Goal 3: Evolution of Operations

Goal 3: Larimer County government is ready to support the future service needs of our residents and visitors.

  • OBJECTIVE 1 | ALTERNATIVES FOR WORKSPACE:  By June 2019, explore options for alternative methods of providing staff workspaces to reduce the square footage needs of future County facilities and to optimize the current facility space. By December 2019, approve funding sources and partnerships for high priority facilities slated for the first 5-year increment of the Facilities Master Plan. By 2023, adopt a funding plan for any remaining high priority facilities in the Facilities Master Plan.
     
  • OBJECTIVE 2 | CHARACTERISTICS OF COUNTY EMPLOYEES:  By June 2019, identify the three most critical differences needed in the County's workforce to best deliver services in the coming decades. Strategies to expand the prevalence of these characteristics among employees may include 1) skill identification and development; 2) succession and replacement planning; 3) leadership development; and 4) strategies for employee retention and attraction. By the end of 2023, increase the percentage of County employees who demonstrate the three critical characteristics by at least 10%.
     
  • OBJECTIVE 3 | EVOLUTION OF PROVIDING SERVICES:  By the end of 2022, adapt the service delivery method of at least one service in each of the service categories to respond to demographic trends and measure the effectiveness of the adaptations through direct polling of customers. By the end of 2023, improve the convenience of service delivery scores reported in the polling by at least 2% for each of the services.
     
  • OBJECTIVE 4 | DATA STRATEGY & POLICY:  By the end of 2020, create a County Data Policy and County Data Strategy (including an implementation & sustainability plan) to: 1) drive decisions and enhance business outcomes; 2) improve data efficiency, consistency, quality, and security; and 3) promote departments data sharing. By the end of 2023, complete at least two projects utilizing and refinishing this structure to provide a model for all future data projects.
     
  • OBJECTIVE 5 | ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY:  By the end of 2020, update the County’s policy on environmental responsibility to ensure that 1) reflects current scientific findings and methods and 2) balances the protection of natural resources, with long-term economic considerations and community needs.  By the end of 2023 develop an implementation plan to raise staff awareness of the policy and assist departments with implementation.
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By June 2019, explore options for alternative methods of providing staff workspaces to reduce the square footage needs of future County facilities and to optimize the current facility space. By December 2019, approve funding sources and partnerships for high priority facilities slated for the first 5-year increment of the Facilities Master Plan. By 2023, adopt a funding plan for any remaining high priority facilities in the Facilities Master Plan.

 

March 2021

The Objective Leader, Ken Cooper, and Goal Steward, Bridget Paris met with the County Commissioners and the County Manager during a work session on March 1, 2021.  At this work session, this objective was identified as complete and has transitioned to ongoing operational work for Facilities.  COVID has created the response of remote work, inherently reducing the need for physical space in the County.  Capital improvements are being completed through the capital improvement process.  Several high-priority facilities have been funded for the first 5-year increment of the plan.  Work continues prioritizing facilities and establishing associated funding.

October 2020

Focus remains on remote work with leased space reduction in HS, the new remote work policy/program [hopefully in place in late November], and continued work on the Court space with a consultant.

July 2020

As the pandemic continues, there will certainly be positive outcomes from a space planning standpoint and the County expects to see an overall reduction in the total number of workstations needed in the near and longer-term future.  These expected changes will be a tremendous help when considering the County’s very limited ability to fund future capital construction.  As an example, Human Services is actively planning to vacate its leased spaces at the Midpoint Campus by the end of 2021.   A number of Support Services staff are involved in ongoing discussions about how best to support work teams when departments and offices deliver County services differently.  Facilities staff are reviewing options for home office furniture provisions, to find the right balance between safe use by County staff required to work remotely and affordability for the furniture the County provides.  As departments and offices further define what each expects regarding space, the Team 3.1 members are being kept informed and will re-engage when the timing is right.

