2006-05-04 Cost of Government Commission Minutes

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would need six full -time engineers to handle these projects, with an average salary of $70,000 each. This would save the County about $1.3 million per year in consultant fees. • Additional engineering staff would also allow in -house construction management of various projects. They currently have one contract, totaling about $275,000. This equates to two engineers, with each one handling an average of two construction projects per year. It is anticipated that additional construction management services will be required for future projects related to the large- capacity cesspool compliance, as well as other projects. • Establishment of a Grants Manager position to pursue government grants would help to fund the CIP projects. A Grants Manager would also be able to research and pursue more grants, thus relieving the staff engineers who are currently tasked with pursuing and managing these grant funds. At the present time, CIP's are funded through bonds or revolving fund loans. Grants would be free. She explained that her section oversees the federal grants and Brownfields Assessment grants. A dedicated grants person would be able to handle those grants, as well as pursue any other grants that may be appropriate for a project. This would relieve the engineers and allow them to concentrate on the more immediate projects. 2. Do you see any way to consolidate services, activities and functions of a similar nature within your own department as well as with other departments? • The sewer billing is something that could be consolidated with the Department of Water Supply's billing, as is done on Oahu and Maui. This would save about $25,000 per year in postage and direct supplies alone. Additional savings would be in labor costs. Combining the billing would improve collections, as would disconnecting water for non- payment. The degree to which collections would improve is unknown. To combine the billing would require the same billing practices, payment terms, and consequences for both the Water Supply Department and Wastewater Division, and this would require the approval of the Water Board as well as significant changes to the October 1, 2005, ordinance. There are also complexities due to DWS and Wastewater not necessarily billing the same customer, so until common practices can be established, separate billings may be the most practical. • See if the various payroll forms could be consolidated into one form. Currently there are different forms for leaves of absence, temporary assignment, overtime, etc. There is duplication of information. • The establishment of a two -week lag in payroll would significantly reduce the time spent by account clerks on correcting timesheets after they have already been submitted. The current system requires employees to predict their hours, since the timesheet is due the day the paycheck is issued. As a result, account clerks spend a lot of their time going back and figuring out what hours employees really worked. 3. Are there any services, activities, and functions not necessary to the efficient conduct of government that could be eliminated?