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Home My WebLink AboutMINUTES - 02231999 - C195 s TO. BOARD OF' SUPERVISORS Contra SUPERVISOR JOE CANCIAMILLA FROM: Costa February 18, 1999 COUnty IRATE: SUBJECT. COORDINATION OF PERFORMANCE REPORTS WITH BUDGET HEARINGS SPECIFIC REOUEST(S)OR RECOMMENDATION(S)&BACKGROUND AND.JUSTIFICATION RECOMMENDATIONS; 1. APPROVE the attached outline of how department performance reports should be prepared for the 1999-2000 fiscal year. . ESTABLISH as a goal for the 1999-2090 performance reports that specific, quantified, measurable goals (Performance Objectives)be prepared for each of a department's major programs and that the mechanism for measuring progress toward each performance objective (Performance Outcome) is agreed to and put in place, 3. ESTABLISH as a goal for the 2000-2001 performance reports that the extent to which a department has achieved its Performance Objectives will be able to be measured. 4. AGREE to expand the amount of time dedicated to budget hearings so that departments can present their performance report at the same time they present their budget request. f 5. REQUEST the County Administrator to determine the amount of time that will be required for budget hearings for the 19992000 County Budget, including the presentation of performance reports, and return a proposed schedule to the Board of Supervisors. v". aT-1,e^p?,pr_eIT. YES SIGNATURE: ----- RECOMMENDATION OF CdUNTY ADM ISTRATOR —.__.RECOMMENDATION OF BOARD COMMITTEE APPROVE OTHtf f.` SIGNATURE(S): 4b� 6 CIAMILLA ACTION OF BOARD Oi!J' Fe�fU+ ry 23, 1999 APPROVED AS RECOMM€NDEDX OTHER 1X IT IS BY THE BOARD ORDERED the above recommendations are APPROVED; and REQUESTED the Performa a-> Reports be presented two weeks to the Board in advance of the Board's agenda date; and that the Department Pleads are to provide three key items in their report for the Board's assistance in achieving their department's goals. VOTE OF SUPERVISORS I HEREBY CERTIFY THAT THIS IS ATRUE X UNANIMOUS(ABSENT u m _ ) AND CORRECT COPY OF AN ACTION TAKEN AYES, NOES: AND ENTERED ON THE MINUTES OF THE BOARD ABSENT: ABSTAIN: OF SUPERVISORS ON THE DATE SHOWN. ATTESTED February 23, 1999 Contact: PHIL BATCHELOR,CLERK OF THE BOARD OF cc: SUPERVISOR AND COUNTY ADMINISTRATOR s F f` a ,. x>. � ,DEPUTY b. AUTHORIZE the County Administrator to communicate these changes to each department head. BACKGROUND: It is clear that the current system we are using for having department heads present their performance reports is not working as well as it could. We do not set aside enough time, department heads are often rushed through their presentation and there is insufficient time to engage in a real dialogue with a department head. I am, therefore, suggesting that we combine the presentation of a performance report with the presentation of the department's budget at budget hearings. This will mean that Board members will have to be prepared to dedicate more time to budget hearings than has been true in the past, but it will also make budget hearings more complete by providing an opportunity to review all aspects of a department's performance, not just the budget. An additional change that should be included is focusing the performance report on measurable objectives. What we have too often focused on in the past has been caseload,workload and activity levels. These do not necessarily measure the extent to which a department is achieving the goals that have been agreed on. It will, however, take time to establish realistic objectives, identify the appropriate way of measuring progress toward the objective, gather the data and then be in a position to measure actual progress toward the objective. Therefore, for the first year we should focus on establishing the objectives and setting up the mechanism to measure the extent to which the objective is achieved. In the second year, then,we should be in a position to actually determine the extent to which an objective has been achieved. -2- INSTRUCTIONS FOR PREPARATION OF DEPARTMENTAL PERFORMANCE REPORT Outline of the Report: The Departmental Performance Report (the report) is to contain four distinct sections: 1. Department Accomplishments 2, Department Challenges 3. Department Performance Outcomes 4. Additional Financing to Improve Department Performance Definitions: Three terms are important to keep in mind in preparing the report: A "Performance Indicator" is the general area the department plans to measure, For Probation, a Performance Indicator might be "preventing recidivism". A "Performance Objective" is the specific, quantified, measurable goal that the department proposes to achieve in the next year to move toward the performance indicator. One such objective for the Treasurer might be, "To exceed the fi month Treasury bill interest rate for the County's investments by basis points. A"Performance Outcome" is a measure of whether the performance objective was achieved. Discussion of Repos# Content: I. Department Accomplishments For 1999, Section 1, Department Accomplishments, will be similar to what it has been in the past, namely a listing of achievements the department is proud of and wants to bring to the Board's attention, In future years, this section will be substantially changed and will reflect a measuring of how the department performed against the prior year's objectives. If it is possible to tie some accomplishments to last year's objectives, please Include the relevant data. In future years, this section will reflect the actual measurement of the extent to which each of the prior year's performance objectives was achieved. 2. Department Challenges This section should include bath external challenges, such as a threat to withdraw Federal funding for a program, and internal challenges. Internal challenges can include organizational issues the department will be confronting in the coming year, the implementation of a new and complex program, the likely lass of key staff through retirement, or the difficulty of recruiting and retaining specialized technical staff. This is an opportunity to provide the Board with a "heads up" in areas where you are likely to have problems in the coming year that the Board should be aware of and what you plan to do to confront and resolve each challenge. 3. department Performance Outcomes This is the section that should receive the most attention in 1999, The department should describe perhaps one or two indicators for each for each major division or program in the department. These indicators should answer the question, "Why does this program or division exist?" Veterans Service or Animal Services may have only one or two indicators. Health Services may have one or two for each of its major divisions (regional Medical Center and Clinics, Mental Health, public Health, Substance Abuse, Contra Costa Health Pian, Environmental Health, Finance and Administrative Support, etc.). Once the indicators have been defined, it is necessary to describe how far toward the goal of each indicator the department believes it can reasonably move in the next 12 months. These objectives need to be specific, quantified and measurable. Ideally, the objective would be so clear that any outside group could come in after the fact, look at the data and reach a conclusion about whether the objective was achieved. The objectives need to answer the question, "How far toward the indicator is the department going to move in the next 12 months'?" Finally, it is important to describe rather precisely what data is going to be gathered to measure the objective and, if necessary, how the data is going to be gathered. This way there is less likely to be an argument after the fact on the source of the data which is used to measure the extent to which the objective has been met. For example, "We will use the total from line 45 of Form 16 for each month." That way anyone aught to be able to look at the total from line 45 of Form 15 and reach the same conclusion regarding the extent to which the objective was achieved. 2 4. Additional Financing to Improve Department Performance It is often a legitimate defense to argue that a program was unable to achieve as much as it should have because the department was not given enough money, personnel or other resources. In addition, it is helpful for the Board to understand the department's priorities in case additional resources could be made available. In this section, the department should indicate what it would do with an additional S in its budget. Ideally, this discussion should focus on what the department believes it could achieve with the additional funds and which program would be targeted for the funds, whether a new program or an augmentation to an existing program. In other words, if the department has had to modify its objective for a program because of the lack of resources, describe how much more of the objective the department would be able to achieve with the additional funds. For instance, if your objective with your existing resources for a immunization clinic is to achieve an immunization rate for infants of % by the end of the year, how much could you increase that figure with an additional $ added to your budget? 3