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COONS ADMINISTRATION TRANSITION

IMMEDIATE ACTION ITEMS

These recommendations represent the New Castle County government I want to lead, one this is open, fair, and pro-active. The sixteen recommendations we are implementing are:

1) Transition Committee Recommendation: Begin an immediate review of the proposed department spending for the remainder of 2005 and recommended budget for 2006 to identify if any spending can be curtailed to address the structural operating deficit in the General Fund and Sewer Fund.

Action: Sound finances are at the heart of any government’s management responsibility. We must have a sustainable fiscal program that balances revenues and expenditures. To that end, I have charged our CAO with immediately beginning a review of current FY 2005 and proposed FY 2006 department spending and developing long term solutions to the current structural budget deficits in the General Fund and Sewer Fund. The CAO and Deputy CAO have already completed operating budget reviews and have retained the services of NachmanHaysBrownstein, Inc., who have completed preliminary observations and recommendations regarding the financial status of New Castle County.

2) Transition Committee Recommendation: Seek a change to state law to reinstate the practice of the County Executive making his/her own cabinet appointments. Currently, the Delaware Code prohibits the Executive from appointing their own management team to run county departments.

Action: I have secured passage by the General Assembly of a change to state law to reinstate the practice of the County Executive making his/her own cabinet appointments. Ever since county government began, the County Executive had the authority to choose their own management team, but changes made in 1998 to state law ended that practice. This change will allow me to appoint a leadership team that will share my priorities and support my view of how county government should be run.

3) Transition Committee Recommendation: Appoint a Director of Public Safety (DPS) to oversee all areas of public safety operations.

Action: I have charged our CAO with moving forward with identifying and selecting for appointment a Director of Public Safety to report to and be directly accountable to the County Executive. While the position currently exists, I will work with County Council to secure the necessary funding in the budget.

4) Transition Committee Recommendation: Immediately undertake a comprehensive top to bottom management and budget review of the entire New Castle County Police Department including a detailed review of the capital budget.

Action: Such a review has begun and when completed will include strong recommendations in the areas of hiring practices; the career advancement system; deployment plans and equipment purchases. I will also be looking for a clear strategic plan based partly on the 1999 Southern Police Institute recommendations, which will be updated and revised accordingly.

5) Transition Committee Recommendation: Increase diversity in the county workforce so that it reflects the demographics of the county and brings a culture of open and fair treatment for all county employees. This should include the creation of an internal Diversity Council, the assignment of Human Resources staff in this area, and the inclusion of diversity goals as part of management performance reviews.

Action: We must strive for a county workforce that is sensitive to the needs of all and reflects our county demographics. The county has a Diversity Commission, but they have never met due to a chair appointed by the former County Executive who never called a meeting. I am appointing a new Chair and directing them to meet on a regular basis. In addition, I will support additional funding for diversity training for all employees and direct county Human Resources to establish an internal Diversity Council. We currently teach all employees the basics, but it is time to expand that training to address the more subtle forms of discrimination. We also must work harder to visibly and broadly promote the county as a desirable workplace for job applicants from all backgrounds, and to invest in internal mentoring and career development opportunities. We must also look at our procurement system to determine that all vendors are being given equal opportunity to work with New Castle County. I will charge our county Human Resources team with bringing me a proposal within 30 days for how to appropriately accomplish these goals.

6) Transition Committee Recommendation: Provide the Ethics Commission a completely separate office, filing arrangement and complaints reporting mechanism from county offices. Make the Ethics Commission budget independent from the Law Department’s annual budget request.

Action: During the election, I pledged to support an Ethics Commission that is strong and well-funded. I will make the Ethics Commission’s budget request independent from the Law Department, and encourage the Commission to include in its budget request for FY2006 funding for office space, files and a complaints reporting mechanism that is outside county government offices and yet easily accessible to county employees and the public.

7) Transition Committee Recommendation: Indemnify members of the Ethics Commission to the same extent other board and commission members are indemnified.

Action: The Ethics Commission members deserve as much protection from lawsuits related to their work as any board or commission. At my direction the Law Department recently confirmed for me that the Ethics Commission is fully indemnified.

