National Association of Counties * Washington, D.C.           Vol. 31, No. 12 * June 21, 1999

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Hats Off to … County
Administration and Management

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Charles County Petition Program
Charles County, Md.
Low water pressure, failing septic systems, deteriorating private roads and inadequate stormwater management were plaguing several communities in Charles County, Md.

This failing infrastructure severely challenged the resources of the small communities, which had neither the expertise, nor a process to tackle competing needs.

Responding to these challenges, the Charles County (Md.) commissioners created the Petition Program, a process that enables the county to take over, construct, extend or improve these troubled systems. This program has given communities in the county an avenue to address their issues and find resolutions.

How it works
Upon request, the county provides the community with a petition package that contains a check-off list, a copy of the law that governs the petition process, a sample petition, an estimate of the cost of the project, and other necessary paperwork for filing a petition with the county.

Once the petition is completed and submitted to the county, the county attorney reviews it.

When all the requirements are met, certified letters are sent to each property owner that will be affected by the petition and a public hearing is held where those for and against the project can be heard.

If the commissioners approve the petition, legislation is enacted through the adoption of an ordinance and the project is placed in the county capital improvement program. Once an engineering firm has been selected and a construction estimate prepared, the community is surveyed to see if a majority of property owners still want the project to proceed. If a majority of property owners favor the project, a contractor is selected and the project is completed. Future maintenance for this project will be taken over by the county.

The county explores all avenues of grant funding for these proposed projects. The remaining costs of the program are borne by the property owners that will benefit from the project.

County Administrator's Response System (CAReS)
Chesterfield County, Va.
To help provide the best possible services to its citizens, Chesterfield County, Va. had been operating an automated system to address complaints and concerns from its citizens. However, as the number of reported complaints and concerns grew over the years, the county realized that the system was not able to handle the growing volume.

In keeping with the county’s emphasis on total quality and customer service, the county administrator’s office, in conjunction with the county’s Information Systems Technology (IST) department, assessed the county’s needs for the system.

Rather than purchasing an existing generic system on the market or hiring a consultant, the administrator’s office determined that the best action was to have the IST department design a system specifically to meet the county’s needs. As a result, the IST department created the County Administrator’s Response System (CAReS).

The purpose of this new automated system was to not only receive and process concerns, complaints and compliments from citizens, but to also track and monitor citizen comments until they are resolved. The primary goal for the new system is to provide an initial response to all inquiries within the first 10 days and resolve complaints within 30 days.

The CAReS system has a modem to fax complaints directly to county departments, as well as e-mail capabilities. It also has the ability to create customized reports for the district of each board member and county departments, and is integrated with the county’s geographic information system.

The new system has significantly enhanced the efficiency of county’s customer service efforts and enables the county to measure its performance in this area. In FY97, 88 percent of complaints were responded to within the first 10 days and 75 percent were resolved within 30 days.

The total cost for the CAReS system was approximately $12,000. The cost of designing the program was $4,000. The hardware and software for the new system cost $7,900.
In addition, staff time for representatives from county administration and IST was a major commitment.

(Hats Off was compiled by James J. Culotta, research assistant. Hats Off features 1998 NACo Achievement Award Winners.)