Steering Group IV’s December 22, 2003 Minutes

 

Scheduled future meeting dates:

The group agreed that Tuesdays, from 9:30-11:00 a.m. at the Solvang branch of Santa Barbara Bank and Trust, are the most convenient day and time for our meetings. January 6, January 20, February 3, and February 10 were scheduled for our next meetings. There will be an All PIT meeting during the third week of February (tentative). 

 

Tools Sub-Group Update:

Noah Greer and Bill Wayson discussed potential members of this group, and discussed which area they should focus on. The group will potentially consist of Noah, Bill, Kirsten Zecher, Rita Bright, and Zoraida Abresch. Noah and Bill will contact other individuals during the first week of January to invite them to a 2-3 hour meeting to discuss the tools that are available/needed for staff at their desks and the tools that are available/needed for the public.

Dianne Meester mentioned that Group I is also working on tools for the public and prepared some ideas that fall within Group IV’s focus. Group II also has some ideas for tools that would be discussed by Group IV.

The group agreed that an update will be given at the February 3 meeting. Dianne mentioned that she will be available as a resource and contact for updates prior to the February 3 meeting.

Tools will be discussed at the All PIT meeting in February to hear the other Groups’ ideas and to clarify Group IV’s focus area.

 

Retention Strategies Sub-Group Update (& Supervising Planners’ roles Update):

Alice McCurdy, June Pujo, and Nicole Losch examined previous resources and created a table to organize the data by subject, year, source, and implementation status. An attrition table was also created that shows turnover rates more clearly. The table will be revised prior to distribution beyond our group. Further examination of attrition data will be necessary to determine the turnover data for each level of Planners, as the retention strategy recommendation may be different for each level of Planner. The Supervisor to Planner ratio will also be examined historically to determine if a ‘ratio cap’ would be a recommendation.

Dianne mentioned that the Supervising Planner job description/role would also have an impact on this ratio, noting that the Supervisor’s role can influence how a Supervisor relates to their Planners. Dianne gave an update on Management’s discussion of the role of Supervisors across all Divisions. The Managers and Supervisors looked at the roles, skills/knowledge, and attitudes that Supervisors in general should have. A handout listing the qualities needed for the roles, skills/knowledge, and attitudes of Supervisors was given to the group for review. Dianne mentioned that in looking at the thresholds (e.g. Planner to Supervisor ratio) for Supervising Planners, the same threshold may apply to Supervisors in general.

 

The entire group was asked to review the table that was created, and to email Alice, June, and/or Nicole with the areas that should be impacted first. On January 20, this group will identify the top areas that should be impacted and identify the areas that Management, Supervisors, etc. needs to examine. Dianne mentioned that due to the budget issues, the list of priority items shouldn’t include monetary issues. However, the monetary issues should not be ignored, but rater specified that they should be addressed at a time when the budget would allow for it.

This group’s minutes have been emailed, and are kept in PIT II’s intranet folder for reference.

 

Training Program Update:

Rita Bright did not meet with Management as planned, due to the extensive budget discussions. Management will meet with Rita on either Jan. 8 or 15, allowing Rita to have an update during our January 20 meeting. The update will include the Training Program for Supervisors and Planners and the Planner orientation program. It was also mentioned that a process for assessing Planners prior to promotions should be included in the program.

Dianne mentioned that Group I is also looking at training information, and came up with suggestions for Group IV’s focus. Dianne read the list, and the group agreed that we’re focusing on those areas already.

 

PIO Update:

Angela Antenore discussed the PIO position with management, who said that PIO training should be provided by P&D so that a few select individuals (Management) would be staff’s resources for public information. Management already has a public information policy, and they will look into making their public information practices more proactive than reactive.

 

Policy Consistency Sub-Group discussion:

Angela discussed a link with Group I to effectively create a process for policy consistency. This area will be discussed at the All PIT meeting in February.

Adrienne Domas discussed the database that was created for ordinance interpretations. This information will be given to Group III for the ordinance update. New Case Review currently reviews ordinance interpretations.

The group commented that we should look at how interpretations are recorded, accessed, marketed, and reviewed by staff and the public. The process should be the same for policy and ordinance updates. Who would be involved? Would a group within P&D need to be created to be responsible for maintaining the process of recording, accessing, marketing, and aiding in review of the interpretations? How would the process work? A ‘decision tree’ was discussed, that would describe a situation and the process/contacts for ensuring consistent interpretations. The process needs to be transparent so that the public and staff fully understand and can access interpretations. We must also remember that the interpretations are decision-maker interpretations: Director, Deputies, Management, New Case Review, Planning Commission, etc.

On January 20, the group will discuss the process for ensuring consistent interpretations, will establish a link with Greg Mohr, and will establish a link with Group III.

 

Interagency Coordination Sub-Group Update:

Tina Frank, Peter Harmer, and Nicole Losch discussed the issues surrounding P&D’s interactions with BAR, SDRC members, etc. Tina will contact the SDRC chair, Brian Baca, to discuss some issues that were identified. Steve de Camp mentioned that he and Rita have worked on an ad-hoc agenda for SDRC that would allow ministerial projects to be reviewed. Dianne mentioned that GroupII is also working on this issue. Adrienne noted that Brian and the other members of SDRC recently had a ‘retreat’ to discuss the SDRC process and how it could be improved.

This area will be discussed at the All PIT meeting in February. Group II will be contacted in the mean time. The minutes from this group’s meetings have been emailed, and are kept in PIT II’s intranet folder for reference.

 

“Homework”:

ü      Review PIT I recommendations to determine which areas need to be re-addressed, re-mentioned, re-recommended, and/or re-examined

ü      Review ‘Retention Strategies’ table to determine the top areas to be impacted first. Email responses to Alice, June, and/or Nicole.

ü      Retention

ü      Interagency group: contact Steering Group II and Brian Baca

ü      ________ (who?) Contact Greg Mohr and Group I to discuss policy interpretations

 

Agenda items (meetings 9:30-11 at Santa Barbara Bank & Trust in Solvang):

§         January 6:

o       Discuss PIT I recommendations

o       Interagency update after contact w/ Group II

o       All PIT meeting discussion items

*        Tools for staff and public (w/ Groups I & II)

*        Public training (w/ Group I)

*        PIO function and press contact

*        Policy interpretations (w/ Group III)

*        Interagency coordination (w/ Group II)

§         January 20:

o       Retention strategies update

o       Training program update

§         February 3:

o       Tools update

§         February 10