April 2020

The Commissioners reviewed a number of capital construction project options at a Work Session on Feb 26, 2020, and were in support of each option.  They also asked for a deeper look to find additional funding options, and a second Work Session occurred on March 25, 2020.  Facilities staff are now moving ahead with a $21M expansion to ASD/CommCorr, a courtroom usage and optimization study for the Justice Center, and will eventually add leased space for Human Services needs.  The need to densify space across County facilities, with a focus on the LCCO, was briefly discussed on Feb 26 & Mar 25 and the Commissioners continue to support these strategies.  Little detail on space savings options was included in the presentations, but the BoCC did support providing a range of ways to densify for each Dept Head’s consideration.  This strategy, as already planned by Team 3.1, will help provide flexibility in the decision making by each Dept.

January 2020

The ability for the County to address priority capital construction projects in the 2018 Facilities Master Plan was significantly impacted by the failed sales tax increase in November 2019.  However, the County Commissioners asked to still consider options to address these needs through a menu of smaller project options.  Facilities are working with Stantec on an abbreviated update to the Master Plan, with plans to share project options with the BoCC in February 2020.  Additionally, Finance and Budget are working to find any available funding that may support the list of reduced capital projects.  The update to the Master Plan will also include options regarding office space reduction for the County to consider, which supports the early work done by the Objective 1 Team.

November 2019

Several recent meetings have focused on the need for a broader approach to the many issues involved.  This includes an ability to roll the eventual plan for space reduction into the coming formal update to the 2018 Facilities Master Plan.  The Plan will be updated in 2020, and much will hinge on the outcome of the new sales tax increase before voters this November.  Those results will provide a very helpful framework on how deep the County must go in its space reduction requirements and strategies.  Following the election, a work plan will be updated showing the many components and milestones involved, and a general timeline of what’s to come.

August of 2019

The presentation was provided to Linda on strategies for departments to review space.  Review and update of the calculated current utilized square footage by the department.  Establishing opportunities for space reduction in departments.

May of 2019

The Objective team met to firm up final plans for a presentation to share with County Leadership in June.  The focus is on a number of space-saving options but will allow each department/office to help decide how to achieve the necessary space savings.  Expecting to wrap up the presentation in late May/early June.

 

By June 2019, identify the three most critical differences needed in the County's workforce to best deliver services in the coming decades. Strategies to expand the prevalence of these characteristics among employees may include 1) skill identification and development; 2) succession and replacement planning; 3) leadership development; and 4) strategies for employee retention and attraction. By the end of 2023, increase the percentage of County employees who demonstrate the three critical characteristics by at least 10%.

January 2022

 

  • The team has split into 4 smaller groups: Recognition, Training, Communication, and Policy.  We have also been putting together scoping documents for each area so we have work plans for the next 2 years.
    • The Communications group is creating a webpage with the Characteristics results from the employee survey (questions in the employee survey were tagged with a characteristic), and provide strategies/tools for supervisors and Department Heads on how they can continue and improve the numbers for next year.
    • The Recognition group is supporting HR in getting Nectar up and running. 
    • The Training group is working on adding members, and determining which trainings will be offered.  They will recommend which trainings should be required and which will be optional.
    • The Policy group is working with Nicole Berg on getting a pilot of Textio (the tool which will help us make sure our job descriptions, job postings and communications are more inclusive).
  • The three characteristics have been built into the Perform evaluation tool and they are live.  The rating scale has been modified to allow a likert scale, as opposed to single rating;  2022 will be our first full year of measurement.
  • Communication staff, employees relations team, recruiting team will all be provided access and trained on the use of Textio.  First objectives are to focus on job descriptions and job postings.  Communications staff will use it for newsletters and outgoing communication. 
  • Human Resources is nearly complete updating job descriptions to ensure driver’s licenses are only listed where required.
  • No Change.  Affirmative Action plan updated for 2021 (used 2010 Census data as not all data from 2020 was available).  Pending receipt of workforce reports needed for AA updates with 2020 data.
  • IAC (Inclusion Advisory Committee) has been selected and is meeting monthly.  The IAC Charter is complete.  There has been turnover in the committee already, making it difficult to assign leadership roles.  The goal is to have co-chairs that will lead inclusion efforts in the County.

