Interaction Group
Santa Barbara County Process Improvement

March 3, 2004, Minutes

Andersen’s Pea Soup, Buellton

 

Attendees:

 

Zoraida Abresch, Dan Nemechek, Harrell Fletcher, Dave Cross, Bernie Stableford, Susan Warnstrom, Tina Ryder, Tom Frutchey, KimProbert, Sarah Bow and Jerry Bunin

 

Called to order:

 

Chairman Dave Cross called the meeting to order at 4:45 p.m.

 

Minutes:

 

The meeting minutes from Jan. 21, 2004, were approved.

 

New Members:

 

New steering group members Tina Ryder and Sarah Bow were introduced.

General Information:

 

Tom Frutchey said the Feb. 18 meeting of all the steering groups was very successful. It provided information essential for deciding what to do next. A clear message was the need to implement recommended improvements faster. Deputy Planning and Community Development Department Director Dianne Meester narrowed the list of recommendations to 15 items to focus on.

 

For the Interaction Steering Group, our focus is on:

 

1. Insuring that department staff is less insular and reaches out more to applicants and agents, joining groups, creating speakers bureau to share views, building relationships, and being a bigger part of the community.
2. Insuring that applicants have the maximum amount of information as early in process as possible, including improvements being made to the department’s web site, developing pamphlets and brochures, using e-mails and faxes to notify users of changes in ordinances and policies, creating a class and a video on how to obtain a ministerial permit. The video will be broadcast on the government cable channel.
3. Making sure that department staff brings a customer-oriented approach to how applicants are treated.
4. Encouraging the use of a collaborative problem-solving approach.
5. Ongoing continuous improvement through such things as a suggestion box and an online suggestion form and letting people know their ideas are being positively received.

 

Dan Nemechek reported that he is developing a list of contacts as part of the outreach campaign. He volunteered to be the contact point for the information distribution and speakers bureau.

 

Tina Ryder and Sarah Bow were added to the subcommittee working on the video and a regularly scheduled class that will walk applicants through the basics of getting a permit. They will contact department trainer Rita Bright to make sure we have given her the right information. Then subcommittee member Jerry Bunin will write a script. The video will include such information as the addresses where people need to go and department hours.

 

The website subcommittee reported that it will be meeting on March 16 to set priorities on what to finish first and to review the decision tree that is being developed.

 

Cross and Nemechek volunteered to work with Frutchey on the continuous improvement subcommittee. They will look for a builder representative to also serve. Bunin reported being too busy to work on two subcommittees. They will ask Laurie Tamura to serve.

 

Cross said that each subcommittee should set a timeline for accomplishing its task. Everyone is supposed to have that information by the March 17 meeting. He reported trying to recruit new steering group members, but found that everyone is very busy.

 

Meeting time and frequency:

 

We discussed if we should continue meeting twice a month on the first and third Wednesdays. Frutchey said monthly meetings would work if subcommittee members make sure things get done in between sessions. We decided to see how much progress is made between this meeting and our next one, March 17. If we are successful, we might change the meetings to once a month. We agreed to make the meeting time for both meetings 4:30 to 6:30 p.m.

 

Meeting adjourned:

 

The meeting adjourned at 6:15 p.m.