Original Initiatives
The Commission originally authorized staff to develop a Shared Services Program for agencies within Yolo County in December 2011. In consultation with the city managers and County Administrative Officer, the initial shared service areas identified for development included: animal services, housing/Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) administration, and training. The status of each initiative is described below.
Animal Services
As the Commission is well aware, animal services continues to be an involved work effort. LAFCo is currently working on its second study to assist the agencies in identifying what staff and program levels are recommended for the service needs in the County. Staff anticipates this study will be completed in July and the goal is to present any recommended next steps to the city councils and Board of Supervisors this fall.
Housing/CDBG Administration
The concept with sharing resources with regard to housing/CDBG (Community Development Block Grant) Administration was that each agency had a staff person assigned this responsibility on a part time basis. Yolo County Housing is highly specialized in this niche work and indicated a willingness to provide housing and CDBG related support services to the cities and the County. It was thought that better affordable housing projects might also be achieved by leveraging these resources collectively. LAFCo staff scheduled and attended meetings in January - February 2012 between the Yolo County Housing (YCH) Executive Director and the City Managers of Davis, West Sacramento, Winters and Woodland, and the Deputy CAO for Yolo County. The next steps were for YCH to provide the agencies with an SOQ or menu of service options for their consideration. However subsequent to these initial meetings, YCH was asked to take on the 10-Year Plan to End Homelessness and has been working through those issues but was able to enter into a contract to provide CDBG services to the City of Winters. Therefore, it is anticipated that YCH will now be better positioned to move this shared services item forward with the remaining agencies.
Training
The concept with sharing training resources was that some agencies have more robust training opportunities than others and that agencies could save money taking classes from another agency rather than some private offering, or worse not completing the training at all. Yolo County has a robust training academy initially created for internal users and LAFCo staff got hung up trying to address how to provide a shared website where such training offerings could be advertised to outside County users. In addition, County staff indicated that they had tried to share their offerings before with other agencies without success. Therefore, progress was not being made. However, staff realized recently that there is a low tech and simpler way to approach this issue - staff will simply provide PDF copies of the County's training academy offerings to each city manager and human resources director and leave it to them to negotiate and implement directly with the County Training Academy staff. The course offerings for the year are published in August and will be provided at that time.
New Initiatives
As discussed at the May 23, 2013 Commission meeting, the need for a Yolo-wide broadband strategic plan came to the forefront at the Yolo Leaders Forum and LAFCo has been requested to take this on as a shared service area. This topic was brought up and discussed under the Executive Officer's report and the Commission generally supported by consensus that LAFCo add this to their shared service responsibilities. Staff was directed to meet with the city/county managers to discuss LAFCo's potential involvement with county wide broadband issues and present a preliminary time line at the next Commission meeting.
Preliminary Time Line - Yolo Broadband Coalition
| Task |
Time Frame |
| LAFCo Commission approval |
June 27, 2013 |
| Agency buy in |
June 2013 |
| Confirm agency funding for consultant |
June-July 2013 |
| Release RFP for Yolo Broadband Strategic Plan |
July 2013 |
| Create steering committee |
July-August 2013 |
| Hire consultant for Strategic Plan |
September 2013 |
| Strategic planning project term (est. 6-month process) |
April 2014 |
At the time of publishing this report, staff has met with most representatives of each city and the County individually since the May Commission meeting (and will meet with them collectively at the June 21st Yolo Managers' Meeting). So far, each agency has indicated an interest in collectively hiring a consultant to implement key next steps to advance broadband, specifically to validate and correct the broadband coverage maps administered by the California Public Utilities Commission and create a county wide broadband strategic plan. Staff will provide an update of most recent discussions at the meeting. For more detail about broadband issues, please see the attached Yolo Broadband Coalition White Paper/FAQ.
Broadband is yet another issue that has surfaced in the county that could benefit from agencies working together toward a solution. LAFCo seems well positioned to take this on as another shared service area. The trajectory of broadband efforts will continue to evolve and staff will keep the Commission updated regarding its progress.
Other Miscellaneous Updates to the Strategic Plan
Oversight of existing JPAs was an issue that was at the forefront last December and the potential existed for LAFCo to be involved in the oversight solution. However, it has since been decided that as an interim solution oversight regarding financial accountability would best be handled by the County Auditor-Controller. The concept is still out there that a long term solution may be that a shared services JPA if created could also provide oversight of existing JPAs. Therefore, the recommended updates to the Shared Services Strategic Plan as attached clean up this language accordingly.
Attachments
A. Yolo Broadband Coalition Statement of Need/FAQ, dated June 18, 2013
B. Yolo LAFCo Shared Services Strategic Plan, dated December 2012
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