Loading...
The URL can be used to link to this page
Your browser does not support the video tag.
Home
My WebLink
About
City Attorney's Office Performance Review - prepared by Mana
Council/Agency Meeting Held:_ Deferred/Continued to: Ayroe Conditionally Approved ❑ Denied C ler Signa re Council Meeting Date: March 19, 2012 Department ID Number: AD 12-05 CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH REQUEST FOR CITY COUNCIL ACTION SUBMITTED TO: Honorable Mayor and City Council Members SUBMITTED BY: Fred A. Wilson, City Manager PREPARED BY: Paul Emery, Deputy City Manager SUBJECT: Receive and File City of Huntington Beach City Attorney's Office Performance Review Statement of Issue: In June of 2011, the City retained the services of Management Partners Inc., to conduct a Performance Review of the City Attorney's Office. The final report was completed and transmitted to the City on September 6, 2011. Attached for your review is the final report completed by Management Partners Inc. Financial Impact: N/A Recommended Action: Motion to: Receive and File City Attorney's Office Performance Review. Alternative Action(s): Motion to: Direct staff to follow up as appropriate. l � REQUEST FOR COUNCIL ACTION MEETING DATE: 3/19/2012 DEPARTMENT ID NUMBER: AD 12-05 Analysis: In June of 2011, the City retained the services of Management Partners Inc., to conduct a performance review of the City Attorney's Office. Management Partners Inc., was selected because they completed an assessment of the City Attorney's Office in 2000. Management Partners Inc., reviewed documentation, completed 34 interviews and conducted benchmarking with comparable municipalities. Their analysis resulted in thirteen recommendations for the City Attorney to consider (Attachment#1). An Implementation Action Plan (Attachment #2) was also completed by Management Partners and reviewed by the City Attorney's Office. Management Partners staff will present a power point to review the Performance Review and Action Plan. Environmental Status: Strategic Plan Goal: Develop, retain and attract quality staff Attachment(s): 1. City Attorney's Office Performance Review dated September 2011 2. Implementation Action Plan ATTACHMENT # 1 ; t ® Al a. attorn� S �c erf a �� R�v�e September 2011 MANAGEMENT PARTNERS 14 1 N C 0 R P 0 R A T E D 04 tJA5 14 MANAGEMENT PARTNERS I N C O R P b R A T E D September 6, 2011 Mr. Frederick Wilson City Administrator City of Huntington Beach 2000 Main Street Huntington Beach, CA 92648 Dear Fred: Management Partners is pleased to transmit this report summarizing the results of our performance review of the Huntington Beach City Attorney' s Office(CAO). The purpose of this review was to evaluate improvements in the operations and customer service of the CAO since we conducted the last review in 2000 and to identify additional opportunities for improvement. This report is not intended to evaluate the work of specific individuals or be used to assess the performance of elected officials or staff. Rather, our report focuses attention on opportunities for improvement as this is where the most value is derived. The 13 recommendations in this report are intended to help the CAO improve customer service, accountability and performance, and the daily management of the office. The input and information provided by the Mayor and Council members, City Attorney, and other City staff was essential to our analysis and was most appreciated. Thank you for the opportunity to serve the City of Huntington Beach. Sincerely, Z I lvv4t---� Gerald E. Newfarmer President and CEO 2107 North First Street Suite 470 www.managementpartners.com 408 437 5400 San Jose,CA 95131 Fax 453 6191 14 tA7 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Table of Contents Management Partners Table of Contents ExecutiveSummary..................................................................................................................................1 Background................................................................................................................................................3 ProjectApproach.......................................................................................................................................5 DocumentReview............................................................................................................................5 Interviews..........................................................................................................................................5 Benchmarking...................................................................................................................................6 Analysisand Recommendations............................................................................................................8 Budget and Staffing Comparisons.................................................................................................8 BudgetComparisons...................................................................................................................8 StaffingComparisons................................................................................................................11 Workload.........................................................................................................................................15 CustomerService............................................................................................................................18 Requests for Legal Services.......................................................................................................19 LegalOpinions..........................................................................................................................23 Contracts...................................................................................................................................23 Insurance ..................................................................................................................................23 Resolutions................................................................................................................................23 Claimsand Litigation...............................................................................................................24 Grievances and Personnel Matters...........................................................................................25 Understanding of Customers....................................................................................................25 KeepingClients Informed.........................................................................................................26 Providing Consistent Guidance................................................................................................27 ProvidingTraining...................................................................................................................27 Accessibility and Responsiveness.............................................................................................28 Organizational and Management Issues ....................................................................................29 Accountability and Performance Evaluation............................................................................29 Staff Training and Development..............................................................................................30 OfficeManagement...................................................................................................................31 Conclusion................................................................................................................................................32 Attachment A—List of Recommendations.........................................................................................33 i 14 88 City Attorney'sOffice Performance Review Table of Contents Management Partners Tables Table 1. Peer Cities, City Attorney Selection Process, and Populations....................................6 Table 2. Changes in City Attorney' s Office Staffing from FY 2009/10 to FY 2010/11...........13 Table 3. Comparison of Attorney to Paralegal and Administrative Support Staff Ratios....15 Table 4. Requests for Legal Services Completed Within Benchmark Goal by Department 21 Figures Figure1. Comparison of General Fund Budgets..............................................................................9 Figure 2. Comparison of General Fund Budgets Per Capita..........................................................9 Figure 3. Comparison of City Attorney General Fund Allocations............................................10 Figure 4. Comparison of City Attorney Budgets Per Capita........................................................11 Figure 5. City Attorney' s Office Organizational Chart...............................................................12 Figure 6. Comparison of City Attorney' s Offie Staffing.............................................................13 Figure7. Comparison of Attorney Staffing.....................................................................................14 Figure 8. Comparison of Paralegal and Administrative Support Staffing................................14 Figure 9. Requests for Legal Services from 2006 to 2010...............................................................17 Figure 10. Litigation Workload from 2007 to 2010...........................................................................18 Figure 11. Customer Ratings of CAO Services.................................................................................19 