July 2021

The contracting process for Textio, an augmented writing tool to increase inclusion in job descriptions, postings, and communications are nearly complete.  The Temp employee is continuing to work on updating educational requirements and driver’s license requirements in job descriptions to accurately reflect minimum qualifications and ensure equity.  The Inclusion Administrator has identified training companies to provide inclusion training.  The HR team is currently using a candidate outreach/OFCCP compliance tool called CIRCA, specifically working on linkage accounts focusing on problem areas identified in our affirmative action plan.  The Affirmative Action plan updated for 2021 (used 2010 Census data as not all data from 2020 was available).  IAC (Inclusion Advisory Committee) has been selected and is meeting monthly.  Currently working on establishing a Charter.  Characteristics are included in the build of the electronic performance management system.  Currently in the testing phase, expected roll out in the Fall.

April 2021

Work Session with the Board is scheduled for May 26, 2021 to provide recommendations for interventions based on the DiversityEDU assessment.  A focus of the team is to ensure all three characteristics are included as part of employees’ annual performance evaluation process.  There are currently four interventions in progress with recently approved funding, (1) Purchase and implementation of augmented writing tool to increase inclusion in our job descriptions, postings, and our communications, (2) use of a Temp employee focusing on updating educational requirements and drivers license requirements in job descriptions to focus on attracting diverse talent, and (3) Focus on establishing Inclusion training/compliance, and (4) use of a candidate outreach/OFCCP compliance tool called CIRCA, specifically working on linkage accounts focusing on problem areas identified in our affirmative action plan and analysis.

March 2021

Results for the assessment were received in December of 2020 and at the work session on March 1, 2020, with the Board of County Commissioners.  The team continues to evaluate the results and build an intervention plan to continue to implement strategies that build the characteristics of employees.  The next steps include a follow-up work session with the Board of County Commissioners to review the intervention plan and strategies to address priority items in the assessment.

January 2021

Due to the transition of the Board of County Commissioners, there was not a quarterly update in January of 2021.

October 2020

The consultant completed a draft of the assessment for employees, the team is reviewing to complete a final version.  The assessment should go out to employees at the end of Oct/early Nov. [Adaptive, Inclusive and Collaborative]

July 2020

CSU does not have the capacity right now to do our assessment.  They got pulled into doing online coursework for main CSU, and they’ve had some staff changes and are a very small staff right now.  They have lots of training and resources they can provide.  The Objective Leader reached out to DiversityEDU, who was the vendor we were going to use before making contact with CSU Online.  They are ready and available to do the full assessment for us anytime, and their cost fits our budget.  They just need about 2 weeks’ lead time.  The Objective Leader will gather the other vendor quotes receive to do an informal quote process.  We will likely launch the assessment in September.

April 2020

CSU Online is CSU’s web-based training that is not for credit.  The rep said they can customize a program for us where they measure all 3 traits (he recommended 1 assessment, and mixing the question for all three traits around, so people taking it don’t even know which trait the question is assessing).  He said he would reach out to 4-5 SMEs at CSU he thought would be interested in helping us develop our assessments, and who could also recommend interventions.  He recommended the assessment be on their platform, rather than Perception, to maximize the honesty of responses, since it’d be completely anonymous.  The team was in favor of getting a quote and more information from CSU Online as it would be nice to have a local partner and a totally customized assessment and program.  CSU online rep said he will get us the information around 2/17 so we would have it for our February meeting.  If financially feasible, we will likely go with CSU online.

January 2020

In December, we met with providers that could potentially measure the traits and viewed demos.  There were two good possibilities, with one being a standout, both in terms of cost, and what they offer.  Additionally, as a third option, team members have met with CSU Global, to review the requirements for the measurement of the three characteristics.  Ideally, the tool will measure all three characteristics.  Once the tool is identified the team will continue to work to identify a timeline and resource strategy.

November 2019

We decided to start with measuring Inclusion.  Our goal is to have a survey put together by the end of the first quarter, and then meet with SLC prior to sending it out.  We are working on coming up with questions for the measurement, and are still researching and reaching out to experts on measurement tools.  We also plan to have a subject matter expert meeting with several people we know in the area who work in the area of inclusion to meet with our team in November to get their feedback on our assessment questions and to ask them questions about some best practices.  Once we measure Inclusion in 2020, we will start to work with those experts on interventions to increase Inclusion as a trait in our workforce.  Then we will move on to the next trait.  We felt Inclusion would be the hardest to measure and to get going, so we thought we’d tackle that one first.  After the measurement survey, we may put together a few employee focus groups from diverse populations to get their feedback and ideas, too.  We plan to reach out to the Goal 2 Objective group working on employing people with disabilities after our 2020 measurement to talk about the inclusion of people with disabilities and how we could partner with them to better include that population.

