Customer Service in an Upswing Housing Market: Getting Prepared!

By Jay Corey, MPA

Principal

Citygate Associates, LLC

Demand for housing throughout California is once again on the upswing. Inventories are down and buyers who have been sitting on the sidelines are now jumping back into the market. Experts agree, and buyers believe, that the California housing market has bottomed out. Interest rates are at historic lows and are expected to remain low for the next several years, according to Fed Chair Ben Bernanke.

The competition among home buyers in California has been intense: 9 out of 10 homes sold in San Francisco, Sacramento and cities in Southern California drew multiple bids during the month (of March). (CNN Money, April 5, 2013)

Metrostudy, a national housing data and consulting firm that maintains the most extensive primary database on residential construction in the US housing market, recently reported (May 8, 2013) that Northern California annual housing starts are up 82% from the first quarter of 2012, while closings are up 48%.

Steve Johnson, Regional Director of Metrostudy’s Southern California, Inland Empire and San Diego markets said, “Home builders are staffing up and searching the market for sites which they can rapidly bring to market for new subdivisions…”

Ask Your Staff if They’re Ready to Provide Quality Customer Service as Demand for Permits Increases

Community development, planning, and building departments in California have been decimated since the recession of 2008. At the recession’s lowest point, many senior highly-experienced staff members who could retire did so.

It just wasn’t pleasant or satisfying to stick around for the bloodletting as cities and counties suffered through layoffs. Moreover, many agencies offered attractive incentive programs to induce early retirements. As a result, many local government agencies are not in a good position to manage, much less  lead the way, as the housing and development markets begin to fire up. Those staff members that do remain are often less experienced, less confident, and less organized.

The World Has Changed Since September 2008

Think back five years. Google was still out to find its position in the marketplace; cell phones were being used but were not that “smart”; and Kodak was still in the film business. Only the very young were texting one another and PDFs were pretty much reserved for technology-savvy users. Social media? What was that? Facebook was still in a negative cash flow position in 2008 and half the world had never heard of it.

Improvements in technology allow the private sector to provide choices to the consumer that they didn’t have five years ago. Just click, and you’ve got it!

The private sector has figured out how to provide excellent customer service, day in and day out. When you call a customer service line nowadays you invariably hear, “How may I help you today?” or “I can help you with that.” When the transaction is completed, you’re asked, “Is there anything else we can do for you today?” and the call is ended by, “Thank you for calling us and thank you for using (fill in the blank).”

Local governments’ customer expectations with regard to how they are treated by staff have also changed—big time. These high customer expectations present a real challenge to both elected and appointed local government leaders. The public sector operates at a disadvantage: no competition and no profit incentives.

Take Advantage of the Generational Shift

New ways of doing business in the public sector have emerged and have led to a new set of “best practices” for customer service, community engagement, government transparency, and much, much more. The current generation of employees entering the public sector workforce approach problem solving and service delivery with an entirely new set of technology tools. Smart cities and counties are learning how to take advantage of these new resources.

Citygate’s Team Can Get You Ahead of the Curve on Quality Public Sector Customer Service

Citygate has a proven track record of helping cities and counties establish “best practice” development permit review systems. Applicants and stakeholders of all types and persuasions see the positive changes that result from our Action Plan recommendations.

Our team includes leading public sector authorities on the use of information technology, e-government and social media to make permitting processes and procedures more efficient and effective, to promote civic engagement, and to improve customer service. In fact, later this summer, our very own Citygate Press is publishing a book titled, Customer Service.Gov: Technology Tools and Customer Service Principles for Innovative and Entrepreneurial Government.

We have helped institute customer service and other efficiency and effectiveness improvements in dozens of cities and counties throughout California and the West.

If we can be of value to you, we would like to help. Please contact Jay Corey by phone at (510) 303-0327 or via email at jcorey@citygateassociates.com.

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Got financial crisis?

By Dwane Milnes, May 2008

What do you do when you think your agency is broke, or at the very least, the cliff is near and the rocks below are sharp?

What do you do when you’re the local government manager and you think you can’t balance the budget without cutting services; and no one wants to cut services?  Furthermore, the State is cutting local government revenue.

