02-18-13 Special Meeting of La Porte City Council

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I. Introduction On September 24, 2012, the City of La Porte engaged Mueller Mana Consulting, to perform an organizational review of the Planning organizational reviews in various departments of the City was identified by the City Council during the FY 2013 budget planning process. The Planning Department was chose due to its high frequency of customer/citizen interaction points have a significant impact on the communitys perception of the City gov Specifically, the purpose of this review was directed toward evaluating departmental policies, procedures, practices, and codes to identify improvements that mlue, shorten response times, and improve customer service. In particular, the processes invo issuance were identified as areas of emphasis. The underlying strategy of the analysis by the consulting team was to identify internal perceptions and external perceptions as they relate to the identified issues/p perceptions of internal participants (employees) align or differ Planning Commission, customers) was analyzed to identify gaps in desired-versus-provided service levels. Internal perceptions were gathered from individual interviews with each member of the Planning Department and members of other City departments who are involved with the site plan and building permit processes. Further, the site plan review process and theand issuance processes were flowcharted to identify potential gaps or inefficiencies in thos External perceptions were obtained by individual interviews with each member of the City C Planning and Zoning Commission. To further validate the percept interviews, three separate focus groups were convened one focused on code enforcement; one with contractors/designers; and one with business owners. An interim report, summarizing the internal and external observations, organized under 10 major themes, was presented to City Council on December 10, 2012. Subsequent report presentation, the consulting team conducted the following activi The interim report and several specific customer concerns that w focus groups were reviewed with the Planning Department division managers. This review provided an opportunity for the staff to better understand and accept the reality of the issues at hand and begin to be part of the recommended solutions. Management recommendations were developed to address the organizational culture, communication, and trust themes that were identified in the interim report. 2 Planning Department Review Consulting