Item R4
BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS
AGENDA ITEM SUMMARY
Meeting Date: April 21. 2004
Division: County Administrator
Bulk Item: Yes No
Department: County Administrator
AGENDA ITEM WORDING:
Approval of the creation of five positions to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of County
government.
ITEM BACKGROUND:
In past years, the County has undertaken significant staffing reductions for the sake of providing
economies to the services, Unfortunately, some of the reductions and the lack of creating new positions
as identified has resulted in some circumstances where the County is unable to meet its obligations. At
various sectors of County government, staffing is running very thin and the problems of recruitment and
retention have become serious.
PREVIOUS RELEVANT BOCC ACTION:
N/A
CONTRACT/AGREEMENT CHANGES:
N/A
STAFF RECOMMENDATIONS:
Approval of the four positions identified in the attached document.
TOTAL COST:
$167.147 + Benefits
BUDGETED: Yes
No/'
COST TO COUNTY: $167.147 + Benefits
SOURCE OF FUNDS:
$70,254 + Benefits - County-wide Ad Valorem
$96,894 + Benefits - District 1 Ad Valorem
REVENUE PRODUCING: Yes
No./ AMOUNTPERMONTH_ Year
APPROVED BY: County Atty _
OMB!Purc~~uanagement _
~. .~-.:
James L. Roberts
DIVISION DIRECTOR APPROVAL:
DOCUMENTATION:
Included X
To Follow
Not Required_
DISPOSITION:
AGENDA ITEM #
r<rJ
JUSTIFICATION FOR ADDITIONAL POSITIONS
(Information for this summary provided by the County Attorney and the Fire Chief)
As identified in the attached agenda item summary, the County is in need of
additional staffing in a variety of areas, Many of those will become the subject of
discussion between the County Commission and the new Administrator after that
individual has had an opportunity to work more closely with the County organization. In
addition, the proposed budget for fiscal year 2005 may contain some recommendations
for additional positions, The bottom line is that it is time that the County addresses some
of the areas that have remained unattended to for a variety of reasons over the past few
years.
However, there are some positions which need immediate attention and they are
outlined below. The County Attorney, the Fire Chief, and the Administration feel that it
it is necessary to address these issues quickly,
CONTRACT MONITOR
Recent events and audits have clearly identified the need for the County to
modernize its contract administration operation and to have a full-time contract
monitoring operation. If Monroe County becomes more involved in a wide variety of
contracts dealing with almost every aspect of County government, being sure those
contracts are adhered to becomes even more significant. In the past, the Administration
has addressed this issue with previous Commissions who were apparently more
concerned with the cost for the position rather than the importance of the function that
has now become so evident. This position would be located within the County
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Attorney's office and would carry the authority of the County Attorney in dealing with
contract issues.
The lack of a cohesive and comprehensive unit for monitoring County contracts
and leases sometimes results in situations which require inordinate resources to correct
problems after the fact rather than address potential problems on a proactive basis, which
is usually a more efficient and less costly endeavor. When problems are addressed on an
after-the-fact, clean-up-the-mess basis, projects are delayed which often costs money,
solutions may be less desirable because agencies (including state and federal as well as
county & municipal) have commenced, or committed to, certain operations costly or
impossible to alter, and everyone involved interacts in a more hostile, or at least more
stressful, environment, The County has a number of departments, and some are better
than others at monitoring their contracts, However, they often do not enjoy the
knowledge of other contractual arrangements or even the impact which other County
departments or functions may have on their own operations or ability to transact business.
It is proposed that a county contract monitor position be established to coordinate
those contracts which may impact more than one department (or vice versa), monitor
contracts to ensure that appropriate renewals and RFP /RFQ/RFB ' s are issued on a timely
basis, and to monitor compliance with terms, Having one central person to monitor all
agreements for timing and compliance issues can prevent the County becoming
inextricably tied to continuance of a less than satisfactory contract. This comment in no
way is intended to reflect on any person or position in any of the departments as each
department or division is often tasked by the Commission with particular projects which
may impact their ability to address the mundane and routine matters effectively,
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Further, the contract monitor can assist in the proactive preparation of contracts to
avoid contracting pitfalls which may exist in many of our current contracts and can insure
consistency in all contracts throughout the County.
COUNTY ATTORNEY STAFF ASSISTANT
The current County Attorney has increased the efficiency and effectiveness of the
legal operation in the County, In terms of bringing more legal issues in-house and
actively pursuing the payment of liens, etc" the County Attorney has increased the
importance of the office. Especially with the addition of the Contract Monitor, the
County Attorney feels an additional need for a Staff Assistant.