Some of us went through local government fiscal turmoil in the early ‘70s, the early ‘80s, and again in the recession of the ‘90s.

I honestly can’t remember managing a city that had plenty of money. We were usually on the brink of raising taxes, cutting police or closing swimming pools. Somehow, we never went over the cliff.

After several fiscal alarms, my own “bag of strategies” to hold off making the ugly choices became familiar to me: open the drawer and pull out the list.

Over 25 years ago, David Koester, former City Manager of Santa Cruz, California, gave me a list of things to remember as a City Manager. And so I thought I would pass on my own list of things to do when facing a fiscal crisis. I hope this is as useful to you as it has been to me.

1. Don’t Fill Existing Personnel Vacancies

This is only a temporary strategy that allows you to assess whether reorganizing will save money. It has the “human” benefit of providing vacancies into which you can transfer people if reorganization or service reductions eliminate positions. As a short-term strategy, freezing vacancies often reduces services in the area where the vacancy occurs; and this may not be your best “long-term” choice. Finally, freezing vacancies agency-wide only results in some of the savings accruing to the General Fund; but an agency-wide freeze can give a sense of shared pain and more positions into which you can transfer employees from areas where services are cut or reorganization occurs.

2. Delay General Fund Capital Projects

You probably didn’t budget the capital project unless you badly needed it. Most General Fund projects seem to be for facility repair/replacement or a community-serving facility. Again, this is a short-term strategy that preserves cash while you develop a long-term solution. Postponing repair and replacement too long is often “penny wise and pound foolish.”

3. Find More Internal Revenue

Many public agencies think they already charge an appropriate amount to enterprise funds, special revenue accounts, and the Redevelopment Agency to recover the cost of General Fund services to these activities. But every time I encounter a fiscal crisis, I discover that: 1) the indirect overhead charge has not been updated recently; 2) the direct charges are either the same percentage, or worse yet, the same dollar amount the agency had been charging for several years, which no longer reflects the services to “other funds;” and/or 3) the agency has not been charging General Fund service costs to all possible places, such as capital projects, assessment districts, or AB1600 fee accounts. It’s always interesting to see how much General Fund subsidy has crept into “other funds” because we were too busy to review and update. Best of all, this is usually recurring revenue.

4. Review Your Fees

Every time I started a new job as City Manager, and now in most of the agencies where I have assisted as a consultant these past six years, the fee schedule seems not to have been updated recently.

Tying building fees to the Building Code, indexing fees to inflation, identifying services that are unique to individuals, such as fire permits and inspection services, can bring in added revenue. A few dollars soon add up.

5. Have You Had an Energy Audit Lately?

This source of savings is off the radar screen for most agencies. The light fixtures have been changed, variable speed pumps installed and timers activated. But in my last few years as a City Manager, my Assistant City Manager badgered me into another energy audit. This one focused on whether our utility was charging us on the proper schedule for each use. They weren’t. There is also new technology coming out in a steady stream that provides more energy savings.

6. Sell Your Services / Consolidate With a Neighbor

In public agencies, as in stocks and real estate, timing seems to be everything. Last year your neighbors did not want to talk about a shared animal control operation, contracting to buy fire services, or consolidating dispatch. Today they may be interested. Fiscal crises often present the timing that makes cooperation possible for savings that is like new revenue.

7. Review Your Insurance

Insurance rates go up and down like a yo-yo. Whenever they go up sharply, we often get aggressive in seeking new sources and reviewing our self-insured retention levels. When the rates are stable we frequently ignore insurance as a potential source of savings. When was the last time you reviewed your retention levels and the adequacy of your insurance reserves? Can these be adjusted to save money? Are you absorbing most of the cost of insurance in the General Fund, or are you spreading the cost to the other funds, reflecting the risk they should absorb?

8. Where Are Vehicle and Heavy Equipment Costs Being Charged?

I remember the concept of the equipment replacement fund from the ‘60s. It was one of my first jobs as an analyst to calculate the amount each department should be charged for use of city vehicles. The City was in financial trouble and wanted to make sure that the utilities were paying their share of maintenance and replacement costs. Rate calculations are not an exciting job and so it does not get done very often. The rates then drift and the General Fund ends up subsidizing the “other funds.” I have used a fiscal crisis as an opportunity to update the rates. It has helped pull the General Fund back from the edge of the fiscal cliff.