Figure 12. Average Number of Days to Complete a Request for Legal Services by Department...............................................................................................................................................22 Figure13. Claims Review Process.......................................................................................................24 ii 9 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Executive Summary Management Partners Executiv Summate The mission of the Huntington Beach City Attorney' s Office (CAO) is tq "provide the best possible representation to the City in all lawsuits and administrative matters; to provide excellent legal advice and services to the City Council and to all City officers and employees; and to prosecute, in the name of the People, all violations of the City Charter and Municipal Code." Management Partners was retained in 2000 to conduct an organizational review of the CAO. This assessment resulted in 33 recommendations to improve customer service, staff accountability, and operational efficiencies. Many of these recommendations were subsequently implemented by the current City Attorney who was elected in 2002. Like many cities, Huntington Beach has experienced financial challenges as a result of declining revenues combined with increasing costs. As has happened in many other cities,funding for non-public safety departments has been reduced to preserve public safety to the greatest extent possible. As a result, the CAO' s budget has decreased by 22% over the past five years. In fiscal year (FY) 2010/11 seven full-time positions were eliminated including three attorneys, three administrative support positions, and one investigator position. The CAO now has 11 full-time staff. Benchmarking with five comparable peer agencies shows the Huntington Beach CAO budget is lower than the median for both total dollar and per capita measurements. Staffing levels are also significantly lower than the median. Huntington Beach has fewer attorneys than peer agencies and fewer paralegal and administrative support staff than all but one of the peer agencies. Although Management Partners was asked to identify opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce costs further, our analysis indicates the CAO is currently a very lean operation. As funding and staffing have declined, so has the workload. The number of Requests for Legal Services for calendar year 2010 represents an almost 20 percent decrease from 2008. The number of litigation cases also has declined by approximately 31% since 2007. 1 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Executive Summary Management Partners One of the areas identified for improvement in our 2000 report was the customer service being provided by the CAO to other City departments. Through interviews conducted with the Mayor and City Council members, department directors and several division managers, we evaluated current perceptions of customer service in several areas which had been identified for improvement in our original report. The most common customer service concerns centered around turnaround times for routine work, poor quality control for written work, inconsistent communication about changes in workload priorities, and lack of communication about the status of litigation and pending client work. Although the City Attorney is recognized for her personal accessibility and responsiveness, the review identified opportunities to improve the consistency of responsiveness of other CAO staff. Additional areas for improvement include enhancing accountability through annual performance evaluations(which also were identified in the 2000 report), establishing clear supervisory authority, and developing and implementing staff training plans. Finally, an opportunity exists to improve the daily operation of the CAO by identifying a second in command to function as a managing city attorney and relieve the City Attorney of some administrative functions. The 13 recommendations contained in this report are summarized in Attachment A. 2 1 � City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Background Management Partners Backb Ound 1N The City of Huntington Beach is a full-service charter city serving a population of approximately 190,000 over approximately 26 square miles. Huntington Beach is the fourth largest city in Orange County and is known for its tourist amenities and beaches which attract more than 16 million visitors annually. The City Attorney is an elected official with the powers and duties of the office prescribed by§309 of the City Charter. According to the City Charter, "The City Attorney shall have the power and may be required to: • Represent and advise the City Council and all City officers in all matters of law pertaining to their offices. • Prosecute on behalf of the people any or all criminal cases arising from the violation of the provisions of this Charter or of City ordinances... • Represent and appear for the City in any or all actions or proceedings in which the City is concerned or is a party... • Attend all regular meetings of the City Council,unless excused, and give their advice or opinion orally or in writing whenever requested to do so by the City Council or by any of the boards or officers of the City. • Prepare any and all proposed ordinances and City Council resolutions and amendments. • Devote such time to the duties of their office and at such place as may be specified by the City Council. • Perform such legal functions and duties incident to the execution of the foregoing powers as may be necessary. • Surrender to their successor all books, papers, files and documents pertaining to the City' s affairs. • Assist and cooperate with the City Manager consistent with Section 403 of the City Charter. • Provide advice related to compliance with the City Charter to all elected and appointed officials of the City." 3 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Background Management Partners Like many cities, Huntington Beach has experienced financial challenges due to both increasing costs and declining revenues caused by the most significant recession since the Great Depression. The City has responded by reducing staffing, controlling expenditures, and negotiating wage and benefit concessions from its employees. One of the City' s strategic goals is to "maintain financial viability and reserves." To identify opportunities for improved efficiency and cost savings,the City Council directed that each department undergo an organizational performance review. The City Attorney' s Office (CAO)was identified as the first department to undergo such a review. In 2000, Management Partners was retained by the City to conduct an organizational analysis and evaluation of the CAO as part of an overall effort to improve customer service and efficiency through the systematic review of all city departments. The 2000 review covered all aspects of the CAO operation including the following: • Organization and Management • Business Processes • Use of Outside Counsel • Customer/Client Service • Use of Technology The project report contained 33 recommendations for improvement and suggested a number of metrics that could be used to measure the performance of the CAO moving forward. In 2002 a new City Attorney was elected and the majority of the recommendations contained in the original report were subsequently implemented. Because of our previous work with the City Attorney' s Office, Huntington Beach retained Management Partners in June 2011 to conduct an updated performance review. The purpose of this review was to obtain information about progress achieved since 2000 and identify additional opportunities for improvement. 4 3 IN City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Project Approach Management Partners Project Approach L � _F.. 6 Management Partners used various analytical and management techniques to complete this 2011 performance review. We examined documents,completed 34 interviews, and conducted benchmarking with comparable municipalities. The following sections summarize the documents reviewed, interviews conducted, and benchmarking activities. Document Review Management Partners reviewed a variety of documents during the course of this engagement. These include the following: • Adopted Operating Budgets from FY 2009/10 to present, as well as budget information related to the proposed FY 2011/12 budget • Adopted City Council goals • Departmental organization charts • City Attorney' s Office Annual Reports from 2007 through 2010 • City Attorney' s Office monthly reports from January to December 2010 • City Attorney' s quarterly reports from January to December 2010 We also obtained and analyzed 12 months of work load data for calendar year 2010 from the Office' s legal management software. Interviews Management Partners conducted a total of 34 individual interviews with the Mayor and City Council, CAO staff, department directors, and those division managers having the greatest interaction with the CAO. The purpose of the interviews was to gather information on the strengths of the CAO and opportunities for improvement. Department directors and division managers were asked to rate several operational and customer service activities identified in the 2000 report to measure progress and identify opportunities for additional improvement. 