Efficiency Initiative

2009 NACo Achievement Award Winner

Los Angeles County, Calif., CA

About the Program

Category: County Administration and Management (Best in Category)

Year: 2009

The Department of Parks and Recreation launched its Efficiency Initiative to encourage staff to take a fresh look at how they do their work. Using an email campaign then inviting all employees to a series of Efficiency Idea Forums, they generated more than 400 different efficiency ideas. Six teams of employees studied the idea, obtained inputs from subject matter experts, and identified high-impact ideas for increasing revenues and reducing costs. Fortunately, they completed key studies just in time to add six “green” efficiency ideas costing $30 million into the Department’s $77 million request for funding as new Federal Economic Stimulus Projects. The teams also hosted an Efficiency Conference to present recommendations to the County’s CEO for saving an estimated $3 million within two fiscal years. They are studying other ideas to save $9 million more by FY 2011 and plan to share many at Earth Day 2009 events and at Los Angeles County’s Annual Park Summit, which was established by their Department and is attended by about 200 managers from Southern California municipalities, parks, and related agencies. For two years the Summits have focused on sustainability and efficiency.