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2007-08 Ralph W. Ketner Employee Productivity Awards winners
Thanks to the financial support of Mr. Ralph W. Ketner, co-founder of Food Lion, Inc., employees in 10 counties will be recognized and rewarded at the NCACC’s 101st Annual Conference for their innovative initiatives.
The Association announced July 24 the winning entries in the 2007-08 Ketner Employee Productivity Awards Program. For the past 17 years, Mr. Ketner has donated $10,000 to reward outstanding county employees. Each employee or team of employees will receive $1,000 and a certificate of recognition during the Annual Conference. To date, the program has attracted 1,350 project applications representing more than $100 million in savings to North Carolina counties. NCACC President David Young 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 24 to consider all eligible applications and select the entries representing the best productivity enhancements.
'Up Close & Personal' – Business and Personal Property Tax Improvements Presented to Renee Adams, Tom Davis, Beverly Mercer, Ladoska Jones, Tom Bagby
Due to a lack of information and/or low enforcement efforts, many new and existing businesses in Brunswick County were not listing their business personal property for taxation. County tax officials were still missing a significant number of businesses after exhausting traditional search methods such as thumbing through telephone directories, chambers of commerce memberships, newspaper announcements and state registration files. With that, tax officials decided to get "up close and personal" by developing an enhanced customer relations project that involved a temporary "field lister" systematically driving the roads of the county and knocking on the door of unlisted businesses. The project began with the assembly of a customer-friendly information brochure, which along with a letter of greeting and a property tax listing form, were delivered via the field lister. The field lister took the time to help business owners understand the law and how they could comply without additional penalty. The personal contact not only enhanced the county's professional image in the eyes of business owners, it added $63 million to the county tax base – increasing revenue by $192,000 for an expense of less than $30,000. Due to the success of the project, the county plans to create a full-time job combining field listing with on-site auditing. Foster Care Guardianship Assistance and Support Program Presented to Sam Haithcock, Chuck Harris, Michael Ward After watching the number of youth entering foster care increase by 30 percent over a five-year period, Durham County Social Services took a proactive step to help provide support to relatives of youth destined to enter the foster care system who were willing to provide for the care of youth but lacked the means to do so. Provided a $28,500 start-up grant by the Board of Commissioners for the 2007-08 fiscal year, the department initiated the Guardianship Assistance Program (GAP) and began allowing youth into the program in January 2008. By May 15, 14 youth had entered into a GAP supported arrangement with relatives. Had those youth entered foster care, placement costs alone would have reached more than $25,000 during that timeframe. Under GAP, the county incurred expenditures of less than $5,000, and the youth avoided the trauma associated with involuntary removal from their families. Social Services officials estimate that roughly 40 youth will enter GAP annually, and that the program will be fully funded through the avoidance of foster care costs. Program supports include child care subsidy for children 12 years old and younger; access to $4,000 annually in vendor payments to meet special educational, medical, mental health and self-esteem needs of the youth; and on-going access to a Kinship Care Coordinator for advocacy, counseling and community liaison services. Animal Web Online Locator of Pets (AWOL-Pets) Presented to Vân Wortman, Reggie Horton, Lisa Benton
Looking to adopt a cat? Want help with looking for your lost dog? In Gaston County, citizens can do these things and more without picking up a phone or visiting the animal shelter, thanks to the county's Animal Web Online Locator of Pets initiative. Using a Web-based application developed in-house, the county's Animal Control officials can enter data and animal photos at any time and have the updates automatically appear on the Animal Control section of the county's Web site, www.co.gaston.nc.us. In addition to providing a valuable public service, the automated system saves time for the Webmaster, Animal Control kennel manager and front desk employees. Under the previous mode of operation, the kennel manager compiled a daily report of all new admissions, which she e-mailed to the Webmaster – sometimes up to 10 times in a day – a process that took up to two hours a day. The Webmaster then forwarded that information to various groups, such as representatives of rescue groups and citizens