5 It bu City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Project Approach Management Partners Benchmarking Benchmarking is used to identify where an agency stands in comparison with similar organizations. It is useful to determine whether an agency is at the polar ends of a scale or somewhere in the middle. It is also useful in identifying the reasons other agencies may be more efficient in performing the same operation. Peer agency benchmarking typically provides a general comparison of budget and staffing. Five cities were identified for purposes of comparing general fund revenues and expenditures, City Attorney' s Mice budgets, and staffing levels. Criteria used to select peer agencies included population, the size of operating budgets and staffing, services provided, socio-economic demographics, and the presence of in-house City Attorney services. Table I below shows the peer cities,how the City Attorney is selected, total population, and total general fund budget. Table 1.Peer Cities, City Attorney Selection Process, and Populations •,��� �-tea?:; . x c,-_ - � J� - �Ariaheim: Appointed �' 341,C}34 $18`4;128784 . _ _ Chula Vista Elected 246,496 $226,063,414 P _ . f Glenda(e, = Appointed � � 192,473 $123�7 ig�14 0(10 San Bernardino Elected 211,076 $170,226,318 Santa Ana Appointed 325,228 $!2 ,197,3fl© �. 'Source: California State Department of Finance Benchmarking was conducted by gathering budget and staffing information which was then confirmed through interviews with the City Attorney(or designee) of each of the peer agencies. Peer agency interviews also included questions intended to identify best practices in the areas of litigation, council/manager communications,workload management, performance measures, and claims processes. Calculation of median budget and staffing was used to compare Huntington Beach to peer agencies. The median is a measure of central tendency. The median is established by sorting a data set from lowest to highest values and taking the point in the middle of the series. If there is an even number of data points in the set the median is calculated by taking the mean of the two middle points. Unlike the mean or average calculation,the median is not influenced by outliers or extremes in a data 6 W 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Project Approach Management Partners set.A median is often used when there may be a few extreme values which can skew the mean calculation in attempting to measure or define a typical value for a set of data. Data for Huntington Beach are not included in the median calculation so that the City is not being compared against itself in the market results. 7 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Ana sis an ecorfiM ndati6hs As a full-service municipality, Huntington Beach requires active and aggressive legal support to respond to claims and lawsuits against the City, provide assistance on personnel grievances and other matters involving the City' s 1,100 employees, and offer dayto-day advice and assistance in the preparation of contracts, resolutions, ordinances, legal opinions, and other legal documents. Huntington Beach also has the legal complexities of an active redevelopment program and coastal properties for which development must be approved by the California Coastal Commission. The document review, interviews, and benchmarking helped identify areas of strength for the Huntington Beach CAO and where there are opportunities for improvement. The results of our analysis have been grouped into the following key areas: • Budget and Staffing Comparisons • Workload • Customer Service • Organizational and Management Issues Each is described in more detail below. Budget and Staffing Comparisons Huntington Beach was compared through benchmarking with several other cities as a way of ascertaining relative position regarding city attorney' s off ce expenditures and staffing. Budget Comparisons Management Partners obtained FY 2011/12 budget information for the five peer jurisdictions. Figure 1 compares the total general fund budget of Huntington Beach with these peer agencies. It shows that the City' s budget is slightly above median. S ST 14 City Attorney'sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 1. Comparison of General Fund Budgets $250,000 $210,013 $200,000 $170,226 $170,226 $150,000 123,714 $100,000 ..... ......... ........................ .....................- ................ ....................... $50,000 $0 ........... .......... ..... ------ 0 1\21 414 Source: FY 2011112 budget information Figure 2 shows that Huntington Beach' s general fund budget per capta is significantly above the median and is the highest of the peer agencies studied. Figure 2. Comparison of General Fund Budgets Per Capita $1,200 ---- $968 $1,000 $800 $66S $598 $646 $646 $600 $400 ...... $200 $0 Nee .......................... ................ .................................... .................................................................................... .............. Source:FY 2011112 budget information 9 is IN City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 3 compares the general fund budget allocation for city attorney's offices. It shows the level of funding for the Huntington Beach CAO is below the median and only Santa Ana has a lower budget allocation. As a result of the City' s financial constraints, the general fund allocation to the CAO has decreased by 22%in the past five years. In FY 2007/08, the CAO budget was$2,771,022, compared to a proposed FY 2011/12 allocation of$2,161,308. Figure 3. Comparison of City Attorney General Fund Allocations $6,0 $5.0 $A© ...... ................ N $3.0 $23 $23 c $2 2 $2'3 $2.1 $2.0 $1.0 ........ __ $0.© Source:FY 2011112 budget information A comparison of city attorney' s office budgets per capita is shown in Figure 4. Huntington Beach also falls below the median behind Glendale, Anaheim and San Bernardino. 10 9 A City sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 4. Comparison of City Attorney Budgets Per Capita _$1 j13 6 $911 -1�2 _ - NZ Source:FY]J/22 budget izformo6nn Staffing Comparisons /\s budget allocations tn the CA[)have declined,Lso has the number of staff. ln2UUU, the C/\(]had l5 regular full-time positions and seven temporary staff, including two unpaid summer law student"externo." By FY2OO9/1U the number offull-time positions had increased tol8. However, seven positions were eliminated from the City Attorney' a budget ioFY20]O/]l ue individuals retired Vr accepted positions inother agencies. Of the seven eliminated positions,three were attorneys and three were administrative or clerical support staff including the office manager. One was an investigator position. Figure 5 shows the current staffing of the II full-time positions for the CAO. l� �&�� City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 5. City Attorney' s Office Organizational Chart u jam. b 6 - • B In addition to these full-time positions, two temporary part-time staff are providing office assistant and special projects support while the legal assistant in the Advisory Division is on medical leave. Two volunteer summer law student "externs" provide some assistance, particularly to the legal assistants in the Litigation Division. Limited paralegal support is being provided on a part-time, as needed basis by the retired investigator and a contract attorney. Most of the functions of the office manager have been transferred to the administrative assistant position. A comparison of CAO staffing between FY 2009/10 and FY 2010/11 is shown in Table 2. No staffing increases are anticipated for FY 2011/12. 12 City Attorney'sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Table 2.Changes in City Attorney' s Office Staffing fronFY 2009110 to FY 2010111 City Attorney '„ 1 1 Assistant City Attorney 4 2 -2 All ..,; Senior Deputy City Attorney 3 2 >1 Deputy City Attorney III 1 2 +1 Deputy:City Attorney l ` 1... 0 1 Law Office Manager i 1 0 -1 Investigator Vie:• ` 1 0 -S Administrative Assistant 1 1 Office Sp cialist 07 ^�y , -1 Legal Assistant 4 3 -1 TOTAL 18: 11 7 As shown in Figure 6,with 11 full-time employees the Huntington Beach CAC)has fewer staff than any of the peer agencies studied and is significantly below the median. Figure 6. Comparison of City Attorney' s Office Stffng 30.0 .,...____.__....................._.................--___....._..._........................................................................ ___.___.._...._.........._................................................ 26.4 25.0 ............................. ..................................... _ ................................................ ..1.0 20.5 20.5 o 20.0 a E c15 0 .......... ......... ..._... 11 0 12.0 13.0 `w E 100 - 3 z 0.0 —. Source:FY 2011112 budget information and peer City Attorney interviews Figure 7 compares the number of attorney positions with that of peer agencies and shows that Huntington Beach is lower than the median, with fewer attorney staff than any of the other peer agencies. 13 It 82 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 7. Comparison of Attorney Staffing 25 20 20 15 -- -- - 14 - --- - 0 9 10 10 a` 10 ---- -�. --- --- - -- - 7 E 5 ! gx ..................__ ............. ......... 0 I ...._ Irea o �a Source:FY 2011112 budget information and peer City Attorney interviews Figure 8 shows that the CAO' s total number of support staff also is lower than the median. For purposes of analysis, support staff included paralegal, administrative, and clerical staff. With the exception of Chula Vista,which also has four support staff positions,Huntington Beach has the lowest number of administrative support staff of the agencies studied. Figure 8. Comparison of Paralegal and Administrative Support Staffing 1a a s ........ ......... ......... ................................ .... w 7 r 6 6 `0 6 -- - - - a 5 C w c 4 4 a A E 7 0 ............. .........