Managing Change: Improving Efficiency and Effectiveness of Services
Seven City Employees Recognized for First Gainsharing Cost
Savings Award
Mayor Dewey Bartlett announced Tuesday, Feb. 21, that a team of
seven maintenance and operations employees generated $108,000 in
additional savings since July 1, 2011, resulting in a total savings
to date of $224,000. As a result of the City's Gainsharing policy
adopted to reward employee teams that win work through managed
competition, each employee will receive a check in the amount of
$3,863.53. The total award to the team is $27,044.71, and the
remainder of savings will be retained until the end of the fiscal
year.
Press Release
Tulsa Parks Department Restructuring
In 2009, 87 Tulsa Parks' full-time maintenance positions were
transferred to the Public Works Department in an effort to
consolidate like services. The Tulsa Parks Master Plan was created
in 2010 and subsequently adopted and approved by the City Council
as part of PLANiTulsa. Mayor Bartlett directed the MRO to review
and evaluate the restructuring of the Parks Department to determine
how to best position the Parks Department to be a full-service
organization that controls both facilities and equipment where it
provides its programs and services. In order to implement the Tulsa
Parks Master Plan and seek national accreditation for Tulsa Parks,
parks maintenance functions have now been restored to the Tulsa
Parks. The official transfer of employees to the Tulsa Parks is
effective Jan. 1, 2012. More updates will be made available in the
near future.
Creation of 911 Public Safety Communications Department
December 20, 2011 - Mayor Dewey Bartlett signed an executive
order creating the 911 Public Safety Communications Department.
Formerly a division of the City's Information Technology
Department, this change came about because of the high degree of
dissatisfaction expressed by citizens, Police, Fire, Sheriff's
Office, and our City Council over the length of time it took to
answer 911 calls and receive a response from the dispatched
emergency service provider. The National Emergency Number
Association (NENA) states that a 911 center should answer 90
percent of the calls received within 10 seconds and 95 percent of
the calls received within 20 seconds. IT records indicate that
calls are answered within the NENA standards only 51 percent of the
time.
Going forward, the new 911 Public Safety Communications
Department will be working hard to improve technology with national
standards, address long-standing technology issues, employ best
practices in emergency communications, including recruitment,
hiring, training and retaining good employees so we can position
Tulsa's 911 Public Safety Communication to become a leader in
emergency communications.
Read the
full Recommendation Report
October 5-Year Savings Projections Released (
Download)
November 3, 2011 - KJRH Channel 2 Reporter Marla Carter
Interviews Building Operations Manager John Comer and MRO Director
Vickie Beyer about Efficiency Changes.
Read the Full Story
City Seeks Consultant to Help Reduce Workplace Injuries and
Accidents
October 3, 2011
The rate of workplace injuries among City of Tulsa employees has
been increasing sharply and workers compensation expenses cost the
City more than $10 million in fiscal 2011.
The City's Management Review Office (MRO) and Human Resources
Department have issued an RFP for a professional consulting firm to
study the City's workplace safety policies and procedures and
recommend strategies to drive down injuries and related costs.
The federal Occupational Safety & Health Administration and
Bureau of Labor Statistics calculate workplace injury incident
rates to measure how many injuries occur compared to hours of labor
performed.
An incident rate of 1 or 2 is considered good, while a rate of 4
or more is considered a cause for concern, says MRO Director Vickie
Beyer. "The City's rate for last year is 25.63," she said.
"We need to create a greater awareness among employees of how to
avoid being hurt," Beyer said. "We hope that by improving workplace
safety practices, a large part of that $10 million dollars that we
currently spend on workers compensation claims can be spent instead
on salaries, benefits or employee services."
The City's workers compensation expenses are rising, Beyer said,
"and we want an experienced professional consultant to give us
proposals on how to reverse that trend."
Beyer said other cities have done similar studies and
implemented changes that reduced injury-related costs by as much as
75 percent. The MRO projects that improvements in safety culture
and procedures will save a minimum of a million dollars annually,
although potential savings could be far greater.
Tulsa's injury incident rates are higher than those of Oklahoma
City or Wichita, comparable cities in the region.
Beyer said the Human Resources Department is also analyzing
injury data by department and will have that data ready by
mid-October. Proposals from consulting firms will be due in mid-
November, Beyer said.
Some Parks Maintenance Duties to Return to Parks
Department
September 21, 2011
Mayor Dewey Bartlett and the Tulsa Parks Board have asked Tulsa
Parks & Recreation Director Lucy Dolman to formulate a plan for
returning parks maintenance functions to the Parks Department.
Read more...
