When building trust with your constituents is important, front line employees are the seed corn. Cutting these people may simply eat away your future. Douglas County should not negotiate as if tomorrow will not arrive.
As CitiGroup, GM and the big ones fell, there was quiet comfort for some governmental types soothing the stings from long echoing babble "run it like a business."
Government is not a business; has different purpose, constraints and obligations. Yet, business lessons taught by our floundering economy mandates a second look and retooling of governments. Keep an eye on the future; grow into something new versus repeating the boom-bust cycles.
Our county rose to the current fiscal crisis in typical fashion. Expanding the number of managers while cutting service delivery people. More managers and fewer people to answer phones or work customer service counters. It is an old model as broken as GM. Arguably, the roads division delivers the most demanded service by the county residents. Yet, because our self-defined roads fund is down, we will cut road service. Only a bureaucratic mind fences funds as if no other options exist. And the mistakes of managers continue to cost the residents and the workers dearly. Protected employees and pet projects still undermine good governance.
The county system is laced in a culture rewarding loyalty to the manager, not to the county. Short-term decisions become obstacles to progress. Facilities, for example; consider the Minden Inn, saving it was admirable, but at what cost? Too much inefficiency built in solely due to the number of physical locations of county offices. A single administrative facility for all county functions would be most efficient, yet it is not to be.
Maybe a fluid government could have done both; saved the Minden Inn and consolidated office space. The concept of a county government mall in Minden was a dream (epitomized by the Minden Inn expansion). It should have been sold or leased. Today, it reeks of inefficiencies that are harder and more expensive to correct. The sheriff's office, courts and other current needs are more straws saddling the beast for our county's future.
We bought a facility to accommodate an expanding library knowing the economic decline was upon us and that librarians are almost the first cut. These are management flops, not the rank and file of county workers.
Many counties have a consolidated office and push service forward into needed service areas vice decentralized offices based upon functional areas. This promotes efficiencies for labor as a pool of employees can respond to the common needs of residents. (A goal worth working towards).
Our model is just as broken as GM, governments expect people to buy what is offered. It collapsed under its own weight, carrying a legacy of good intention and mistakes. Our county responds with the same ineptitude displayed by the automakers; it is not just the labor contracts that need serious revisions. Remove the splinter from our eyes and work towards long range plans; not just the facilities model used as an illustration but the broader perspective of delivering essential public services for the lowest taxed model possible.
Maybe out of state management consultants and other recent re-orgs should be rethought. Like local businesses are learning, a friendly front line is the best strategy to gain customer trust and loyalty. More management and less service people may leave us without planting stock for a better future.
Mitch Dion is former Douglas County Community Development Director.