8) Transition Committee Recommendation: Revamp existing programs to adequately address storm water issues on existing developments. Implement best management practices for new development. Explore creation of a storm water utility (in cooperation with state and local agencies) to provide comprehensive management of storm water.

Action: My administration and I will personally participate fully in the Governor’s Storm Water Task Force and will research best practices regarding the creation of a storm water utility.

9) Transition Committee Recommendation: Communicate clearly and regularly with County Council on funding issues; work with Council to reduce the amount of supplemental appropriations throughout the fiscal year.

Action: The County Council President and I have pledged to communicate both clearly and regularly on funding issues. We share a joint responsibility to invest taxpayer funding wisely. I look forward to presenting County Council with the proposed budget in March, and working as partners on upcoming initiatives, and we will work together to limit the frequency and amount of supplemental appropriations throughout the year.

10) Transition Committee Recommendation: Establish limits, procedures and reporting for acceptance of gifts by New Castle County leadership, appointees and employees.

Action: I will ask the County Ethics Commission to review the current gift disclosure law and make recommendations on whether further changes are needed. I will this week issue Executive Order Number One directing that all of my senior Executive staff submit annual Financial Disclosure forms.

11) Transition Committee Recommendation: Determine whether state law requires criminal background checks for all employees working with children and, if so, implement such checks immediately.

Action: State law requires criminal background checks for certain employees (child care and public school workers) who have direct access to children. While County employees are not specifically covered by the state law in this area, I have directed that we will immediately begin conducting criminal background checks on our employees working in county sports and recreations programs. As a father of young children, there is nothing more important to me than their safety and that of all young children.

12) Transition Committee Recommendation: Increase economic development efforts and public relations outreach to recruit more businesses to New Castle County. Change the perception from out of state that New Castle County is “closed for business.”

Action: I have already begun to meet with our business and civic leaders to send the message that New Castle County is open for responsible development. I met with the New Castle County Chamber’s Economic Development Council and we have begun to structure a new and stronger relationship. I have written to the Secretary of DNREC asking for input on current state brownfields ordinances and asking the department for assistance in setting up a county redevelopment office. I am an active participant in the Council on Competitiveness’ initiative to foster a more friendly environment for entrepreneurship in Delaware. I have also met with Judy Cherry, the Director of the Delaware Economic Development Office to further strengthen that relationship.

13) Transition Committee Recommendation: Begin preparations for labor contract negotiations, including but not limited to creation of a Labor Management Committee. Labor contracts expire March 2005.

Action: County employees are the backbone of county government. I have already had an initial meeting with the leadership of the county unions. I will soon announce the creation of a Labor Management Committee to discuss a wide range of ongoing concerns regarding workplace conditions, and my staff has already begun preparations for labor discussions.

14) Transition Committee Recommendation: Increase and encourage communication: County and Community Services leadership must encourage communication among each of the department’s offices and with other county departments, governments, community groups, consumers and stakeholders.

Action: I will immediately direct the leadership of the Community Services Department to move to establish public advisory councils for each division that does not have one and activate those that have been dormant. I will regularly meet with and seek input from these councils. I will also have open door sessions with employees and the general public, and renew the publication of an employee newsletter.

15) Transition Committee Recommendation: The county website and appropriate forms and brochures should be translated into Spanish.

Action: We will move forward swiftly to make all county communications materials accessible for every county resident. A complete review of the website and other methods of communication are underway, and input will be sought on this review from the Hispanic community, and also from employees of New Castle county government.

15) Recomendación de el Comité de Transición: La pagina de internet, los fomularios apropiados y folletos, deberian ser traducidos en Español.

Acción: Nosotros dimos un paso adelante para que todos los materiales de comunicación de el Condado sean accesibles para cada residente de el Condado.

Un analisis completo a la pagina de internet y otros metodos de comunicación, ya esta en camino y la participación de la comunida Hispana sera solicitada para este analisis, y también de los empleados del govierno de el Condado de New Castle.

16) Transition Committee Recommendation: Develop a marketing plan for county libraries, further increase access to technology via additional training and user-friendly computers, and bring staffing levels closer to the national average.

Action: I will charge my new Communications Director to work with the Community Services department to develop a campaign to increase the use of our libraries. I will also direct the county IS Section to research and/or provide training and expertise in the area of best practices in library technology.