__--_ .........., 0Qa` ar¢• a rya ecaa�e a�tc� oo p� `��� C>� �0effia lac Source:FY 2011112 budget information and peer City Attorney interviews 14 1s City Attorney's Office Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Table 3 compares the ratio of attorneys to paralegal and clerical support staff for each city. Like Huntington Beach, neither Chula Vista nor San Bernardino has paralegal positions. Anaheim and Glendale each have one paralegal working in the City Attorney' s Office; Santa Ana has two. Table 3.Comparison of Attorney to Paralegal and Administrative Support Staff Ratios NHuntington Beach r7 4 if , � ` 1.8 . .. Anaheim 20 6 3.3 2.3 Chula Vista 9 4 €. Glendale 14 7 2.0 San Bernardino 5", 10 y8 1.3 ��.'§ Santa Ana 9 5 1 1.8 Source: FY 2011112 budget information and peer City Attorney interviews. It should be noted that one of the City' slegal assistants is on medical leave, which effectively increases the attorney to support staff ratio to 2.3. Some administrative support is being provided on a temporary basis by a part-time office assistant(a retired legal assistant). The retired office manager also is working part-time on a temporary basis, primarily administering the ProLaw system and performing special projects. The benchmarking analysis demonstrates the Huntington Beach CAO is providing a full array of services with fewer staff and a smaller general fund budget allocation than comparable peer agencies. This limits the ability of the CAO to take on special legal projects unless there is a dedicated funding source such as internal service funds or funds from other departments. The practice of asking other departments for funding is unusual. The other benchmark cities utilize their own department funding for most, if not all, projects and activities. Workload During our interviews with CAO staff, a common theme was that the reduction in staffing has resulted in challenges keeping up with the workload. To determine whether the current staffing level is adequate, Management Partners reviewed and analyzed workload trends using a combination of information culled from City Attorney annual reports and the CAO' s legal database system. 15 1l City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners The CAO has a "Requests for Legal Services" (RLS) system to initiate work assignments. Departments seeking legal assistance submit their request on a form or via email which identifies the type of legal work needed,background information, and a desired deadline. Work associated with a RLS typically includes preparing resolutions and ordinances, providing advice on memos,negotiating and drafting contracts or other transactional documents, prosecuting code violations, and providing legal opinions on specific issues. Each RLS is logged into a legal practice management system known as ProLaw. ProLaw can be used to manage and coordinate the work of attorneys and measure compliance with established performance standards. We noted from our interviews that the process for submitting a RLS has been streamlined since the 2000 review and most departments reported the system works well. Figure 9 shows the number of RLS' received and closed (completed) for calendar years 2006 through 2010. (Note: The number of completed requests in a calendar year can be greater than those initiated because individual requests may begin in one year and carry over to the next.) Based on the data, the overall workload appears to have declined over the last five years. Part of this may be due to the implementation of some of the recommendations from our 2000 report such as using boilerplates for professional service agreements and standard contracts. During our interviews we learned that assignments are entered into the RLS system only if the work will require a minimum of one hour to complete. Therefore, it is likely that additional work is being performed by the CAO which is not reflected in the RLS data. 16 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 9. Requests for Legal Services from 2006 to 2010 700 687 650 w 618 629 638 -- 618 a 600 —._..__...... 566 564 556 550 ............................ .... .............- E z520Soo - - - -- ---- --- _ 493 450 i 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 Requests Received 0 Requests Ci©sed Source: City Attorney' s Office Annual Reports,2000010 A significant component of the CAO workload is related to defending the City against lawsuits and claims. Typical areas of litigation include civil rights, tort and other damage claims, collections, contracts and employment matters. The majority of these cases have been handled by attorneys within the CAO since 2002. The City Attorney reports the practice of handling litigation in-house results in significant cost savings because outside counsel fees are higher than the cost for in-house attorneys. Our review of annual reports prepared by the City Attorney shows the number of litigation cases also has declined. Litigation cases include not only so-called "risk cases," but also claims and litigation related to civil rights, dangerous conditions and automobile incidents. Figure 10 presents the number of active and closed litigation cases from 2007 to 2010 and shows that caseload has decreased by approximately 31% during the last four years. 17 14 im City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 10. Litigation Workload from 2007 to 2010 80 ----... - -._.._.... -. ..._.. --. .._...................._-----._.........._— N 71 69 70 �s 48 U50 ......._.._.._._-..._....._.._..--_...------ __..._-----.. -- ---............................----- zs s a, 40 ------ ---- -----.—.._....... __..._.......— —.. __._....._._......_..._......__....._.__ U 30 ---................_......_...........-............_...._.............-._.._.._............................._....._........ _._...............- — _ _.__....................... . ac 0 20 ............ _ ....................... --- os c� �_..._....._...._._._._._ ._..........._.............. E 1tI -- -....---._...._... -....._..._..._......_....._._..---- 0 —----- ---....._ _ __..__.........._......._—. _._..._._.....__._ 2007 2008 2009 2010 Year Source: Huntington Beach City Attorney Annual Reports 2007 to 2010 While staffing has significantly decreased in the last two years,both Figures 9 and 10 indicate the overall workload as measured by requests for legal services and litigation cases also has decreased. A quantitative analysis of the CAO' s workload may not adequately reflect the complexity of the work being requested and performed. However, the City' s current budgetconstraints and the workload trends make it impractical to recommend adding more staff. Consequently, our recommendations focus on improving the efficiency of the CAO using existing resources to the extent possible. Customer Service One of the areas identified for improvement in Management Partners' 2000 report was the customer service being provided to City departments. During our recent interviews we asked participants to provide ratings of various customer service elements that were recommended for improvement in our original report. Each interviewee was asked to rate several service areas as "strong," "medium," or "weak." Management Partners assigned a numerical value to each rating. "Strong" was given a value of 5, "medium" received a value of 3, and "weak" was given a value of 1. In some cases the participant rated the service or area as being in between. Ratings of 18 hu 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners "strong/medium" were scored with a 4; ratings of"medium/weak" were given a 2. Figure 11 shows the ratings received for each of the service areas. Figure 11. Customer Ratings of CAO Services 6.0 - _ _._.._._.._....._.._......................._....__......__.._. 5.0 5.0 tw 4.0 §-4.(l 3.9 6 3.$ - -.... .... - -- 3.2. -- 3.0 cut _. .._........ _... ..._........ ...._._... _........ M a 2.0 1.0 ....... __._... - 0,0 'Ile Ne J G�� While improvement is desired by customers in some areas, customer ratings were generally positive,with none falling below an average rating of 3. Although grievances and handling of personnel matters received a strong rating, only three of the 17 department directors or division managers interviewed indicated they had experienced personnel issues requiring the involvement of the City Attorney. Two of these, the Police and Fire Departments, are among the City' s largest departments. The following describes each of the areas and their rating in more detail. Requests for Legal Services Those interviewed indicated the RLS system works well and is easy to use. The lower customer rating(an average of 3.5) is related to concerns about longer than desired turnaround times for routine work and inconsistent communication about the status of work in progress. The City Attorney has established a standard to respond to basic legal services such as preparing resolutions, ordinances, contracts or other 19 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners legal documents. The standard is to complete a RLS for routine legal work within 20 business days or 30 calendar days. Based on the interviews, a perception exists that this standard is not being met. Some departments report they rarely receive a response earlier than the 30 day standard and this only occurs when an item has been requested by the City Manager or City Council or is needed for an upcoming Council agenda. Management Partners analyzed 12 monthly ProLaw reports containing data for calendar year 2010 to determine how well the established turnaround times for basic work are being met. Reports described the requesting department, type of work, and the benchmark goal for each request. Benchmark goals were typically 30 days although some work was given a 60-day completion benchmark. The reports also identified the actual number of days required to complete the work. Items categorized as "projects" and substantial enough to require more than 60 days of work were excluded from this analysis. We also excluded some RLS data that appeared to reflect entry errors, such as negative numbers, or matters where there was no benchmark indicated. Table 4 below shows the total number of RLS' completed during calendar year 2010 within the established benchmark goal. It shows the CAO is meeting the established benchmark for turnaround times an average of 74% of the time. The average time needed to complete a request is approximately 34.6 days, indicating that the perception of some departments is accurate. 