Sometimes you are up to your neck in alligators and don’t have time to drain the swamp to find the savings and revenue. Sometimes you don’t have enough staff. If you are wondering whether Citygate can help you in any of these areas, please call us. If we can be of value to you, we would like to help.

Dwane Milnes may be contacted at (559) 786-8587.

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Citygate opens pacific northwest office

Citygate Associates, LLC is pleased to announce the appointment of Rich Carson as both a Senior Associate and the General Manager of Citygate’s new Pacific Northwest office based in the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Joining Rich is new Senior Associate Geoff Davey.

Over the 18 years of Citygate’s existence, the firm has worked with local and state government agencies nationwide, while headquartered in Folsom (Sacramento), California. With Rich’s and Geoff’s expertise and assistance, the company will provide a higher level of service and understanding of local regulations from a Pacific Northwest perspective and will better serve the city, county and state agencies who aspire to improvement-driven government.

Citygate Associates’ mission is to provide professional consultant services to improve government agency efficiency and effectiveness. Citygate provides services in the areas of general management, strategic planning, organizational development, as well as specific assistance in community development, animal control, fire protection and emergency medical services, and leadership development training for public officials.

Rich Carson

Rich Carson recently retired from public service after 30 years of working in city, county, regional and state government in Oregon and Washington. For nine years he was the Director of Clark County’s Community Development Department and managed 160 staff, a $15 million annual budget and was responsible for reviewing $600 million in new construction. Rich oversaw current and long-range planning, engineering, building inspection, code enforcement, animal control and the fire marshal’s office.

Rich was also Community Development Director for the city of Oregon City and before that was the Director of Planning and Development for METRO in Portland, Oregon. In that job he was responsible for regional planning for an area that included three (3) counties, 24 cities and 1.5 million people. This included land use planning, as well as planning for open space, solid waste management and emergency preparedness for the region.

Prior to that, Rich was the Planning Manager for the Oregon Economic Development Department and worked for two Governors. While there, he worked to change state and local regulatory requirements.

Rich was also the Planning Manager for one of the top three architectural/engineering firms (Daniel, Mann, Johnson & Mendenhall) in Portland, Oregon. In this job he managed projects in Oregon, Washington, Alaska, and California. Rich holds a Bachelor of Science in Geography from Portland State University and a Master of Public Administration from Lewis and Clark College.

Geoff Davey

Geoff recently retired after serving 33 years in county government. Most recently, he was the CFO/COO of the County of Sacramento, where he oversaw development of an annual budget exceeding $3 billion, and county operations carried out by over 12,000 employees.

Sacramento County has historically had the majority of the population in the county live in the “unincorporated areas” of the County rather than in the cities within the County. Since 1997, three new cities have been formed in the County. Geoff negotiated the “revenue neutrality” agreements with each of those new cities. The County still has the largest population and law enforcement and public works departments of any municipality within the County.

Previously, Geoff served as Sacramento County’s Principal Administrative Analyst for Law and Justice, and the Director of the Office of Revenue Reimbursements, the County’s internal collection agency for court-ordered fines, restitution and criminal justice-related fees. He has served on numerous legislative and other statewide task forces for the California State Association of Counties. He led the issuance of over $6 billion in municipal bonds, notably the first Tobacco Litigation Securitization securities in California, three Pension Obligation Bond issues, and numerous Tax Revenue Anticipation Notes (TRANs) and Certificates of Participation (COPs). Geoff holds a bachelor’s degree in Economics from the California State University Sacramento. Geoff retired and moved to the Pacific Northwest last fall.

President’s Message

In announcing the appointments, David DeRoos, Citygate’s President, said: “Rich Carson’s department in Clark County, Washington, was a client of ours in the year 2000. Rich was so impressed with our services and our mission that he actually wrote several articles about it. So it was not surprising that over the years he and I kept talking about how we could work together someday. We had a similar experience with Geoff Davey. He was our client when he worked for Sacramento County. So I am very pleased that Rich and Geoff retired from the public sector and have joined us.”