interested in livestock to be auctioned off, that were maintained on a mailing list. The Webmaster also no longer has to manually update the Web site with new animals. Front desk employees spend less time on the phone with citizens. All told, the annual cost savings in personnel time is roughly $13,000. The biggest benefit is the increase in number of animals adopted or reclaimed, and the decrease in percentage of animals euthanized. Introduction of Group Interviews Forum for Non-Custodial Parents Presented to Melody Beaver, Mistie Fisher Faced with a six-month backlog for non-custodial parent interviews due to staff vacancies, Halifax County Child Support saw a need for a streamlined mechanism for assuring quality, timeliness and consistency in interviews handled by newly hired child support agents. As a result, the county introduced a group interviews forum for non-custodial parents, using a PowerPoint presentation to review program objectives and techniques before breaking into one-on-one conferences with parents to address case particulars and offer an administrative option to resolve all issues. The approach has saved time (97.5 hours in interview time over six months), effort and money. Within 90 days of implementation, the county's backlog was depleted. Non-custodial parent participation increased by 65 percent, and within six months of the start date, Child Support Enforcement negotiated 108 Voluntary Support Agreements, representing a 514 percent increase over the same time period in 2006, and added $23,486 to monthly obligations. By resolving these agreements administratively, the county avoided pursuing court options that would have cost $8,526 in court filing fees, and saved time for the staff attorney and judges to the tune of 29 work days in court prep activities and actual hearing time. Most significantly, custodial parents received support payments in a timelier manner. Implementing Open Access Scheduling (OAS) for WIC Program Presented to Pam Foster
Plagued by a no-show rate of roughly half of all daily WIC Program clients, Henderson County implemented Open Access Scheduling system, enabling Public Health Department employees to see a much larger number of clients in a day and increasing the percentage of clients who showed for their appointments. In Henderson's "true" Open Access system, clients are able to call the same day for an appointment. Prior to Open Access Scheduling, the standard WIC appointment was scheduled three months in advance. This resulted in show rates of less than 60 percent, since a disproportionate number of clients have transportation or work challenges that make it difficult to schedule an appointment that far in the future. It also caused inflexibility for staff members, who had to schedule vacation and holiday times three months in advance. Despite encountering resistance from clients during the first few months, clients and staff surveyed after six months of operation said they preferred the new system, and the show rate increased to 98 percent. During a six-month period under the previous system, the county served 3,350 clients. That number increased to 5,271 clients – with no increase in staffing – during a six-month period using Open Access Scheduling. Great Minds, Great Improvements Project – Child Support Productivity
Presented to Sheila Beck-Jones, Patti Skomra, Gloria Baldwin, Demetrius Love, Larry Richards, Sharon Daugherty, Beatrix Hamilton, Cathi Durick, Sgt. Roy Downing, Elizabeth Marshall Through staff training and dedication and productivity improvements, Hoke County Child Support Enforcement is increasing its success in achieving its mission of consistently collecting as much child support money as possible for the benefit of North Carolina's children. Several productivity improvement projects implemented since January 2007 include:
Rigid Plastics Recycling Presented to Diane Lewis
When Iredell County Solid Waste decided to try to put a dent in the roughly 900 tons of materials that enter the county's landfill daily, audits revealed large amounts of rigid plastics that were entering the landfill through industrial sources. Though traditionally reluctant to aggressively pursue industrial waste reduction due to the amount of revenue it generates through the tipping tax, landfill managers were open to targeting bulky materials that consumed excessive space. These rigid plastics, difficult to compact in the landfill, were already being baled when received from homeowners. Received in the form of plastic buckets, barrels and toys, collection of these items was minimal. To really make a difference, landfill workers would need to pull from larger commercial sources, and they found one in a company that manufactures plastic casings for automobile batteries. The county had the necessary equipment to collect and bale the material already on hand, so no funds were needed for equipment purchases. The county has found that there is a market for the rigid plastics and is able to collect 10 cents per pound. Having processed 324,000 pounds at the time of application, the county has collected $32,400 in sales of the material. The county estimates it has saved 311 cubic yards in its landfill, all while helping companies avoid $5,670 in tipping fees. The gain in revenue and landfill has been more than enough to offset any loss in tipping taxes. eRecords for Electronic Business Recording Presented to Craig Olive, Jeff Wilson, Clarry Gathers, Peggy Ingram, Edna McLamb, Joan Plowman, Pauline Sanders, Gail Sievert, Donna Stallings, Melody Stone