20 Ii� City Attorney'sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Table 4. Requests for Legal Services Completed Within Benchmark Goal by Department Adrnimstration' :" 25! 21 84 0% City Attorney 36 26 72.2% Gty Clerk li 6: p grp ,,. = �. City Treasurer 16 12 75.0% Community Services „ „< 26 2f3 Economic Development 115 83 72.2% Finance " 28 22' . 78.6%' L Fire 30 28 93.3% HR 7 13' 10.' 769% Information Services 6 5 83.3% Ubrary a n 50 Planning 39 24 61.5% Fol�c+e '. 53 37_ 6 8•f 0 Public Works 75 53 70.7% AVEitAGE as 47 ' ° ,.348 ..\ 4ww- 0% We noted that the Library submitted only two requests for legal assistance during calendar year 2010. One of these was for preparation of a copier agreement which apparently required 260 days to complete. Removing the Library as an outlier from the data analysis reduces the average time to complete a RLS to 34 days,which still exceeds the established standard of 30 days. Figure 12 shows the average number of days required to complete a RLS by department. 21 14 bw City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Figure 12. Average Number of Days to Complete a Request for Legal Services by Department 140.0 __—--------...._............... ._....__.._._..._.__._.....---....-- —— 120.0 100.0 80.0 T m p 60.8 60.0 41.2 39.6 40.0 29.2 31.0 �� 33.1 28.1 23.6 21.1 3 23.7 20.0 � 15 2 0.0 eA ca�ee �``e5 �`ac1 `�A `�ea� 5e \oQ �� 5e �` a CJ� C,`� ��`�� Oe e \ckoCP Leo Efficiency in providing services is maximized when staffing can be expanded and contracted to meet fluctuations in workload demand. Even though departments are experiencing longer than desired turnaround times, the City' s budget constraints make it unlikely CAO staffing will be increased in the near future. Because the majority of the CAO' s work is related to advisory matters, one strategyfor improving turnaround times is to increase the use of outside counsel. One of the deputy city attorneys in the Advisory Division reported that he currently spends approximately 20% of his time on litigation. Expanding the use of outside counsel in the Litigation Division would allow the deputy city attorney to devote 100% of his time to advisory matters and potentially create capacity for the other litigation attorneys to take on advisory work during periods of peak demand. In our interviews several Council members indicated support for increasing the use of outside counsel, particularly for complex,high-profile cases,even though such use may be more costly. Recommendation 1. Expand the use of outside counsel for litigation matters to increase internal capacity to respond to advisory matters with existing staff. 22 113 19 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Increasing the use of outside counsel will have financial implications because outside counsel typically has a higher hourly rate than in-house staff. It will be important to regularly report to the City Manager and City Council both the status of cases being handled by outside counsel and the associated costs. Recommendation 2. Provide quarterly updates on the status of cases being handled by outside counsel and the associated financial impacts. Legal Opinions Customers are generally satisfied with the quality of legal opinions and gave this service an average rating of 4.0. Some reported they are able to get legal opinions quickly when needed and that legal opinions have successfully "stood the test of time." A few of those interviewed expressed a desire for more concrete answers to legal questions instead of "it depends." One participant questioned whether some of the legal opinions being requested are really necessary. The City Attorney meets bi-monthly with the deputy city managers to review workload priorities. These meetings provide an opportunity for the City Attorney to discuss the necessity of requested legal opinions and obtain guidance so that unnecessary work is not being performed. Contracts This area also received a high average rating(3.9). Those interviewed reported the boilerplate agreements created by the CAO were helpful in expediting the review and approval process. Insurance Customers expressed concern about the insurance requirements being imposed, particularly for smaller vendors. This resulted in an average rating of 3.2. At the same time, customers recognized the insurance requirements are established independently of the CAO and indicated the process for requesting exceptions to the requirements worked effectively. Resolutions This area received an average rating of 3.6. Several interviewees expressed concern about quality control in the preparation of resolutions, ordinances, and other legal documents, particularly when CAO workload demands are high. They reported finding typographical and other errors 23 1 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners that should have been caught by administrative support staff. Putting protocols in place to ensure someone other than the author proofreads work could help improve quality control. Recommendation 3. Implement quality control measures for all written work produced for customers. Claims and Litigation Interview participants provided an average rating of 3.8 for the CAO, s handling of claims and associated litigation. However,some Council members expressed concerns about the claims process and the settling of claims. The claims administration and risk management functions for Huntington Beach are assigned to the Human Resources Department,not the CAO. In fact, the CAO only gets involved in the claims process when a claim either goes to litigation or has a significant potential for litigation. The process and authority for settling claims is established by City Council resolution. All city attorneys have the authority to settle claims valued at$5,000 or less. Claims valued between$5,000 and $15,000 may be settled by the city attorney, assistant city attorneys, or the risk manager. Authority also is granted to the city attorney and risk manager to settle claims valued between$15,000 and$50,000 if they concur with the settlement. Settlements for claims valued higher than$50,000 must be approved by the City Council. The City Attorney reported that information about settled claims is included in her annual and quarterly reports. Figure 13 shows the process by which claims are reviewed. Figure 13. Claims Review Process 24 3 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners The risk manager may consult with the CAO if a claim has high potential for exposure or is unique. In such cases a deputy city attorney reviews the claim and provides comments to the risk manager. However, the risk manager is responsible for determining whether the claim will be accepted or denied and making recommendations to the City Council on claims matters exceeding established authority limits. Peer agencies report similar claims review processes although the authority to settle varies by city. Like Huntington Beach, responsibility for processing claims among the peer agencies is shared between the City Attorney' s Office and Risk Management visually a division of the Personnel or Human Resources Department). Two of the peer cities (Santa Ana and Glendale) only have authority to settle claims up to $5,000 without City Council approval. San Bernardino' s claim settlement authority is$20,000 while Chula Vista' s is$50,000before requiring City Council approval. The City of Anaheim reported that settlement authority for claims is delegated to the risk manager up to a certain dollar value,but did not specify the amount. To address the Council' s concerns about the claims review process, the risk manager should provide regular reports on claims pending and settled within the established authority limits. Recommendation 4. Provide quarterly risk management reports to the City Council on pending and settled claims. Grievances and Personnel Matters As discussed above, few of the customers interviewed had experienced grievances or personnel matters requiring the assistance of the City Attorney. There appears to be good communication between the Human Resources Department and the City Attorney and the CAO makes an effort to work with all city departments to prevent grievances and the escalation of personnel problems. Understanding of Customers Departments reported the CAO has a good understanding of who are its customers. During interviews CAO staff in the Advisory Division clearly identified the City Council, City Manager and departments as primary customers. They believe, though, that the ability to deliver quality service is hampered by the reductions in staffing. Employees in the Litigation Division identified the same organizational customers but indicated that 25 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners because of court deadlines,judges also are