Bureaucratic Creep: Time for the Leaning of Government

I've always abhorred bureaucracy.

Not because bureacracy is frustrating to those who are affected by it.

Not because it's costly.

Not because it's a waste of time and energy.

(all good reasons)

I can't stand bureaucracy because it drains the ability of smart people to think for themselves.

Frederick County government employees have hit the boards with "business-fr

iendly" initiatives aimed to make life easier for the building and construction community (I hope it goes much further into local government than that just that customer group) . At their heart, some of the items on this list unleash people in county offices to use their talent to identify problems--to look for trouble and shoot it.

A local official I know calls it "bureaucratic creep". Here's an example. One day, someone notices a new building project might affect traffic using a nearby state road, so the State Highway Administration gets called in to comment on that project. Someone else with good intentions says, "let's check all our site plans in with the SHA--you never know when t

hey might want to know about whats going on!"

Good communication idea, right? Sure, until suddenly one person at SHA with lots of other job responsibilities has a pile of 20 site plans on their desk-- but only 1 or 2 have a real, direct impact on a state road. Total time increase to get through the new workload: maybe about 275%???. Total delay to the customer waiting to get word when they can move ahead? Who knows!

(PHOTO: 30 N. Market-CommunityDevelopment/Development Review agencies. Leaning local government is beginning here...can we continue on to other agencies please?)

Good intentions that lack a reality check on their usefulness can turn into bad ideas that crush productivity. Good companies, especially those in manufacturing and health care, have set up a process in the last decade that ruthlessly scrutinizes the way they do things in a search for for waste in time, money and energy. Its good to see Frederick County government get on the LEAN train--I just hope it will be extended to other agencies outside those that work with the building community.

Take a look a couple of the changes to the bureaucracy:

*Before, you had to write separate checks to each and every agency in Frederick County that you dealt with, and some agencies had to wait to find out from others if a check was paid before they could release permits and documents. The process for single checks and communication among the agencies is now underway--technology that many businesses in the construction, architecture and engineering field have been using for more than a decade to make the lives of their customers easier.

*TAC Meetings are now getting perfect attendance--or something closer. These meetings were set up years ago to bring a customer together in a meeting with a rep of all the agencies involved in a building project. Until recently, it was not considered a "priority" for all the agencies to be there, but in the current political and economic environment, everyone is expected to show up. These kinds of team meetings with clients have been normal and important in the private sector for any company that wants to be competitive.

*SHA and Frederick County have agreed that it is no longer necessary for SHA to receive or review sign permits if they are not in SHA right-of-way.

These are just a couple examples of bureaucracy de-construction;now let's get on to doing this for many other agencies at all levels of government.

Many of the other "Business Friendly" ideas involve changes to the Adequate Public Facilities Ordinance, Zoning Ordinance, and other more far-reaching policies and go beyond ""bureaucratic creep". Those are a bit different from Lean initiatives, and need to be looked at very carefully for possible impact.

For me, though, anything that engages employees--government or private sector--in getting rid of wasteful, energy draining and brainless processes will result in people who are more creative and committed to their work and their customers.

Frederick County Charter Government: Meat and Potatoes Time

For people who like to get to the nitty gritty of things, your time is here.

The Charter Board is digging into the details of what our proposed government could look like under home rule; with guidance from Vic Tervala, a lawyer known in Maryland for advising municipalities on home rule processes. They are using the Cecil County charter as a markup

model and applying the information they got from their tour of Frederick County to find out public views of what Charter should look like.

Public comment in the past six months has reportedly coalesced around the idea of having elected councilpeople representing districts within the County. In my experience, people want to see more policymakers familiar with parts of Frederick County that don’t get much attention in the current structure. It would be a good idea to add two at-large Council reps is a way to balance out the potential parochialism of the five geographically or election district-based Council members.

Most people, though, are interested in the job description of the County Exec and how that person will be elected and how her or his office would be structured once in. Stay tuned; the next meeting is tonight, Nov 15 at 7 p.m., on the third floor of Winchester Hall.

Two Sides to Every Story

When I used to be a reporter, I loved digging into what motivated the people behind the debates over policies, laws and regulations, no matter what level of government I was covering. It always floored me when policy discussions and decisions by people who could not be bothered to learn all sides of a story, and I had a deep craving to know how people directly affected by an issue or decision would feel. Also, I figured if I noticed something was missing, the people reading the news stories probably wanted to know the context too. I still feel that way---probably more than ever. For anyone who doesn't know it, it's full disclosure time: I ran for public office and lost in November 2010. I spent six months in a campaign for Frederick County Commissioner as a moderate Democrat hoping to bridge the divide between the County's conservatives and liberals, growthers and no-growthers, etc etc. The resulting governmental climate hasn't wholly been a good one, to my minds' eye. And not just because I lost, which would lead most people to think that naturally I have an ax to grind. No, it's a bit different because I actually agree with some of the changes the new Board of County Commissioners has made, especially those that have made it easier to do business in our community. What I dislike is the process the majority of the current group uses to make their decisions. They're in such a hurry to accomplish their To Do list, that there doesn't seem to be time to discuss whether there are ways to do things better, more inclusively, or with all the facts at hand. The due diligence, information gathering, and looking under rocks to make sure all the possibilities have been considered is lost---sometimes, I think, purposefully. After all, its easier to make decisions that fit your mindset when you don't have the information that cause you to change your mind! After taking the past year off from politics and taking stock of the decisionmaking, this blog is my way of using my voice again---but not on an election ballot. Through this bi-weekly blog, I'll take random issues of the day, sometimes local, sometimes national, and try to look at them through the eyes of people in our community who are directly affected by them. Sometimes it may be the average Joe (I hear Joe the Plumber is running for president, isn't that amazing); sometimes it may be the decisionmakers themselves who are my topics or inspiration. I also invite other moderate voices to use this as a place to discuss what's happening in our community. If you're interested in being a guest blogger, have an open mind and no ax to grind and pledge to be civil and avoid polarizing language, just let me know and we'll talk. As always with bloggers, I hope I'll get lots of comments; ideas from you, the readers, about topics that need to be explored. I hope I can do my part to add a little depth and context to the issues of the day---and help those of us who really want to understand that there are two sides to every story.