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<br />San Mateo County <br />City Managers Association <br /> <br />6.1G <br />Page 7 <br /> <br />i. Develop more applicants by initiating outreach programs to universities, <br />community colleges, returning veterans, and local high schools, especially for <br />police positions. <br />J. Join with other cities, and/or the County to create central training center that <br />promotes cross-training and succession planning for existing staff. <br />k. Using technology to streamline services. <br />1. Explore contracting out some functions currently performed by city <br />employees, but give those employees an opportunity to cost effectively retain <br />. those functions within the organization. <br />m. ~reate partnerships with. other cities and/or the county including payroll, <br />human resources, landscape maintenance, firefighting, police, recreation, and <br />custodial work. <br />n. Making public the memoranda of understanding with labor units that come <br />out of the labor negotiations. The majority of agencies clarified that the <br />contracts are available at the public meeting where they're approved as well as <br />posted on an on-going basis on the agency's website. <br /> <br />As the jury members know from their research, there are a number of examples in San <br />Mateo County where cities have implemented two tier retirement benefits in both the <br />areas of retiree health and retiree compensation. The same is true in the area of shared <br />services. Additionally, in just the last few months the Human Resources Directors have <br />rolled out a plan to implement a regional training program which would consolidate <br />training programs offered to public employees in San Mateo County. For many years <br />cities in San Mateo County have been involved in recruitment consortiums and <br />outreaching employment opportunities to universities, community 'colleges, and local <br />high schools, and just this year implemented a regional internship program for college <br />students. These activities, coupled with a regional job applicant website and employee <br />relations joint powers authority a few examples of shared or regionalized services that are <br />effective and efficient models for government operations. <br /> <br />There was no support for the recommendation to "create a Citizen Wage Benefit and City <br />Staffing Task Force consisting of five to seven members, drawn by lottery from resident <br />applicants". Many felt the focus should be on continuing the education of all the <br />stakeholders regarding this issue. The grand jury report is a stellar example of such an <br />education. The consensus of the group was that more complete education and information <br />would lead to better informed council members who could then make better decisions in <br />. the long haul. Other concerns raised were primarily focused on the notion that <br />undertaking such a complex subject would be best addressed by randomly selecting from <br />volunteer applicants rather than selecting community members that have particular <br />expertise, experience, and backgrounds that could provide valuable insight and resources <br />to under take the assignment. It appears that the Grand Jury members were concerned <br />that the city council members could not be trusted to select the task force members, as <br />they may appoint people that would be too supportive of current compensation practices. <br />That thinking failed to consider the potential for biased volunteers to fill the applicant <br />pool from which the names would be randomly selected. <br />