If you would like to discuss the idea of reinventing or creating an improvement-driven local or state government agency, please contact Rich Carson by phone at (360) 635-8161 or via email at rcarson@citygateassociates.com or contact Geoff Davey at (916) 830-0722 or via email at gbdavey@citygateassociates.com.

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Animal control checklist

By Mike Ross, March 2008

Before a pilot flies an airplane, he/she performs a preflight inspection following a checklist. The checklist is used to make sure nothing important is overlooked. “Mixture rich, check; prop at high speed, check; etc.”

In our performance auditing of animal control programs, Citygate Associates, LLC has discovered that many of these programs would benefit from similar attention to detail if they are to operate at a “best practices” level. Presented below is a checklist that you may find helpful in taking a look at your animal control program to see if it is “flight worthy.”

Community Expectations

The public expects animal control organizations to be service oriented with a rapid and responsive field staff, informed and helpful customer care representatives, and a high standard of care for sheltered animals. In addition, the public frequently expects assistance with wildlife issues, advice on a broad variety of animal matters, resolution of complex investigations, including animal neglect and animal noise complaints, and intervention and prosecution of animal cruelty.

Is your animal control program meeting community expectations?

Legal Mandates

Animal control programs operate under many state statutes. These laws often dictate requirements for rabies quarantine, rabies vaccination clinics, care of sheltered animals, length of impound, record keeping, spay/neuter of shelter animals before adoption, method of euthanasia, euthanasia training requirements, veterinary care of shelter animals, release of animals to rescue groups, animal licensing, animal cruelty investigations, seizure of animals, hearing procedures, and inspection of circuses and pet stores, etc.

Is your animal control program complying with all applicable legal mandates?

Administration

A best practices animal control program should have its own mission statement, applicable goals and obtainable objectives, current job descriptions, competitive salaries and benefits, comprehensive animal control-related computer software, an informative and user-friendly web site, and publications that address animal problems and issues. A comprehensive training program that addresses all aspects of the program and includes vehicle operation, firearms usage, safe animal handling, lifting techniques, accident avoidance, should be in place.

The animal control program should encompass effective public relations, public education, effective cost recovery, an appropriate performance appraisal system, adequate facilities, effective media relations, an up-to-date animal control ordinance and a comprehensive policies and procedures manual. Those managing the animal control program should be thoroughly grounded in animal control matters, supervision, labor relations, human resource management, budgeting, current legislative issues and community needs and expectations. A best practices animal control program will work with animal-related non-profit groups and local veterinarians to maximize the number of animals that are spayed/neutered in the community.

Is your animal control program an example of best administrative practices?

Field Service

A best practices animal control field service program is staffed with an appropriate number of dedicated, highly trained animal control officers who must enforce state laws and local ordinances. They must be able to safely and effectively restrain, capture, rescue and transport a wide variety of animals. They must be able to deal effectively, assertively and compassionately with the full spectrum of the community. They must safely operate a public agency vehicle in all weather conditions day and night.

In many jurisdictions, animal control officers must be able to safely utilize firearms to euthanize certain types of animals. They must exercise good judgment and common sense and recognize that in addition to enforcing various laws, they must also educate the public relative to proper animal care, welfare and restraint.

Animal control vehicles should be well maintained and animal enclosures should be appropriately heated and cooled. Radio equipment should be up-to-date and in good repair. Animal control officers should be equipped with the tools and implements needed to perform their tasks and this equipment should be replaced when needed.

Is your animal control field service program an example of best practices?

Shelter Service

A best practices sheltering program houses animals in a disease free environment that minimizes animal, employee and public stress by the reduction of animal noise and odor. The shelter should be cleaned regularly with appropriate disinfecting agents utilizing protocols similar to those promulgated by the U.C. Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, Shelter Medicine Program.

Animal euthanasia should be reduced to the greatest extent possible through the utilization of in-house and outreach adoption, utilization of web resources, foster care, and partnerships with non-profit animal welfare organizations and rescue groups. Adequate shelter space should exist to allow the holding of adoptable animals beyond legal mandated minimum holding periods.

Animals should be tested relative to behavior before being placed in a new home. The sheltering program should provide adequate veterinary care and animals should be provided with vaccinations and be spayed/neutered before being placed in a new home. The shelter should be viewed positively by the community. Plans should be in place to remodel or replace aging facilities.

