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2006-07 Ralph W. Ketner Employee Productivity Awards winners The Association would like to announce the winners of the 2006-07 Ketner Employee Productivity Awards Program. As you may recall, Mr. Ralph Ketner, co-founder of Food Lion, Inc., donates $10,000 each year to reward outstanding county employees for their successful productivity initiatives. This year marks the Association’s 16th year in organizing the program. To date, the program has attracted 1,273 project applications representing over $96 million in savings to our counties. NCACC President Terry Garrison appointed two review committees made up of commissioners, managers, county staff and School of Government representatives. One committee considered applications from managerial staff and one reviewed those submitted by line staff. The review committees met July 23 to consider all eligible applications and selected the following county employees as having submitted the best productivity enhancements:
Each employee or team of employees will receive $1,000 and a certificate of recognition at the Association’s Annual Conference, to be held in Cumberland County in August. To ensure that the local media are informed of the employee’s achievements, Association staff will also send press releases describing the employee’s productivity initiative. Residential Permits Tracking System Presented to Silvio Conte Like many growing counties around the state, Mecklenburg County is constantly faced with a backlog of building permits as new developments seemingly spring up every day. One employee took it upon himself to design a simple automated system to address timing, response, accuracy, efficiency and scalability of residential building and trade permitting status.
It saves employees a great deal of time and stress, and it consequently saves the county real money because of improved efficiencies. It also enables call-in customers to receive concise, accurate and quick answers to questions regarding the status of permits. When a fax or drop-off application is received by residential permitting employees, the address is logged into a tracking system, which keeps track of the date and time it was received without user intervention. Once an application is received, the permitting coordinator has two options – to assign it for processing or forward it to zoning for zoning verification. Assignments are handled by checkmarks and combo-boxes, requiring almost no typing. This makes the process error-free, since it avoids typographical mistakes. The system tracks the date and time a permit is received, assigned, sent to zoning, received by zoning, sent back to permitting and received by the processor for issuance of the permit. Unlike the logbook used in the past, the database is accessible by employees throughout the department. Newly entered records are immediately retrievable by anyone and can be sorted by a number of criteria. Management reports can quickly spot problematic record delays and take immediate action. Statistical analyses can also be run to analyze process time and who did what and when. Normally, the development of a database requires a lot of time and money. However, Silvio Conte developed this system quickly and did not require any county money for additional software. The new system has saved at least $36,000 in employee time by reducing time spent for research, $5 million in miss-production/customer savings and a minimum of $100,000 in software licensing, development, consulting and support. The total annual savings is conservatively estimated to be over $5 million. In addition, the system improved customer service and lessened the burden on staff. Customer Service 101 Training Presented to Cantina Lucas, Tami Carter, Melanie Rodgers, Kathy Backlund, Kristin Sasser and Sarah Ivy Some Lee County employees believed the county could benefit from some advanced customer service training, so they developed a training program specifically designed for government employees.
A team of six employees from five different departments joined forces worked for months to develop the complete training program, which they called “CSI: The Case of the Missing Customer Service.” The program plays on the popular television series CSI (Crime Scene Investigation). The trainers are Crime Scene Investigators, set out on a mission to find the lost customer service in today’s public sector. The exercises and props used in the trainings are based upon the show’s theme, with yellow police tape, bodies outlined on the floor, music, etc. Trainees are given a half day of highly interactive, hands-on learning in a light and fun atmosphere. Each employee receives a notebook with tailored customer service information for them, as well as specially designed handouts and documents. The topics presented in this training include: who is my customer in government; positive body language; forbidden phrases; proper e-mail and telephone/voicemail etiquette; listening; and dealing with difficult and angry customers. Each section is composed of useful and interesting information, as well as group activities, games, role-playing, brain teasers, puzzles, drawings, etc. Since the program began in March 2006, the team has successfully trained more than 400 county employees. Organizers received an overwhelming response and interest in this training, as well as future trainings related to customer service issues. CSI was initiated after Lee County commissioners met for a retreat and discussed future challenges and opportunities for the county. Commissioners said they felt it was important to have a clear vision for the expectations of county government and its employees in providing services to the community. Using in-house employees to conduct the training has resulted in significant savings for the county. The average cost to attend customer service training off-site is $109.32 per employee ($43,728.00 for 400 employees). The average cost to train employees onsite, including notebooks, documents, handouts and materials, is $3.40 per employee ($1,360 for 400 employees). Safety Program Presented to Dale Meyer and team Burke County took a long, hard look at its risk management practices to determine ways the county could reduce risk – and thereby reduce costs – in all departments. The county found that many employees were not aware of even basic work-related safety measures, which led to high workers’ compensation claims and accompanying high premiums. As a result, Burke County created a program to address employee safety, reduce workers’ compensation claims and improve property and liability insurance exposures.  The county formed a safety committee of eight county employees from high-risk departments. The committee is currently developing a Risk Management Control Manual, has successfully developed a “Light Duty – Return To Work Policy” for workers’ compensation, and planned a driver training program for all county employees with access to county vehicles to lower insurance premiums. The county found that just including various departments in the process of formulating the policy improved safety awareness in a short amount of time by raising awareness and implemented a return to work program. Workers who were allowed by their physicians to return for “light duty” were assigned to the county manager’s office. They were required to answer phones from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., which improved productivity by allowing the assistant to the county manager and the county manager to focus on other duties. Burke County also reduced its workers’ compensation insurance premiums by $14,000 and its property and liability costs by $10,000 in the first year. Injured workers returned to work sooner, and all employees had a greater awareness of safety. Soil and Water Service Improvement Presented to William D. Norris III Due to an increasing workload, Onslow County needed a way to reduce the amount of time that its water quality technicians spent in the field investigating water quality issues.
