The Sherburne County Board will be making decision whether they feel the county needs to hire outside consultants to figure out how two departments can run more efficiently.

 

Last week at a workshop meeting, Administrator Steve Taylor introduced a proposal to hire David Drown Associates to do an efficiency analysis of the Health & Human Services (HHS) Dept. at a cost of $18,000. 

 

Taylor said a consultant is already dong an analysis of the Information Technology (IT) Dept. consultants.

 

“Over 60% of our operating expenses are directly related to personnel costs,” he told the board. “It’s obvious our most important asset is out staff. But it’s also the most expensive.”

 

Taylor said the hope is an outside consultant can organize the departments to be more efficient and cost-effective. 

 

“There are risks here, but our intention is to make this a very productive and useful document,” he said.

 

Taylor said there are a number of reasons to hire a outside consultant. He said a consultant can take a more objective look at how things are operating and make an unbiased determination.

 

“What you find at times is staff will have a stake in a particular project and they don’t want to have it impacted,” he said. “When you have someone from the outside looking at it, it may or may not make sense to them.”

 

He said there are changes in technology, legislative changes and a number of major retirements coming in HHS.

 

“These departments are being impacted by external forces,” he said. “For all those reasons, we’re hoping to use these outside people to align ourselves.”

 

Some of the commissioners gave their opinion of using a consultant.

 

“I always feel that people we hire for directors should have extra talents, and they usually do,” said Commissioner Rachel Leonard. “Part of that is to think outside the box.”

 

She said in her 16 years on the board, the county has hired consultants - with mixed results. She said sometimes consultants have concluded the departments were already doing what they should be.

 

“I hear what you’re saying,” she said. “But I’m suspicious of the outcome. I don’t trust that concept at all.”

 

HHS Director Mary Jo Cobb said she appreciated that members of the board felt department heads were capable of making the right decisions.

 

“While I believe I’m competent I also think that another set of eyes would help with looking at all the different pieces,” she said. “I do think a fresh set of eyes can give us some ideas that I or staff haven’t been able to come up with.”

 

Commissioner Bruce Anderson said hiring a consultant can undermine a department head’s authority.

 

“I think staff are looking for you as a department head to give them some direction,” he said. “It might be nice to have extra eyes, but they might make a decision that they may not completely understand about what’s going on in your department. They want to see some leadership not have some outsider give them some sense that he knows better. Having an outsider calling the shots reflects on the supervisor.”

 

Commissioner Felix Schmiesing said sometimes a little outside look is helpful, whether it’s from a consultant or someone new the county hires.

 

Commissioner John Riebel said as a business owner, he looks at the county as a big business. He said he went through a similar evaluation with his hardware business and it worked for him. 

“I didn’t take all his suggestions,” he said. “It’s up to us.”

 

Since the meeting was only a workshop, board didn’t vote on the proposal. Taylor said it will be brought up as an agenda item at the next meeting.