Okaloosa County BOCC — February 3, 2015 — Proposed Administrative restructure of County Administrator’s Office — agenda request

BOARD OF COUNTY COMMISSIONERS AGENDA REQUEST DATE: February 3, 2015 TO: Honorable Chairman and Members of the Board FROM: Rick Owen SUBJECT: Proposed Administrative restructure of County Administrator’s Office DEPARTMENT: County Administrator BCC DISTRICT: All STATEMENT OF ISSUE: Request approval to add Deputy County Administrator position at this time and approve a screening committee to review qualified applications. BACKGROUND: Throughout a series of multi-year, budget cutting measures, the county’s administrative and management profiles have become too lean to provide adequate oversight of important governmental operations. The need for greater oversight of internal controls has been identified as a priority by the governing board, by the County Administrator, as well as by external auditors and officials. In a recent survey, with 15 of 67 Florida counties responding (including Okaloosa), 13 of 15 have one to five deputy or assistant county administrators, and 14 of 15 have staff-level budget positions reporting through BCC administration. In order to immediately provide overall coordination of fraud and control risk assessment programs, and to provide support for the FY16 budget development, it is recommended that the position of Deputy County Administrator (formerly titled Assistant County Administrator) be authorized at this time. The Deputy County Administrator would also provide oversight of assigned departments and divisions, handle a variety of executive-level issues of significance, and provide support to the County Commissioners and County Administrator in a variety of matters. Recommendations to fill additional critical gaps in administrative areas will be forthcoming through the FY16 budget, including the addition of a staff level budget and compliance officer position. In order to minimize the budgetary impact for the remainder of the current year, funding for the Deputy County Administrator position could be allocated from unspent salary dollars resulting from a partial-year vacancy in Risk Management, with any year-end adjustments that might become necessary to be made from overall unspent salary appropriations in an allowable funding source. The position could be advertised internally, following the county’s established hiring policies. In accordance with BCC approved policies for hiring department directors, a screening committee, comprised of the County Administrator, a County Commissioner, and others as determined and approved by the Board, would also need to be appointed to review all qualified applications. Upon selection, the County Administrator would recommend BCC confirmation of the appointment at a subsequent meeting. OPTIONS: Approve/Disapprove RECOMMENDATION:  1) Recommend the position of Deputy County Administrator be authorized by the Board at this time. 2) Recommend the Board approve a screening committee consisting of Commissioner (Boyles or Windes) and County Administrator John Hofstad to review qualified employment applications. RECOMMENDED BY: APPROVED BY: John Hofstad, County Administrator