primary customers. They reported that obligations to the court must be prioritized above the needs of City departments or internal customers. Keeping Clients Informed The need to improve communication about the status of work and litigation emerged as a common theme during our interviews. Several Council members expressed concern that they have learned about the results of litigation from the media. Departments consistently reported that RLS status updates are infrequently provided, although one or two attorneys make an effort to do so. The average rating for this customer service dimension was 3.0, the lowest rating received. The City Attorney meets quarterly with the two deputy city managers to review the outstanding RLS for each department and obtain guidance on relative priorities. She reported that typically workload priorities do not change as a result of these meetings. Department directors are provided with an email containing a list of outstanding legal work every two months. However, more frequent updates would help departments understand when to expect completion of requested work. Management Partners asked peer agencies how they keep their customers informed about the status of pending work or litigation. Best practices for providing information on the status of litigation included the following: • Discussing cases at bi-weekly executive management team meetings • Sending an email to the city council, city manager, and the affected department when a trial is set to begin • Providing quarterly reports on litigation to the city council and city manager • Providing case-specific reports and updates in closed session • Briefing the city manager as new developments in cases occur Several best practices were also identified for managing work load and keeping customers informed about the status of pending work. These include: • Contacting the client within 24 hours of receiving an assignment to let them know which attorney has been assigned and approximately when the work will be completed • Alerting the City Attorney if urgent work cannot be completed in time so that the work can be reallocated 26 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners • Providing status reports to clients either verbally or by email at least once per month. If an attorney is waiting for something from the department to complete the work, it is the attorney' s responsibility to contact the department and follow up. Implementing some or all of these best practices would improve communication with customers regarding the status of litigation and/or pending work. Recommendation 5. Implement best practices for regularly communicating the status of litigation and pending client work. Providing Consistent Guidance The CAO received an average rating of 4.4 for providing consistent guidance. Departments indicated that once an opinion or guidance is provided attorneys are fairly consistent in standing by their opinion. Attorneys who ask"What do you want to accomplish?" and then help the department achieve the goal are particularly valued. Providing Training The CAO is responsible for providing mandatory training including ethics (AB 1234) and sexual harassment training. Departments feel the training is helpful and of good quality and gave this area an average rating of 4.1. Several of those interviewed specifically requested updated training on contracts management and insurance requirements as there has been turnover in staff. We learned during our interview with the City Attorney that updated training in contracts and insurance is being developed and will be offered to departments in the near future. Two best practices identified through our interviews with peer agencies deserve mention. The Glendale CAO provides department-specific newsletters describing changes in legislation that will have an impact on policies or procedures. City attorneys in Anaheim are required to provide training once or twice per year for their assigned departments on changes in the law within their subject area. Providing department- specific training on legal issues and how best to respond to them would provide two benefits. First,it helps ensure that the city attorneys stay current on changes in the law, which is an important component of professional development. Second, such training provides a customer service opportunity to help departments avoid potential problems by ensuring staff knows and understands legal requirements. 27 14 88 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners Recommendation 6. Require city attorneys to provide legal issues training to their assigned departments at least annually. Accessibility and Responsiveness Department directors and Council members consistently reported the City Attorney is accessible and responsive. The average rating for this customer service dimension was 4.3. According to our interviews, the City Attorney is prompt in returning telephone calls and responding to emails. Some of those interviewed,however, indicated such responsiveness is inconsistent with other CAO staff. Although there are established office hours it was reported that some attorneys are less available than others. For litigation attorneys this may be a function of court appearances. However, a perception exists that some attorneys are away from the office more than in the office and this limits their accessibility. To improve accessibility and responsiveness throughout the CAO we recommend a policy be established requiring telephone calls to be returned within one business day and emails be returned within two business days. Recommendation 7. Establish a policy for returning telephone calls within one day and returning emails within two days. This will serve to improve customer service and responsiveness. In addition, "out of office" email and voice mail messages are effective tools for letting customers know when a staff member will return to the office and who to contact in their absence for immediate needs. Recommendation 8. Establish a policy requiring CAO staff to use "out of office" email and voice mail messages to inform clients when they will return to the office and who to contact for urgent needs. Two of the peer agencies interviewed have systems in place to help measure employee productivity and aid in the preparation of performance evaluations. The Anaheim CAO tracks accessibility, responsiveness, and other customer service performance measures for individual staff. Glendale uses reports from Filemaker Pro and obtains department feedback to evaluate individual employee performance. Although ProLaw is an effective system, it is not being utilized by the Huntington Beach CAO to measure employee productivity and 28 3 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners performance. Establishing clear customer service expectations and measuring performance would help improve customer service consistency throughout the Huntington Beach CAO. Recommendation 9. Establish and communicate standards for customer service and measure performance for all CAO employees. Organizational and Management Issues A number of improvements in the operation of the CAO since our 2000 report were noted during this performance review. For example, the establishment of two divisions (Litigation and Advisory) has been successful and staff report the current organizational structure makes sense. Office communication has improved through regularly scheduled staff meetings as well as separate attorney and support staff meetings. Employees are publicly recognized for their work at monthly staff meetings. However, several organizational and management issues were identified during our most recent review. They are: • Accountability and Performance Evaluation • Staff Training • Office Management Accountability and Performance Evaluation The 2000 CAO review noted that performance evaluations were not occurring on an annual basis in accordance with City policy. Interviews with CAO staff and the City Attorney confirmed that performance evaluations continue to be a low priority and may only be given when an employee is eligible for a merit increase. Most employees indicated they had not received an evaluation in several years. Annual performance review is a best management practice. It represents an important time for a supervisor to meet with an employee and review work accomplishments from the preceding year,identify training needs to ensure continuously improving performance, and discuss the employment relationship. Clearly stated goals and objectives are needed for each employee so each person can be held accountable for their performance. When employees are not given clear expectations, it becomes difficult for management to improve outcomes for the CAO and an individual employees' performance.All employees should be evaluated annually based on their performance and be held accountable for their actions. Failure to identify and address performance and conduct 29 14 City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners problems results in loss of productivity, poor customer service,employee morale issues, and a perception by customers that such problems are the rule rather than the exception. Many issues identified during our interviews with customers, such as poor quality control and inconsistent customer service, can be addressed through effective supervision and improved accountability by having regular performance evaluations. Recommendation 10. Conduct performance evaluations for each employee on an annual basis. Although the CAO has a defined organizational structure, reporting relationships are not as clearly defined. The assistant city attorneys are used