Since early 2003, the County Attorney's office has become more proactive in its
representation of the Board of County Commissioners and departments. By way of
example, staff attorneys have litigated several actions and advised County departments on
issues that, in prior years, would have been referred to outside counsel paid at a greater
rate. Staff has also undertaken the time consuming process of resolving dozens of
outstanding code enforcement liens, either through negotiation or litigation, which had
been left un-enforced in recent years, Those efforts have resulted in unexpected revenue
in excess of $100,000.00, which would more than offset the cost of an additional staff
person. Moreover, legal staff recently began providing legal services to at least one
constitutional officer, which marks a departure from past practice. Finally, this summer
the State will implement the revisions to Article V of the Florida Constitution, which will
reassign various responsibilities among the State and the various counties for funding the
Court system. As a result, the County Attorney's office will be vested with additional
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responsibilities, which will consume more time than the duties being shifted from the
office to the State consume,
In light of the increased work load, the Board created an additional
Assistant County Attorney position in late 2003, That position was filled in early 2004
when Assistant County Attorney Pedro Mercado was hired, As a result, the County
Attorney's office now employs five full time attorneys (as opposed to three fulltime
assistants and a part time County Attorney in prior years) but only three support
personnel. While the increased activity of the office has increased the amount of work
normally assigned to support staff, the lack of an additional staff person has forced
attorneys to perform some tasks that could be performed equally as well by support staff.
This shift fails to maximize the efficiency that the new attorney position should promote.
In the past, the County Attorney's office employed at least four support
personnel, and sometimes more, Through downsizing and attrition, that number
dwindled to three. If the Board wants to maximize the effect of hiring an additional
attorney, at least one additional staff assistant position should be created.
FIRE FIGHTERlP ARAMEDIC POSITIONS
Since coming to Monroe County, the Fire Chief has been evaluating personnel
needs for the fITe rescue services. Those needs pertain to providing adequate levels of
staffing in support of and in conjunction with volunteer operations, During the
forthcoming budget and beyond, the Fire Chief will be making recommendations to the
County Commission.
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However, there is an immediate need that must be addressed, That need is for
increased staffing for the Conch Key area, Although the Fire Chief would certainly feel
more comfortable in having additional personnel than requested here, this is a frrst step in
helping to solve what is an imminent situation.
There is a pressing need for increasing the staffing at Station 17 ( Conch Key) to a
minimum of four personnel on duty. Station 17's response zone encompasses Conch
Key, Duck Key (including the Hawks Cay Resort), and the area of Grassy Key east of
Mile Marker 57. In addition, Station 17 assists on structural fire calls in the remainder of
the City of Marathon as well as all of Long Key, including Layton, There are currently
three personnel on duty each 24 hour shift at Station 17, They are expected to staff an
engine (pumper), a tanker, and/or an advanced life support (ALS) rescue unit based on
the nature of the call when it comes in, For structure fires in their primary response zone,
all three respond on Engine 17. For motor vehicle accidents (MY As), they respond two
aboard Rescue 17 and one aboard Engine 17.
There is no volunteer frre department corporation associated with Station 17.
V olunteer response to assist Station 17 has recently come from the Layton Volunteer Fire
Department (Station 18) to the east. Revisions to Florida Administrative Code, Rule
69A-62, will shortly require that any firefighter engaging in structural fire fighting
operations inside the exclusionary (hazard) zone be at least Firefighter I certified. Of all
the well-intentioned members of Station 18 who reside in their district, only one member
holds such frrefighter certification, Florida Statute prohibits any frrefighter from
engaging in interior structural firefighting, in the absence of a trapped occupant who can
be rescued, until there are at least four certified frrefighters assembled at the scene, two of
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whom perform the fire attack and the other two who must remain available to rescue the
original two if they become lost or trapped. It is impractical at this point to rely on the
membership of the Layton Volunteer Fire Department to provide the needed firefighter
staffing for their own station, let alone assistance to Station 17.
The addition of three additional positions to Station 17 will provide one additional
crew member for each of the three shifts, providing four on-duty personnel for each 24-
hour tour of duty. This staffing level would allow two personnel to be assigned to Engine
17 and two to Rescue 17, On a structure fire they could roll together and immediately
assemble the four required firefighters to initiate an interior attack. (Interior attacks are
the industry standard after a risk/benefit analysis has determined that properly protected
fIrefighters can enter the building and attempt to position a hose line at the seat of the
fIre. This results in much more efficient water application resulting in reduced water
damage and quicker extinguishment.)
COST
Contract Monitor $43,560,77
Staff Assistant $26,692.22
Three Firefighter Paramedics $96.893,85
TOTAL: *$167,146,84
*Salary figures do not include benefit numbers,
(Base Salary)
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