August 2019

Employee traits have been identified.  The team is working on measurement strategies, and how characteristics will apply to each objective component.

  • Adaptable - The ability and willingness to learn and grow while demonstrating flexibility and resiliency in an ever-changing work environment.
  • Collaborative - The ability and willingness to be open-minded, team-oriented, and solution-driven while working with others.
  • Inclusive - The ability and willingness to authentically contribute to a workplace culture that is empathetic, accepting, open-minded, and compassionate.

May 2019

The Objective team worked on a countywide survey regarding traits needed for our future workforce.  Finalized survey and Denise volunteered to send out the survey.  The next meeting will review results and discuss as a team what we think are the top three critical traits.  The survey was run May 1-10.

By the end of 2022, adapt the service delivery method of at least one service in each of the service categories to respond to demographic trends and measure the effectiveness of the adaptations through direct polling of customers. By the end of 2023, improve the convenience of service delivery scores reported in the polling by at least 2% for each of the services.

January 2022

The document translation project is currently managed through HR.   Activity has increased a bit in this program.  Approximately $24,000 remains allocated for the program.

Teams are in the implementation phase of their service projects.

  • Public Safety (Measuring) - Victim/Witness information exchange - Current State:  Victim Rights web page has been active for nine months.  The team is ready to evaluate metrics and make necessary adjustments based on findings, planning on an additional 3 months for utilization.

  • Support Services - Strategic Internal Communication Plan - Current State:   Policies are complete.  The Strategic Plan remains in draft and needs additional work.  Requests for internal communication support are greater than the allocated time of 10 hours per week.  Discussions continue on how best to support this continued need.

  • Public Records & Information - Courthouse Office First Floor Directory/Guidance - Current State: Directory/Guidance is complete.  The building (200 West Oak) name change is approved and moving forward ~ Larimer County Government Services.) Michelle Bird will coordinate the transition and community announcement.  Facilities is working on signage.

  • Community Planning, Infrastructure, and Resources (Measuring) - 4H Online Registration - Current State:  Feedback surveys were sent to all who registered online for the fair (500+) with about 25% responding.  The team also connected with people in person during the fair to get feedback. The staff has realized benefits to the online registration as well with payments going out 2-3 weeks earlier than previous years.  Staff have identified improvement opportunities and will continue to evaluate.  Transitioned primarily to operational.

  • Human and Economic Health Services - Behavioral Health Transportation - Current State:  No change from last quarter.  The HEH team will be compiling a list of recommendations to Laurie for tiered options for transportation.  

  • Evaluating capacity and scope.  

  • Identified fiscal/budgetary restrictions and potential fiscal partners.

  • Contacting the City of Fort Collins to discuss bus routes.

  • Evaluating insurance/risk for County provided transportation and Rideshare partnerships.

July 2021

The translation project continues in offering support to departments and offices throughout the County in translating documents into Spanish for customers.  This program is now administered by HR.

  • Public Safety - Victim/Witness information exchange - Current State: Community Justice:   Victim Rights web page has soft-launched.  Commissioners have agreed to do a Proclamation for Victims Rights Week, April 18-24, 2021 as part of unveiling the new Victims Rights and Resources website. 
  • Human and Economic Health Services - Behavioral Health Transportation - Current State:  New team is working on research and best community options.  Insurance may be a potential barrier.
  • Community Planning, Infrastructure, and Resources - 4H Online Registration - Current State:  In use for Fair.
  • Public Records & Information - Courthouse Office First Floor Directory/Guidance - Current State:  Directory/Guidance is complete.  Pending community survey from Michelle.  September completion/Admin Matters for building name change.
  • Support Services  - Strategic Internal Communication Plan - Current State:  Presentations complete with SLC and Department Heads.  Policies are complete and out for employee comment.  Completing the draft of the strategic plan.

March 2021

The translation project continues in offering support to departments and Offices throughout the County in translating documents into Spanish for customers.

