly or semi-annually to make sure they are still on track.

 

Discussion ensued on public comment, having clear focus, accountability, getting quality of life for the community, and providing direction to the County Manager.

 

Commissioner Voltz commented on knowing what is expected and receiving training.

 

 

 

Ms. Holt advised when they were beginning the improvement process, some departments did not have a lot of data; so as part of the process improvement undertaking, Parks and Recreation commissioned the National Citizen Survey, which is used across the country by
municipalities and counties to measure performance and to get citizen input on services; and they have provided the Board with the results of that. She stated Dr. Thomas Miller from the National Research Center is here to present the results of the survey.

 

Dr. Thomas Miller stated the National Citizen Survey is an opportunity to hear from a variety of voices that it does not typically hear from; in the Citizen Surveys, they bring in the voice of the typical public; generally in local government there is not the opportunity to hear from a cross-section of the public; and in this enterprise, the Board will get to hear that. He stated this kind of data is what any well run corporation needs; it is the voice of the consumer; and it is looking broadly at what the public thinks about the community. He stated there are a limited number of jurisdictions across the United States that do the citizen surveys; it is asking questions where the answers are not known; and that is the kind of information the Board needs to understand the processes and the outcomes of those processes. He stated this is information that people have shared in a candid way anonymously; Commissioner Scarborough mentioned comparing Animal Services to the Library; and in doing those kinds of comparisons there are different kinds of clients. He stated what they have that is unique is normative comparison; and there is data to help the Board and staff interpret the information. He advised of the assistance received from Leigh Holt and other staff members to insure the right questions were asked and that they are covering the kinds of things that are important to Brevard County. He stated the survey has been done across the country; there are over 80 participants in over 20 states; and the jurisdictions that do this tend to be those that are relatively middle in size. He commented on the purpose of the survey, process of doing the survey, and scorecard used to monitor and interpret success of some of the process innovations being put into place; and stated the information is better at answering what rather than why. He stated it will not tell what to do to improve the score; that is where the Board and staff will be making the decisions; the data can be used to monitor trends; and it leads to quality of life. He stated not all outcomes are equal; quality of life is important; and the best way to get that information is to ask the public. He stated 40% of the residents have lived in the County for more than 20 years; but over a quarter have lived in the County for under five years; so he is sure the County is feeling growth pains. He stated the median income is approximately $50,000 per year per household; almost 50% are 55 years and older; and 35% have attended a public meeting, which means that 65% have not; so the Board will hear from a different group than it normally hears from. He stated 60% of the people watch the meetings on television. Commissioner Carlson inquired if that is on a consistent basis; with Dr. Miller responding he does not have normative data on that, but it is a
fairly high number. Dr. Miller stated they sent out 1,200 invitations to participate; they were anonymous; people were asked to respond; and advised when there is a survey and anyone who wants to answer, there is an over-representation of people who are not employed, are older, and are women; while that is not bad in principle, what they want is a more representative cross-section of the public, so they ask people to respond who most recently had a birthday; and research shows that results in good response most of the time. Commissioner Carlson inquired if children answer the phone; with Dr. Miller responding they only survey adults and it was done by mail. Dr. Miller advised of the advantages of a mailed survey. He advised they got a response rate of approximately 38% over 400 households; the margin of error is approximately five percentage points; and averages involve three points. He stated doing a survey, there is a tendency to get a different profile of people than exists in the community because certain groups do not respond as often; and it is hard to get the diversity of perspective
that is desired. He commented on re-weighting the sample to reflect the population profile as it is understood from census data, opportunity to quantify what the residents think about quality of life of the County, distribution of responses, and average ratings for quality of life. He stated the rating of the County as a place to live received a 72, which is above good; rating of the neighborhood as a place to live received a 74; as a place to raise children it received 66; and the lowest rating was 53 for the County as a place to work. He advised of the distribution of people including those who said "don’t know"; they have been removed; and they focus on those people who have an opinion. He displayed a chart comparing the ratings with other places across the country where the same questions were asked and a chart showing the community characteristics, which showed higher than average ratings for air quality, recreation opportunities, and education opportunities. He noted the job opportunity rating at 37% is approximately the same as the norm because across the country job opportunities are tough to come by, so all over the United States those ratings are not as high as other ratings of characteristics of communities. He commented on access to affordable quality housing, child care, and health care; and advised the ratings are somewhat lower, between fair and good. He stated the lowest rating for mobility was for ease of bus travel, with ease of car and walking travel being somewhat equal; ease of walking was below the norm; but ease of car travel was approximately the same as the norm.