Partnership with Humane Society of Tulsa
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September 8, 2011 - The City of Tulsa announces a partnership
with the Humane Society of Tulsa for the adoption of pets at the
City's Animal Welfare facility.
Read the full press release
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Managing Change - One Year Later
Milestones
Completed
Projects
Projected
Savings
Read the September 4, 2011 Tulsa World article on "
A Year Later, KPMG Study's Impact on Tulsa Lauded" by Brian
Barber
Managing Change - City Workers Win Bid
Watch the June 2, 2011 City Hall Building Maintenance
Contract News Conference and read the Tulsa
World Editorial.
Read the
Tulsa World article on the Building Maintenance bid. April 2,
2011
5-12-11. Bids are in for Facilities Maintenance. Read the full
press release.
The Citizen Survey findings are now available online.
Study provides recommendations to enhance efficiency, reduce
costs and generate revenue
Tulsa Mayor Dewey Bartlett presented the recommendations of an
independent study that will provide a long-term road map for the
operations of Tulsa city government. The report, which was based on
input from employees, focuses on strategic opportunities to improve
the efficiency and cost effectiveness of services provided by the
city.
"With an estimated $18.2 million shortfall in next fiscal year's
budget on top of the $11.6 million shortfall in the FY2010-11
budget, we must find ways to reduce costs while continuing to
provide basic, high quality services to our residents," Bartlett
said. "We have outstanding employees, but some inefficient,
outdated processes and programs. This report provides
recommendations on how to remove those inefficiencies and better
utilize taxpayer money."
"Managing Change: Opportunities for Municipal Efficiency and
Effectiveness" was developed by KPMG, an independent, third-party
firm of efficiency experts, and was funded by Tulsa Community
Foundation at no cost to the city or taxpayers. In addition to
gathering input from 457 employees, KPMG used a systematic approach
based on leading practices in government and commercial sectors to
review 1,512 city services provided by 20 city departments.
Key findings in the report include:
- Sixty-one percent of city services are not mandated (some may
be strategically aligned or provide critical support)
- Of the total services provided, 69 percent should be
benchmarked for cost-effectiveness
- Sixty-one percent of services have no basis to determine if
they are competitive with other private or public
organizations
- Only 12 percent of services possess measurable objectives,
goals or performance measures
- Many customer-service provider relationships do not appear to
establish service-level expectations
- Many administrative processes are manually intense, with
multiple levels of approval
Recommendations in the report include:
- Competitive bidding on the right to lease assets, including
operation, maintenance and financing of services
- Strategic elimination, reduction or suspension of some
services
- Strategic sourcing of services across internal resources and
external providers to convert fixed into variable costs
- Managed competition to ensure the largest savings possible
- Utilization of public-private partnerships to offset or
transfer the city's investment in operating and capital costs
- Internal consolidation and development of inter-agency
relationships to maximize efficiencies
- Centralization and automation of processes and leveraging of
shared resources
"The report does recommend strategic elimination of some
non-essential, non-mandated programs and services," Bartlett said.
"While layoffs cannot be assured against, any conversation about
reduction in workforce is very premature."
"Although I believe we could continue to face reductions in our
resources in the near future, this effort will provide us with a
blueprint to weather the storm and position us well for the
future," Bartlett said. "I appreciate the perseverance of our
employees as we try to find ways to balance the needs of our
customers with the reality of greatly diminished budgets. We've
already been through a lot of change, with significant layoffs.
Through this effort, I believe we can position our city so we don't
have to go through that process again. I recognize that change is
difficult, but those willing to change will come out on top in the
end. I believe together we can achieve positive change and ensure a
prosperous future for our city."
A Steering Committee consisting of business and philanthropic
leaders and representatives from the City Council, the Mayor's
Office and Tulsa County oversaw the study process. The committee
approved KMPG's methodology prior to the study, validated potential
opportunities and provided input on priority initiatives for
consideration during the first phase of implementation. Going
forward, members include:
- Mayor Dewey Bartlett, Jr.
- Robyn Ewing, senior vice president and chief administrative
officer, Williams
- Phil Frohlich, founder/president, Prescott Group Capital
Management
- Ken Lackey, chairman of the board, The NORDAM Group
- Jeff Stava, COO, Tulsa Community Foundation
"Tulsa Community Foundation funded this report to help the city
of Tulsa," said Jeff Stava, Tulsa Community Foundation COO. "KPMG
compiled the information, wrote, edited and published the report
with the help of the steering committee, city staff and Mayor
Bartlett. This report is our gift to the city, and we look forward
to a united effort to execute the best recommendations."