  • Public Safety - Victim/Witness information exchange - Current State:Community Justice:  A draft website for victim information hub is nearly complete.  The team is continuing to establish effectiveness measures.
  • Human and Economic Health Services - Behavioral Health Transportation - Current State:  The team continues to work with North Front Range Metro Planning Organization.  This is service review is on hold because the facility does not open until the Winter of 2022.
  • Community Planning, Infrastructure, and Resources - 4H Online Registration - Current State: The new software is in the implementation phase with a plan for use for fair registration this summer.  The team is continuing to establish effectiveness measures.
  • Public Records & Information - Courthouse Office First Floor Directory/Guidance - Current State:  The team received support from the Commissioners to present the requested name change for the Courthouse, 200 West Oak to Administrative Matters following a public survey/information gathering.
  • Support Services - Strategic Internal Communication Plan - Current State:  The consultant has completed the draft policy and draft strategic plan with activities and implementation strategies.  The Internal Communications staff are continuing to review the policy and draft a strategic plan with leadership.

October 2020

Translation project moving forward.  Departments have submitted documents.  DOLA Intern is working on a vendor change due to an insurance certificate issue.  *** All five projects are moving along.  (1)  Pivot for the Victim/Witness communication for a new solution.  (2) The kiosk is in place and phone tree work continues for public information. (3) Communication consult is finishing phase 1 identifying recommendations for Internal Communication.  (4)  The software has been identified and the project is in intake for 4H online registration.  (5)  Continued research on strategies of transportation for the new Behavioral Health building, recently met with NFRMPO for collaboration opportunities.

July 2020

  • Translation Project:  The DOLA Intern is putting together communication to departments on how to get forms translated, first come-first served on getting form translation paid for - County has set aside a small budget through HR for first-round translation, then departments will be responsible for the ongoing translation
  • Public Safety/Community Justice Group:  The team has started intake analysis with IT.  The next step is to review requirements with the team and then share them with stakeholder leaders.
  • CPIR:  Working with BRM to request budget funds (planning for a joint service proposal with the Extension) to fund project work - implementation planned for 2021 County Fair. 
  • Support Services:  After an unsuccessful RFP and RFQ, the county heard from a communication consultant that was interested in the work.  She was interviewed and determined to be able to meet the requirements for a reasonable cost to the county.  The objective group team will be kept involved/informed during the consultant work, so they are familiar with her process of coming to the final findings in order to be able to take the handoff and help pursue implementation of the chosen recommendations.
  • Health, Economic and Human Services:  Met with Laurie Stolen in late May to discuss goals and plans.  Identified exit transportation as an important goal. Community buy-in will be instrumental, so plan to schedule meetings/contact with community members.  The timeline for implementation in mid-2022.  Lost a team member and is looking for someone to join.
  • Public Records and Information:  Working on a survey for Clerk staff to rank the effectiveness of the various mechanisms for the public to get the information they need and ascertain ideas the staff might have for improvement.  This will be done through the HR Perception tool in UltiPro to have a better analysis of the response. We may also be able to use the tool to survey the public.  Invited Assistant County Manager and Assistant County Attorney to our next meeting to discuss the 200 W Oak Building name.  Continuing work on the physical kiosk to help the public navigate 200 W Oak once they have entered the building.

April 2020

All service categories identified a need for translation of information to Spanish.  Following the successful pilot at Community Justice, $40,000 funding was requested and approved to continue to work across the County.  Our DOLA Intern will lead the effort to coordinate a program, with support/help from staff at Community Corrections.  The program will include strategies for fund distributions, establishing contacts in the departments, processes internal and with the vendor, as well as, ongoing processes.

All teams made an initial selection of a service delivery to adapt.  Teams continue to work on gathering baseline effectiveness metric data, analyzing requirements, securing funding and proposing solutions.

  • Community Justice - Victim/Witness information exchange - Current State:  requirements gathering/base metrics, working on Intake Date, likely end of May.
  • Support Services  - Strategic Internal Communication Plan - Current State:  Funded, RFQ deadline end of May.
  • Public Records & Information - Courthouse Office First Floor Directory/Guidance - Current State: Kick-off meeting with stakeholders is scheduled.
  • Community Planning, Infrastructure, and Resources - 4H Online Registration - Current State:  Meeting with BRM to complete documentation for Intake to IT.  
  • Human and Economic Health Services - Behavioral Health Transportation - Current State:  Researching, identifying stakeholders.