In 2006, the district purchased an HP laptop and created a workstation mounted inside the county truck. The county loaded the latest aerial photos on the laptop, enabling the investigator to access the latest land use and landowner information, thereby reducing the need for research. When working with the N.C. Ag Cost Share Program, all forms are loaded into the laptop. Site evaluations can now be done onsite on the laptop with information being typed onto forms. Maps with BMP size, location, soil types, stream locations and classifications can be created. Up to 50 percent of the paperwork can now be done in the field, reducing the need for trips back to the office and allowing the investigator to examine multiple sites in one day. The county estimates that it saves an average of four hours per project, helping the department become more efficient. In addition, by cutting out additional trips back and forth to the office, fuel expenses are reduced. If a farm qualifies for program assistance, the technician can do the paperwork onsite and take digital photographs and download them onto the computer for the historical record. Hydraulic Reconfiguration of Electric System to Operate a Pan Presented to Donnie Lee Dunkle The Rutherford County landfill had a problem. The pan that was being used by the landfill to distribute cover material over the waste that is brought to the landfill was 10 years old and experienced frequent breakdowns. When it was not working, the material in the landfill was not being adequately covered.
The county had a backup pan, but it was not operational. With the cost of a replacement pan at $500,000, one employee at the landfill decided to see if he could fix the old backup pan, which had been parked behind the garage at the landfill for more than two years. The electric shift system that operated the paddle elevator that picks up the dirt was non-operational because the part needed to repair it was a circuit board. The county had purchased three of them at $1,000 each. They were installed properly, but the rest of the shift system was so old and rusted that each time they tried to operate the pan it would work for one to two weeks, then burn out. Instead of purchasing another circuit board, Donnie Lee Dunkle designed a hydraulic system to replace the electric shift system. The hydraulic system cost $150 in parts and took about one week to repair. The pan became operational and has worked since, giving the county a backup pan for far less than it would have cost to purchase a replacement. Health Department ‘Electronic’ Accreditation Presented to Colleen Bridger, Chris Dobbins, Paula Black, Selenna Moss, Curtis Hopper, William Gross, Dr. Velma Taormina and Martha Keever In an attempt to maximize existing information technologies and minimize staff time and resources necessary to prepare for the 2006 Health Department Accreditation, the Gaston County Health Department was granted permission by the N.C. Division of Public Health and the N.C. Institute for Public Health to undergo the state’s first “electronic accreditation” site review.  The county wanted to use technology to reduce staff time needed to produce the documentation required for the accreditation site visitation teams. In the past, health departments made paper copies (many times, multiple copies of the same report) to serve as evidence in answering accreditation benchmarks (there were a total of 41 benchmarks with multiple evidence requirements within each benchmark). Under the “old” method, a health department produced hard copy evidence for each benchmark. Typically, the department would create an accreditation library of 10-20 three-inch binders full of copied materials for site visitors to review – resulting in thousands of pages of documents. The new electronic method allowed the department to scan the documents. They were loaded on internal Health Department computers and copied to portable data drives so the site visitation teams could “point and click” their way to an image of the evidence. Since health departments go through accreditation just once every four years, the documents created typically had little value after the process was complete, meaning the county would have to dispose of thousands of pieces of paper. Electronic copies are simply deleted, updated or replaced by newer versions. By eliminating unnecessary paper copies of documents and greatly reducing staff time to reproduce and file such documentation, the Health Department was able to reduce costs and direct more staff resources to addressing other healthcare needs of the community. Department officials estimate they saved $7,000 in salary costs and nearly $400 in materials needed to make the copies. The department has shared its “template” with more than 30 other North Carolina Public Health agencies that have been or are scheduled to be accredited, significantly reducing preparation time and costs. This new method can also reduce the amount of time that Accreditation Site Visit Teams spend onsite since much of the accreditation materials can be sent electronically. Utilization of Retiree Resource Network Volunteers Presented to Mark Burrows, Trish Hamilton and William Layton Like many rural counties, Transylvania County has to make the most of its resources. When the county was preparing its Economic Development Strategic Plan for 2006-2009, it needed to obtain evaluations of current economic development programs, initiatives and priorities from elected officials and community, business and professional leaders.