 

Commissioner Voltz inquired what are the norms. Dr. Miller responded the actual norms are not displayed; what is displayed is the distance the County is from the norm; and in the report there are three designations, significantly above the norm, similar to the norm, or significantly below the norm.

 

Dr. Miller commented on the top problems affecting the County, too much growth, traffic congestion, and drugs; and advised they are talking about perceptions rather than windows into performance. He stated they also asked about rundown properties, taxes, unsupervised youth, and roads; and approximately 20% of residents thought those were major problems.

 

Commissioner Scarborough inquired about population growth being 82%; and inquired if that is unusually high. Dr. Miller responded 82% is up with the others; he does not have a norm; but it is a profile that is typical of fast growing, attractive, popular places. He stated it is an issue of too many people, and not enough jobs; often residents do not understand the connection
between the two things; jobs drive population growth; and if there were more job growth, the bar showing growth would go off the chart. Commissioner Scarborough inquired if there is similar data from other counties in Florida; with Dr. Miller responding he is not sure, but will check. Commissioner Carlson inquired what was the question that generated the 82% population growth response; with Dr. Miller responding it was, do you think that each kind of growth is too fast, about right, or too slow.

 

Chairman Pritchard stated surveys are perceptions; the person usually does not have data to measure his response; and commented on elements of the report. Dr. Miller stated when they do the surveys in more rural parts of America, there can be huge complaints about traffic congestion, so it is important to remember it is only one window into how people understand their local government. Chairman Pritchard commented on traffic on North Courtenay Parkway.

 

Dr. Miller commented on reactions to data, education campaigns, and opportunities to change service. He stated they asked what people thought about their own safety from violent crimes, property crimes, and fire and more specifically about the ratings in various parts of the community during the day and at night; at night everyone feels less safe; women felt less safe than me day or night; and the smallest percentage of people said they felt very or somewhat safe in parks at night, which is a typical finding across the country. He stated they also looked at ratings compared to other jurisdictions; and the ratings in the County compared to other places where the same questions were asked were better, so relative to other places there is stronger feeling of safety. He stated they asked people what they think about how the economy is going to affect them in the coming six months to see if there is a sense of optimism or pessimism; and it was kind of balanced.

 

Chairman Pritchard inquired about ratings of public trust and receiving good value for taxes paid; and stated 62% agreed. Dr. Miller stated that is an average rating; and explained the ratings on a five-point scale from zero to 100. Chairman Pritchard inquired about the demographics of those who responded; and inquired how can people say anything about job opportunities when unemployment is approximately 3 to 4%. Dr. Miller stated the surveys are better at the "what" questions rather than "why"; so he does not have a firm answer; and commented on follow-up questions. Chairman Pritchard inquired about people who are employed but would like upward mobility, which is not there; with Dr. Miller responding that would be reflected in response to the question about job opportunity. Chairman Pritchard inquired about retaining young people in the County and lack of entertainment. Dr. Miller stated the response to the survey was 53% female and 47% male; and commented on opportunities in the community, recreational opportunities, educational opportunities, and opportunities to attend cultural activities. He stated elected officials should not feel compelled to act on every single thing seen in the survey; there is still opportunity for the Board to decide where it wants to focus; and he is sure staff will help the Board focus on the things that are important. Chairman Pritchard stated in the Sterling process scoring libraries came out highest; 73% in this survey like the public libraries; and he sees a correlation between the two.

 

Commissioner Scarborough stated if they asked what people think about the judicial system, they should compare it with other judicial systems; there are negative and positive functions;
and the library is one of the more positive functions, so it would be surprising if the libraries had scored at the same measure as Animal Control. Commissioner Scarborough stated he is glad they got the norms from other counties; that is going to help; and he cannot look at the comparison between departments as absolutes.

 

Commissioner Colon stated 64% answered favorably in terms of parks; but there was a low score with the Parks and Recreation Department; and that has to do with the perception of the referendum and construction. She stated this is a window to see how people are feeling; but there is much more to it.