January 2020

All service categories identified a need for translation of information to Spanish.  As a Pilot, the Public Safety team focusing on Community Justice translated 50 documents into Spanish through an existing translation service partnership.  The team is now exploring options to help other Service Categories secure funding to perform a similar service.

All teams made an initial selection of a service delivery to adapt, but only three teams have been able to solidify the selection with the respective Service Categories. The remaining teams should have a selection within the next 1-2 months.

  • Community Justice - Victim/Witness information exchange.
  • Support Services  - Strategic Internal Communication Plan
  • Public Records & Information - Courthouse Office First Floor Directory/Guidance

November 2019

All teams have met with the Service Areas and have received an initial list of ideas for service delivery adaptations.  Each team is in the process of narrow their Service Areas list to one or two selections by the end of December.  Several teams shared difficulty “getting” services from the service category areas, as a team discussed strategies to increase the likelihood of response and the need to interact in person or directly on the phone with leaders.  Discussions continued on the definition of “convenience” and the need to modify the objective language.  Initial recommendations are a shift from convenience to utilization and efficiency.

August 2019

The objective team is divided into five small service category groups and each team is meeting with each service category leadership to solicit service adaptations.  The current goal is to have services identified by the end of November.  Work on service beginning in 2020.

May 2019

The Objective Team reviewed the goal/objective.  Identified critical team roles and assignments.  Reviewed Google Drive, documents, and expectations.  Introduced Peak Academy, watched Excise Tax example, explained GreenBelt assigned LMS videos.  Reviewed rough timeline.  Identified need for two/three additional team members, ideally Natural Resources, Health, and Assessor.  Discussed the need for an Objective Leader requested a team member consider leading.

By the end of 2020, create a County Data Policy and County Data Strategy (including an implementation & sustainability plan) to: 1) drive decisions and enhance business outcomes; 2) improve data efficiency, consistency, quality, and security; and 3) promote departments data sharing.

By the end of 2023, complete at least two projects utilizing and refinishing this structure to provide a model for all future data projects.

January 2022

Data catalog - Vendor work is complete, transitioned project ownership to Business Intelligence team on January 11, 2022 to start onboarding known data sets and work with G3O4 Subject Matter Experts to bring Sheriff, Community Justice Alternatives, and Health data into the tool.  Continue to work with the vendor's Customer Success Manager for ongoing training or support.

Data Strategy - Team Member is working to document and outline recommendations and decisions for the next major items remaining related to the data strategy, specifically the data governance committee, data support structure, and data culture shift/training program. This includes identifying questions and direction needed from county leadership. The goal is to have these ready for team review in March and leadership review in June.

Unified Credit Card Processing - The team is finalizing draft RFP, it expected to be released in Feb, and vendor selection by June.

July 2021

Data.world (data catalog software) implementation is in process.  The internal team will begin working in the catalog in the next few weeks.  The team continues to work on identifying people and processes to assist in accessing the data across the County.  The team has started to establish the responsibilities of data stewards and data owners.

March 2021

The data catalog software vendor has been selected, and the team is currently working through the contracting process.

October 2020

Policy is out for employee comments.  Data Analyst begins on November 5, 2020.  Data catalog selection is hopeful by the end of 2020.

July 2020

Preparing for July 29th Commissioner session to review updated objective & proposed policy. Data Strategy is nearly complete.

  • The team is working on a work plan or timeline to break down how/when this Data Strategy will be worked on by the team.

Drafting BBoard page layout, scheduling time with Internal Communication staff to discuss.

Recruiting 3-4 Data User Group (DUG) members to fully join the team, allowing DUG to revert back to the lunch-time/fun data group that it was formerly. 

Unified Credit Card Processing project team is reviewing the current policy and preparing for the county-wide kick off with all department/office cc contacts (to review the project scope/timeline, and expectations for each participant).

April 2020

Restructuring the Objective - the main focus is on the Data Strategy and providing structure and security for the County to use and share data. Need to:

  • Update objective language
  • Create a Data Strategy policy
  • Create Objective Plan (outlines cornerstones and supporting goals to achieve Data Strategy - how we will know that this objective was successful)

Presented to Dept Heads on 3/13 to introduce the concept - well received.