Rather than engage outside consultants for this work, as was done with the strategic plan for 2002-05, 20 members of the newly organized Retiree Resource Network were selected to help design a proposed questionnaire and conduct individual interviews with about 70 participants. The interviews provided excellent qualitative information to supplement the quantitative results. Network members also reviewed the resulting draft strategic plan and recommended improvements. After a brief training session conducted by Network Coordinator Bill Layton, each of the 20 network members scheduled one-on-one interviews with three to five business and community leaders. By utilizing the Retiree Resource Network, the county was able to complete the economic development strategic plan in-house and avoid the cost of external resources. A similar plan developed for 2002-05 with the aid of an outside consulting firm cost approximately $40,000. In less than three years, the Transylvania County Retiree Resource Network has grown from a handful of retired executives to more than 70 volunteers. Their backgrounds are diverse, covering extensive experience in engineering, manufacturing, general management, marketing, sales, finance and accounting, human resources, small business consulting and more. The network has provided free consulting services to between 40 and 50 companies and organizations in the county, and feedback from the network’s clients has been positive. Conversion of Surplus Ambulance into Landfill Service Truck Presented to James Brown, Andy Davis and Gary Strickland The heavy equipment that is used in landfills is in frequent need of minor repairs. Wilson County found a more efficient way to service and maintain the vehicles by converting a surplus ambulance into a landfill service truck.  All the compartments in the ambulance that were formerly used for storing life-saving equipment are now used for storing time-saving tools and materials needed to service the landfill vehicles. The converted ambulance even carries an air compressor large enough to operate pneumatic tools. Repairs can now be made in the field, instead of requiring the truck to return to the shop for maintenance. The service truck saves time and effort since it provides a portable, central supply function for service away from the central shop. The service truck allows employees to “multi-task” when doing repairs, refueling, or maintaining landfill equipment. The county estimates that four hours of labor are saved each week. The time saved is used to recover recyclables from the work face. Bulk fluids and grease are used, resulting in lower material costs. The landfill team provided the labor to convert the ambulance into a service truck. Materials for the project cost less than $1,000, while a new service truck would probably cost at least $40,000. ACTION06: Automated Customer Tracking & Inventory Online Network Presented to Joe Will, Robert Peterson and Daniel Love Gaston County’s Information Technology Department wanted to better serve its county employees. Unsatisfied with the old service desk system, IT Department employees created ACTION06, an integrated service desk system that is completely Web-based.
ACTION06 encompasses customer satisfaction surveys, performance measurements, work orders, inventory, mileage calculation and tracking, automatic reimbursement requisition generation, PC refresh, hardware budget projections and telephone directory. The program is accessible to all Web browsers, enabling the system to be deployed simultaneously with 200 users in 30 departments. The system enables users to submit paperless work orders and receive electronic approval, and streamlines the work order process by automatically e-mailing the requestor the status of the work order as it attains certain benchmarks. This eliminates the need for multiple phone calls from customers to inquire about the status of their work orders. The inventory module is a complete tracking of all computer hardware and software. It ties the movement of hardware to a location, user, work order, and the technician who installed the equipment. Technicians now update inventory at the customer site instead of returning to the office after each site visit. Besides ensuring greater accuracy of information, this has also reduced the department’s local travel reimbursements by 32 percent. Automatic status e-mails generated by ACTION06 have eliminated the need for service desk staff to field phone calls about work order statuses. This time is now spent addressing other more critical and time-sensitive issues in a more expedited manner. A service desk position was eliminated through attrition with a savings of $44,708. ‘Be Well and Well Informed’ Presented to LeighAnn Creson, Yuvette Farmer, Bess Hester-Whitt, Rhonda Long, Rebecca Morrow, Beth Riley and Angie Warren With its group benefits expenses growing rapidly, Person County decided to take a two-pronged approach to reducing the costs. The county wanted to educate employees about health and wellness issues and provide opportunities for employees to engage in physical activities in an attempt to improve their health.
The county initiated a lunch-and-learn series called “Wellness Wednesdays” with programs directed toward general health and wellness as well as specific topics targeted toward areas of high insurance claims. The “Walk or Workout” program gave employees 45 minutes of work time twice weekly to increase physical activity. The county measured and mapped exercise areas near employee worksites and negotiated discount rates at local gyms for county employees. Treadmills were purchased and located at EMS stations and the Law Enforcement Center for employees who could not leave their workplace. The county distributed health education materials quarterly to all county employees, offered a series of free tests during a “Health Screening Day” for employees and provided numerous educational pieces to employees. All the activities were designed to encourage employees to take a more active role in their physical well-being. Besides helping employees improve their health – and hopefully reduce their medical expenses – the program had a side benefit. The effort resulted in a healthier and happier workforce. The county saw a dramatic drop in its loss ratio, from just under 85 percent in 2005-06 to a little more than 63 percent in 2006-07. The county also saw its claims amount decrease even though more employees and dependents were covered. |
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