and viewed more as "coordinators" of their division rather than as supervisors. The elimination of the office manager position in FY 2010/11 has resulted in no person(other than the City Attorney) being responsible for the supervision of the support staff. If reporting relationships are unclear, it is difficult to hold staff accountable for the quality of their work and to provide coaching and support to improve performance. It is not an efficient use of the City Attorney' s time for her to do performance evaluations for every employee in the department. We recommend that the assistant city attorneys be delegated responsibility for supervising and evaluating the work of employees assigned to their division. Providing timely and useful appraisals should be a performance evaluation factor for the assistant city attorneys. Recommendation 11. Delegate clear supervisory authority to the assistant city attorneys for the regular monitoring and evaluation of employee performance. Staff Training and Development Training is typically one of the first areas to be cut when budget constraints force reductions. While this may help reduce costs in the short-term, it can have long-term consequences in the form of weak job skills, lower productivity, and lower morale. Providing employees with training to increase their effectiveness and productivity contributes to improved efficiency. The CAO budget includes approximately$15,000 for conferences and training to maintain continuing education requirements. As a result of the significant staff reductions in the CAO many staff have assumed new responsibilities. For example, the administrative assistant 30 49 is City Attomey'sOffice Performance Review Analysis and Recommendations Management Partners has been assigned to handle some budget accounting functions and coordinate the ProLaw system. However, she has received little or no training to perform these functions. Expecting employees to perform new duties without training sets them up for potential failure. Recommendation 12. Create and implement a training plan for each employee during performance evaluations and/or the preparation of the City' s budget. Office Management The City Attorney is recognized for and takes pride in being extremely responsive and accessible to both customers and CAO staff. This communication occurs primarily by cell phone or email. During our interviews it was reported the City Attorney is frequently away from the office. We also heard there are frequently times when the support staff are the only personnel in the office. Currently, the assistant city attorney responsible for the Advisory Division is asked to act on behalf of the City Attorney when the City Attorney is on vacation or will be away from the office for an extended period of time. Based on our review, the CAO would benefit from designating a second- in-command to handle daily operations. This would include providing direct supervision of the support staff, serving as an in-house point of contact for City Council members and the City Manager,being available onsite to manage internal daily office needs and sharing responsibility for the final review of work products to reduce turnaround times. Clearly identifying a second-in-command to function as a managing city attorney would relieve the City Attorney of some administrative functions and help improve the daily operation of the office. Establishing a clear "number two" also could provide succession planning for the City Attorney position. Recommendation 13. Identify a city attorney to serve as second in command and be responsible for the daily management of the CAO including supervising support staff. 31 14 tm City Attorney' sOffice Performance Review Conclusion Management Partners 61 The City of Huntington Beach City Attorney' s Office is responsible for providing complex legal services in an ever-changing municipal setting. Much improvement has occurred since Management Partners' last review of the City Attorney' sOffice in 2000. Even with the significant reductions in funding and staffing in the last two years the department continues to handle a significant volume of work in an impressive manner. Nevertheless, there are opportunities for improvement. The recommendations contained in this report are designed so improvements can be accomplished within existing resources to the greatest extent possible. Careful and thoughtful implementation of the recommendations in this report will have a significant impact and benefit to the City, the CAO' s employees and the clients they serve. 32 City Attorney'sOffice Performance Review Attachment A-List of Recommendations Management Partners RcoAfachMentA, ® Lsto rdati6 Recommendation 1. Expand the use of outside counsel for litigation matters to increase internal capacity to respond to advisory matters with existing staff. Recommendation 2. Provide quarterly updates on the status of cases being handled by outside counsel and the associated financial impacts. Recommendation 3. Implement quality control measures for all written work produced for customers. Recommendation 4. Provide quarterly risk management reports to the City Council on pending and settled claims. Recommendation 5. Implement best practices for regularly communicating the status of litigation and pending client work. Recommendation 6. Require city attorneys to provide legal issues training to their assigned departments at least annually. Recommendation 7. Establish a policy for returning telephone calls within one day and returning emails within two days.This will serve to improve customer service and responsiveness. Recommendation 8. Establish a policy requiring CAO staff to use"out of office" email and voice mail messages to inform clients when they will return to the office and who to contact for urgent needs. Recommendation 9. Establish and communicate standards for customer service and measure performance for all CAO employees. Recommendation 10. Conduct performance evaluations for each employee on an annual basis. Recommendation 11. Delegate clear supervisory authority to the assistant city attorneys for the regular monitoring and evaluation of employee performance. Recommendation 12. Create and implement a training plan for each employee during performance evaluations and/or the preparation of the City' s budget. Recommendation 13. Identify a city attorney to serve as second in command and be responsible for the daily management of the CAO including supervising support staff. 33 14 84 ATTACHMENT #2 e � September 2011 Management Partners Making the Most ®f the Implementation Action Plan Management Partners has developed this draft Implementation Action Plan to assist the City of Huntington Beach with the implementation of 13 recommendations. The work involved in implementing the recommendations must be integrated into the other work of the divisions, with appropriate assignments of responsibility for implementation and with the identification of specific planned completion dates. The draft Action Plan begins that process with guidance about the length of time that might be required to complete an individual recommendation (estimated total task time) and with a recommended priority assignment (1, 2 or 3,based on criteria described in the document). To convert this draft to a final Action Plan, the City Manager, City Attorney and appropriate staff members will need to identify specific target dates. In doing so, you may want to modify the described activities for implementing an individual recommendation based on your knowledge of what will be required for completion, or to adjust the assignment of responsibility based on workload or other considerations. Management Partners remains available to consult with you in this process in whatever way we can be helpful. Please do not hesitate to contact Cathy Standiford at 714-222-0141 if we can be of assistance. Cathy can be reached by email at cstandiford@managementpartners.com. The discipline of successful project planning is basic to successful execution of the work ahead. We hope that you find the draft Action Plan useful in that regard. City of Huntington Beach Implementation Action Plan Management Partners 1 Expand the use of outside counsel for • Develop criteria for determining Priority 1 Assistant Office policy since 2002 has been to i litigation matters to increase internal whether litigation work is suitable for 1 month City utilize outside counsel in three capacity to respond to advisory matters outside counsel Attorney specific areas: (1)unique nature of with existing staff. ® Assign new litigation cases to outside Ongoing (Litigation) the case,e.g.construction defect counsel based on criteria litigation; (2)conflict of interest in representation, e.g. discipline matters; and (3) an alternative funding source if available,e.g. Redevelopment Agency or indemnification via condition or insurance. Any increased use of outside counsel for other reasons would result in the expenditure of additional monies. 2 Provide quarterly updates on the status of Establish and implement a schedule for 1 Priority 1 Assistant In addition to the current public cases being handled by outside counsel providing updates to the City Council 2 months City reports released on a quarterly and and associated financial impacts and City Manager in closed session Attorney annual basis,the CAO staff will (Litigation) provide case updates in Closed Session based on the nature of the f ( cases on a quarterly basis. The first j update is scheduled for November 7, 2011. 