Is your animal control shelter service program an example of best practices?

If you are wondering whether Citygate Associates can help you in this area, please call Mike Ross at (707) 688-1005 or David DeRoos at (916) 458-5100 x101. If we can be of assistance to you, we would like to help.

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What do your citizens, customers, or employees really want?

By Chad Jackson, July 2007

Do you need a handle on what your citizens or customers think about your agency’s services and the manner in which they are provided?

Do you need a way to accurately measure the opinions of your community without going through the process of lengthy public hearings where only the most vocal perspectives (positive or negative) are brought forth by a few passionate citizens?

Or maybe you’re just looking for ways to better understand your employees’ perspectives in order to improve morale and communication and decrease turnover?

Whatever the situation, there is a common solution to address each of these issues that – and here’s the best part – won’t “break the bank!”

The Power of the Online Survey

An online survey is the easiest, most accessible and most reliable (did I mention affordable?) way to get the input you’re seeking.

Online surveys can be quickly assembled and distributed via email or through a simple web link to as few or as many people as desired.  Because these surveys are so easy to take, response rates are higher than direct mail or phone surveys. Useful data is instantly captured and can be analyzed and shared immediately.

Paper copies may also be used as needed to appeal to those who don’t have access to the internet.

So, you ask, why is this so valuable?  Two reasons…

#1: Good Government is Focused on Serving Citizens and Customers

How can you fully know the quality of your service delivery without asking your citizens about their perceptions and their level of satisfaction? Understanding citizens’ perspectives and perceptions about governmental service delivery is essential to good government.

Citygate often performs management studies as a way to help local government agencies improve the efficiency and effectiveness of service delivery through many analytical approaches, including input from citizens to measure performance. We have found the use of online surveys in this process to be helpful and valuable.

Local government exists to serve the community, and feedback from the public is a must if you plan on continuously improving your service delivery. Although citizens may voice their opinions at public venues such as meetings and hearings, the views of only a small fraction of the community will be represented in these venues.

Citizen and customer surveys provide a way to appeal to a broader demographic of the public and more accurately represent the views of the entire community.  These surveys offer a way to obtain input on a variety of issues such as: the provision of services, quality of life, general city/county-wide issues  such  as policy options and needs assessment.  Citygate has even used surveys to assess voter support for tax overrides.

#2: Excellent Customer Service is Built through Satisfied Employees

Employee satisfaction is essential in a service-oriented industry like local government. Imagine trying to run a strong department that excels in customer service while at the same time wrestling with high turnover, low morale, poor communication, insufficient technology, etc.

You want your department thriving with teamwork, camaraderie, and a high level of commitment to productivity and to each other. You need this to keep your staff motivated, and in turn, the general community – the citizens you serve – satisfied.  You need a way to accurately measure employee perceptions regarding workload, staffing, morale, pay, communication, management and supervision, equipment and technology. Without this information, you may be unable to identify and address the true concerns of staff.

The Goal: Useful Results and Recommendations

By now you’re probably thinking, ‘so why should we hire a local government consulting firm to conduct an online survey?’

The truth is, because you want results! You have needs to be met and you need clear priorities and recommendations to follow. You need survey results that are benchmarked against other communities so you know exactly where you stand.

This is where Citygate comes in.  Citygate has 20 years of local government consulting experience with an extensive background in conducting citizen, customer and employee surveys within the context of local government. Citygate is experienced with creating surveys that are relevant to the needs of our clients, and knows how to both design and draw out the most relevant findings and recommendations from the survey data.

For example, Citygate conducted a customer survey for a community development department as part of a study focused on developing recommendations to improve customer service by process streamlining, assessing performance measurement, fee methodologies, and staff development.

Two years later, Citygate was commissioned to re-administer the survey to determine if customer service and perspectives had improved since the implementation of our recommendations.  The results indicated that customer satisfaction had significantly increased!

If you are wondering whether Citygate Associates can help you in this area, please call David DeRoos at (916) 458-5100 ext. 101 or Chad Jackson at ext. 205.  We can perform independent surveys as well as surveys within the context of larger management and operations studies. If we can be of assistance to you, we would like to help.

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