A program that allows businesses to electronically submit documents for recording at the Register of Deeds Office is a win-win for citizens and the environment. E-recording is an economical and speedy alternative to forcing customers to either physically drive to the courthouse or hire a courier to deliver documents for recording. Lenders, lawyers and professionals can simply e-mail documents to the Register of Deeds and – with the help of recording software – receive a recorded document for review and view the document online in a matter of minutes. The county is able to increase staff productivity and reduce the need for new employees, and eliminate paper-handling processes and errors. Consumers save money that would be spent on fuel or a courier service and enjoy the peace of mind that comes from an increase in security of their information. From an environmental perspective, the new process saves trees used for paper. While Johnston was the first county to adopt e-recording and the first to record a document that had been electronically notarized in North Carolina by an e-notary, several counties have already followed suit, including Wake, Yancey, Pender, Madison and Guilford. Inspect Plus Software – On-Site Field Inspections Permitting Presented to Dan Bruce
A software application utilized to process all aspects of field inspections has freed Orange County employees an estimated 3,000 hours annually in data entry, cut paper usage by roughly 1,000 sheets each week, and – because it was developed in-house – saved taxpayers approximately $70,000 for similar software and $10,000 in annual licensing fees. The county saw the opportunity to streamline its inspections process during a 2006 address verification project that involved assigning latitudinal and longitudinal coordinates for each primary structure within the county. The Inspections Division coordinated the design, creation and deployment of the Inspect Plus program, which provided staffing and resource efficiencies while managing the increasingly complex function of building inspections, beginning in early 2007. As the project matured, it incorporated a library of the most common rejection items that are entered via a bar code scan while the inspector is on the jobsite – providing, over time, a reliable list of the most prevalent non-compliant issues. That list can be used in the future to provide educational opportunities for permit holders and contractors. Contractors have complimented county in-field inspectors because the system increases the amount of information available on the jobsite. Inspectors, who no longer must drive back to the office to enter result data at the end of each day, are free to conduct inspections later into the day. Office staff saves time since they do not have to print out inspection requests and file them at the end of the day. The division helped to offset some of the $50,000 expense for the field-grade laptops, portable printers and vehicle docking equipment by trading relatively new desktop computers back to the county Information Technology Department for reallocation to other county facilities. Waste Truck Packing System Presented to Gene Toney
The ingenuity of Assistant Solid Waste Director Gene Toney has saved Rutherford County manpower and equipment expenses when packing transport trailers to haul solid waste to an offsite landfill. Open-top tractor trailers enter the transfer station under the operating area so the top of the trailer is level with the floor of the transfer station. Previously, two backhoe operators would push the solid waste into the trailers and compact it with the backhoe's bucket – a process that utilized two men and two backhoes, and took 20 minutes to complete. Toney's device – a simple, overhead ram-type packing system – allowed the truck to be loaded by one backhoe operator in 10 minutes. The packing system utilizes an I-beam attached perpendicularly to the transfer station floor via a heavy duty pole. When engaged remotely from the transfer station office, the I-beam moves slowly down the pole onto the waste in the trailer, compacting it using 1,000 pounds of pressure. The packer is simple in construction, making maintenance rare and relatively inexpensive. Use of the system eliminates the need for one backhoe, which combined with fuel and upkeep costs, saves the county roughly $50,000 annually after a first-year savings of $25,000. Other counties and an engineering firm have visited the transfer station to see the packing system. |
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