Starting to work on providing county updates via Inside Information & Objective BBoard page.

Credit Card Project:  Assistant County Manager & the Treasurer are sponsoring, requested carryover funding. The project prioritized by ITSC. The team is starting to structure the project and prepare for kick-off in June.

January 2020

Service Proposal has been approved. The team has prepared or is currently working on:

  • Data Analyst job description (in progress, finalizing with HR)
  • High-level timeline of projects (work in progress)
  • RACI matrix (outlines roles and tasks for our team/DUG)
  • Unified Credit Card Processing project (created a new charter for the work needed, taking this through the new Governance process for prioritization)

The DUG (Data User Group) has started on the Data Strategy framework that will support all of our projects. The DUG subcommittees have completed initial work on Roles and Responsibilities, best practices, and metadata requirements. Additional subcommittees are addressing: 

  • Gathering requirements and evaluating data cataloging tools
  • Accessing data issues and general pain points (including root cause analysis)
  • Data request and data onboarding processes

Foundational client directory - the client directory will be the foundation that all of the other client-data projects will build from (County Whitepages, Index of County Services, and Offender/Client Repository). We are starting to gather requirements and build user stories in preparation for the Data Analyst.

November 2019

The team is working on cleaning up and clarifying the project names/descriptions to be better understood across the county. Three of the four projects are centered on client data - the next step for these is to create a single client list. To do this, the team has identified 6 universal client data attributes and is investigating/documenting what data sources are used in the county and which offer access to these 6 attributes.

Data User Group (DUG) has agreed to work with our team on creating a Data Strategy. DUG will be tackling the preliminary work needed to move forward with the three people-data projects.

  • Preliminary work: Define roles (data stewards), process/framework, identify/document data sources - including sharing and matching across systems
  • The basic framework developed by Q1 2020
  • DUG will also work on data cataloging once a tool is selected
  • The objective team will then be able to move forward with individual projects to access data in specific ways (ex: Providing offender/client information to HS and CJS)

August 2019

Initial four projects have been identified.   Selected projects are 1)  Developing and maintenance of general Resident Directory 2) Offender/Client compliance repository 3) Unified Service Experience / Index of County Services, service recommendation 4) Standardization of County-wide Credit Card Processing.  Service Proposal submitted for additional resources, short term person, and data tool.

May 2019

The Objective Team did the following:

  1. Reviewed the initial potential project idea list  - (12 ideas),  at a high level. The team felt we need more specific project information (problem statement, etc)  to better understand project outcome, how it impacts, what problem we are solving before we go into detailed discussion and prior to selection.
  2. Discussed and agreed on developing a list of project selection criteria and a selection model.  The team will start putting a shared document to collect ideas on selection in the next meeting, to start developing a selection model.
  3. The general consensus - First project shall be selected in a month or so, using the agreed/weighted selection criteria/model,  then evolve the model based on the learning and experiences from the first one.
  4. Proposed few new approaches a) Developing a data strategy document to assist in data governance/ sharing model in future b) A project delivery framework that includes business road-show to gather and also help validate project ideas.
  5. Discussed selecting project management tools, the methodology will be needed as soon as the first project is selected.

By the end of 2020, update the County’s policy on environmental responsibility to ensure that 1) reflects current scientific findings and methods and 2) balances the protection of natural resources, with long-term economic considerations and community needs.  By the end of 2023 develop an implementation plan to raise staff awareness of the policy and assist departments with implementation.

 

January 2022

Continuing to monitor the completion of the water bottle filling stations.  Overall objective responsibility is marked as complete as, the County has hired a staff responsibility for Environmental Responsibility.  This will transition to ongoing responsibilities and expectations of a County program, not specifically held under a Strategic Goal/Objective.

July 2021

  • Facilities are working on installing the bottle filling stations on each floor in 200 West Oak, as a pilot program for other buildings.  The team will track utilization and impact.
  • Established five priority areas with small workgroups for the internally focused objective.
    • Electronic Filing with Government Entities 
    • Sustainability Education/Awareness
    • Facility Energy Usage - evaluation and recommendations
    • Fleet Vehicle Utilization - alternatives to standard utilization/hybrid/electric options
    • Employee Commuting (Remote Work) - eTRP compliance
  • Request for Proposal is in progress, selection of the Communication/Engagement vendor.
  • Hiring/Selection of the Program Manager - after the Program Manager is hired, transition the objective lead to this individual, and update the objective to focus on creating a Climate Smart Plan by end of 2023.