1 Priority 1:Important to accomplish without delay and/or easy to accomplish. Priority 2:Second tier of importance to accomplish and/or may involve some complexity or time to complete Priority 3:Least urgent to complete and/or may take longer to set-up or to execute z To establish clear accountability there should be a single responsible manager assigned responsibility for completing implementation of each recommendation.Where more than one manager is identified in this column,in clarifying responsibility should occur when preparing the Final Action Plan, Management Partners, Inc. 1 City of Huntington Beach Implementation Action Plan Management Partners 3 Implement quality control measures for all ® Delegate responsibility for quality Priority 1 City Management Partners recommends written work produced for customers control to second in command city 3 months Attorney assigning a lead responsible for attorney(see Recommendation 13) j proofing immediately. The CAO • Assign lead responsibility for proofing of disagrees with the importance of this work to Administrative Assistant recommendation as the only quality control issues identified relate to the Advisory Division(4 FTEs). t Management Partners further acknowledged the Administrative Assistant has too many responsibilities based on the PARS retirements. In the absence of an analyst position in the CAO,the CAO will implement quality control measures through the performance evaluation process. _. .._._............. 4 Provide quarterly risk management reports • Develop reporting format Priority 1 Risk Not applicable to the CAO based on to the City Council on pending and settled Establish and implement a quarterly 1 month Manager current table of organization. This is claims reporting schedule the responsibility of the Human Resources Division through the City Manager's Office. Managerr Partners,Inc. 2 City of Huntington Beach Implementation Action Plan Management Partners 5 Implement best practices for regularly • Develop protocols for communicating Priority 1 City The CAO is implementing a policy of communicating the status of litigation and assignments and status of pending work 1 month Attorney immediate contact between the pending client work to clients assigned Advisory staff and the • Review protocols with Council and requesting staff member upon Administrator to confirm they meet receipt of a new assignment.The expectations City Attorney currently meets with ® Establish and communicate all City Council members and performance expectations for client- ! Executive Team members on an as- related communication to city attorneys needed basis and an annual basis ® Evaluate performance at least annually Ongoing and will continue to do so. In addition,the CAO meets formally with the Economic Development Department and Fire Department on a monthly basis,and the Deputy City Managers on a bi-monthly basis. ! The CAO is considering modifying the ! work due dates based on reduction E in staff. 6 Require city attorneys to provide legal Establish and communicate Priority 1 City The CAO had an active training issues training to their assigned performance expectations for legal 2 months Attorney calendar for several years until early departments at least annually issues training to city attorneys 2010 when attendance became de • Monitor and evaluate performance at i Ongoing minimus and the reduction in least annually staffing made it more challenging to provide and/or attend the training. The CAO has continued to provide training as requested by Departments and will reinstitute the normal training schedule as staffing permits. Management Partners,Inc. 3 City of Huntington Beach Implementation Action Plan Management Partners i 7 Establish a policy for returning telephone o Draft policy ` Priority 1 City The CAO is implementing this calls within one day and returning emails • Communicate policy to all CAO 1 month Attorney recommendation regarding client within two days employees communications. • Implement performance tracking Ongoing process ..._._.._...._. ___.....�._ 8 Establish a policy requiring CAO staff to use o Draft policy Priority 1 City The CAO is implementing this out of office"email and voice mail o Communicate policy to all CAO 1 month Attorney recommendation for absences messages to inform clients when they will employees exceeding one day. return to the office and who to contact for • Implement performance tracking Ongoing urgent needs process ._..__ 9 Establish and communicate standards for • Develop standards and expectations Priority 1 City The CAO is implementing this customer service and measure • Develop protocols for performance1 2 months Attorney recommendation through the performance for all CAO employees measurement performance evaluation process • Communicate expectations identified in Recommendation 10. • Implement performance tracking ongoing process 10 Conduct performance evaluations for each • Obtain anniversary dates for all CAO Priority 2 City The CAO has begun implementation employee on an annual basis employees from Human Resources 6 months Attorney of this process. Assistant City o Establish a schedule for conducting Attorneys will be evaluated by evaluations December 2011. The Assistant City Attorney will review the attorneys they supervise March 2012. The support staff will be evaluated by June 2012. 11 Delegate clear supervisory authority to the • Communicate expectations to assistant Priority 1 City The CAO is implementing this assistant city attorneys for the regular city attorneys 1 month Attorney recommendation through the monitoring and evaluation of employee • Evaluate timeliness of completing Ongoing performance evaluation process performance performance evaluations identified in Recommendation 10. Managem- "artners,Inc. 4 City of Huntington Beach Implementation Action Plan Management Partners . e ♦ e e ! e � . e � � f r e* ♦ ♦ 12 Create and implement a training plan for . Assess individual employee training Priority 2 Assistant The CAO is implementing this each employee during performance needs 6 months City recommendation through the evaluations and/or the preparation of the . Include individual development/training Ongoing Attorneys performance evaluation process City's budget plan in annual performance evaluation identified in Recommendation 10. for each employee .._......—_........._ ...................._.__....__._................ ......_._._._.__.._....._._._...__....__._.._.._...—...._....... _ _. 13 Identify a city attorney to serve as second a Initiate process for selecting a second in Priority 2 City The CAO Table of Organization ! in command and be responsible for the command/managing city attorney 6 months Attorney includes two Assistant City Attorneys daily management of the CAO including O Establish performance expectations for with respective supervision of the supervision support staff position and monitor performance Litigation/Advisory Division. Based on the reduction of staff, additional supervisory responsibilities are not being adequately administered.The City Attorney is exploring opportunities with the City Manager regarding the creation of an at-will Chief Assistant to merge the supervision of the Litigation, I Advisory,and Administrative Division. To give additional supervisorial responsibility to any of the existing legal and/or support staff will concurrently reduce the productivity of the office and risk additional expenditures on outside counsel. Management Partners,Inc. 5 e � 1� CITY OF HUNTINGTON BEACH INTERDEPARTMENTAL COMMUNICATION TO: City Attomey Staff FROM: JENNIFER McGRAT. ity Attorney DATE: November 9,2011 SUBJECT: CAO Operational Modifications Effective November 10, 2011, 1 am modifying operational policies in the office. These modifications are based on the reduction in work force,the Management Audit,and feedback received by the Executive Team. 1. All City Attorney staff will report directly to the City Attorney. This includes all attorneys and support staff, including contract attorneys, interns, and volunteers. The current Table of Organization will be modified accordingly. 2. The Assistant City Attorneys will no longer make assignments. I will make all advisory and litigation assignment decisions via email. This will permit the Assistants the opportunity to focus on work product and will permit a more rapid response to the Departments and assigned attorneys. 3. The 30 day deadline for core work product in the Advisory Division will be discontinued. I will designate the appropriate deadline based on the workload of the attorneys and the difficulty of the assignment. 4. 1 will no longer be meeting with the Assistant City Attorneys on a bi-weekly basis. I will meet with the Advisory Division on a bi-weekly basis and the Litigation Division on a monthly basis. These meetings are specifically to update the Pro-Law reports on a regular basis to assist me in providing accurate and timely status updates to the Departments and the Client. 5. All emails received by City staff will be responded to within 48 hours. If a Department Head is included,the City Attorney should be cc'd as well. 6. All phone calls received by City staff will responded to within 24 hours. 7. The"out-of-office"feature on Outlook and the voicemail system should be used by all staff when the anticipated absence is beyond 24 hours. 8. 1 will be completing performance evaluations on all employees with input from peers, internal staff,and the client. 9. The original policy implemented in 2002 is to be followed: Any direct communication with a Councilmember or Executive Team Member should be communicated to the City Attorney as well. Regardless of the form of the communication. Page 1 of 1 SUPPLEMENTAL COMMUNICAT'10N Meeting Date: ��q Lav/� Agenda Item No.^ /�i