 

Commissioner Carlson inquired on transportation service, is the information shown on slide 24 the norm; with Dr. Miller responding that is the average rating, which is about what they would find across the country; however, bus and transit services had a score of 35 putting it closer to fair, which is below what is found across the country.

 

Discussion ensued on transportation-oriented problems, connecting city centers throughout the County, comparing Brevard County’s transportation system to Orange County’s, comparing similar counties with multiple pods of movement, misdirecting resources, and identifying problems.

 

Dr. Miller stated residents are able to distinguish between the best service and the worst service from their perspective; and that is different than Commissioner Scarborough’s point that Brevard County is dealing with something far more complex when it comes to transit. He commented on the bus system in Vail, Colorado.

 

Discussion resumed on the dynamics of moving citizens from North to South Brevard, strategizing where resources should be going, perception becoming reality, the media, construction in Palm Bay by individuals not developers, and scorecard showing Brevard County compared to other parts of the country.

 

Dr. Miller stated irrespective of what a great job the Commissioners and staff are doing, there will be some services and aspects of quality of life that are not appreciated; it does not mean they necessarily should do something differently; and commented on educating the public. He commented on scores for leisure services, storm drainage, and planning and Code enforcement; and advised of issues that relate to people’s scores of planning. He stated it is the faster growing attractive communities that get the worst ratings for planning and zoning; and stated for the wide variety of services provided the scores are between fair and good, and are equal to other places in the country where questions about these things have been asked. He commented on the summary showing many jurisdictions and County services that are approximately the same as other places across the country, a list separating out categories of services, high score of Library Services, seven core services, and places where the Board may want to invest more research and resources. He stated the Board may have a different opinion and want to put in other services; but the core services that merit the high priority are those that are below the norm, such as storm drainage, planning and Code enforcement. He stated equal to the norm were the Sheriff, ambulance, EMS services, fire, and street repair; and commented on setting priorities. He noted they did not characterize library services as a core service.

 

Discussion ensued on city services and which citizens were surveyed.

 

Dr. Miller advised citizens were given 23 choices of jurisdictions to select; and there was a wide distribution of where people lived, but many of them were in the unincorporated parts of the County, so that data could be pulled out, although it has not been. He stated they wanted to know what people thought about their interactions with County employees; almost two-thirds of the residents had some kind of interaction within the last 12 months; they were asked to rate the County employees; and all the ratings were quite strong, above good on a 100-point scale. He stated on average, people are comfortable with their interactions with County employees; and it is roughly the same as they see across the country.

 

Ms. Busacca stated there were two questions that were not part of the National Survey, but were specific to Brevard County; they are questions 16b and c; the two questions related to rating investments for the County; and they included Parks and Recreation and how should road
maintenance, repair, and construction be financed. Dr. Miller stated when it came to asking about the importance of investments for the County, the highest percentage of people who rated it as essential or very important said it was for cleaning and maintaining parks and facilities, preservation of open space, conservation lands, and access to recreational waters; there are gradations of importance; but nothing was not at all important. He stated the lower percentages were not low, just lower than the ones he mentioned, and they had to do with parks, youth programs, senior programs, and quality recreation programs. He stated in terms of the question concerning how to pay for remediating some of the traffic problems, there were very strong opinions on two of the options, one was to increase impact fees on new home construction, which was supported by a majority.

 

*County Attorney Scott Knox’s absence and Assistant County Attorney Christine Lepore’s presence were noted at this time.

 

Dr. Miller stated increasing fuel tax was reviled by 53% who opposed it strongly; and property tax was very near as one that would not be appreciated. Ms. Busacca inquired if Dr. Miller would suggest a jurisdiction do this on a regular basis to see how it is doing. Dr. Miller responded for these kinds of surveys, in particular the National Citizen Survey, most of the customers are repeat customers; they do it, if not every year, every other year solely for the public to track the success and evaluate how they are going.

 

Commissioner Carlson commented on asking questions of the community based on things learned through the Sterling process.

 

Ms. Holt requested the Commissioners complete their surveys.

 

 

 

Upon motion and vote, the meeting was adjourned at 1:50 p.m.

 

 

 

_____________________________________

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS

ATTEST: BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA

 

 

 

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SCOTT ELLIS, CLERK

 

(S E A L)