March 2021

The team has presented a plan to install water bottle filling stations in the 200 West Oak as a pilot program for other County facilities.  The team is working to create an employee sustainability training curriculum, and establishing training expectations and strategies.  

October 2020

Completed the information gathering and collection.  Establishing the next steps, how a sustainability plan will be established, and managed ongoing.

July 2020

A subset of the objective team met July 9th and discussed the following: Department Survey/interviews report - the report that included 20 departments and synthesized responses to questions within seven categories -  Waste Reduction & Diversion, Catering, Electricity, Paper, Telecommuting, Transportation, County, and Department Environmental Responsibility Policies, and Other Practices. The report provides recommendations on what the environmental responsibility team and County leadership can do to assist departments in their sustainability goals. This report can be presented to the BoCC in their July 29th Goal 3 update. 

  • Web page and Inside Information - A team member will work on content for the web page and Inside Information.  We agreed to have content ready for the August Inside Information.  Content to include information on the Updated Environmental Responsibility Policy, Results of Dept. Interviews and “coming soon - staff level survey and input”.
  • Staff Survey - Objective team members will start to research questions.  Also, look into how to use Pulse surveys.  We will develop the survey and then have HR review it and provide input.
  • Meeting this week with the City of Fort Collins Sustainability group to learn about their program.
  • Compostable service ware purchase contract - We discussed working with purchasing to come up with a purchase mechanism for compostable service ware that all departments can use. 

April 2020

The team has developed a Statement of Work.  Our team’s work has consisted of doing limited interviews with staff on their department’s current sustainability actions and should be finished beginning of May.  We then plan to synthesize the answers from the interviews into common themes and differences.   

Staff survey - next steps include developing a staff online survey and analyze results to see what staff would like to see.

January 2020

The policy is complete and the team is ready to work on a plan for implementation.  The team has developed a statement of work.

November 2019

The Objective Team Lead brought the draft policy to the ESAB on 10/16 for review.  The ESAB liked the policy and unanimously gave it a thumbs up!  The next step is to bring it back to the BCC for adoption at their Oct. 29th admin matters meeting - likely consent agenda, unless the commissioners want a more public-facing process. 

August 2019

The draft policy is complete, needs to be reviewed by the Board at the next quarterly work session for goal updates.  Objective language needs to be modified.  Commissioner Johnson has provided input on objective language and policy language.  Confirmed this is an internal focus objective.  Implementation work included in the submission for the DOLA intern.

May 2019

The Objective Team completed the following.

  1. Re-writing the objective so that it is grammatically correct and it provides better clarity as to the team’s charge.  They would like to break it out into two tasks (as they see it).

    “By the end of 2020, update the County’s policy on Environmental Responsibility to ensure that it 1) reflects current scientific findings and methods,  2) balances the protection of natural resources, with long-term economic considerations and community needs.  By the end of 2022, raise staff awareness of the updated policy.”

    With regard to the second task “To raise staff awareness”  
    • The team discussed whether they should be thinking in terms of developing an implementation plan, which can be very detailed and complex, or not.   They intend to discuss this in more detail once the policy is drafted, at which time they would like some feedback and direction from the Goal’s leadership.  They expect the policy to be very brief and straightforward and be drafted by the June meeting.  
    • Many team members were not in attendance at the May meeting, so Jim and Kirk said they would work on the policy and present it to the team to discuss at their June meeting. 
       
  2. Lessons from policies/plans currently implemented within other Front Range communities.  Many of the plans are very detailed and dense, but Adams County’s policy and sustainability plan stood out as a potential model for Larimer County. 
     
  3. The team discussed the need to develop metrics that can provide an assessment of whether staff has become aware of the policy, and whether, and how, departments are implementing the policy.

Board of County Commissioners

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HOURS:  Monday - Friday, 8:00am-5:00pm
PHONE:  (970) 498-7010  
EMAIL:  bocc@larimer.org
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