ALBEMARLE COUNTY SERVICE AUTHORITY

Transcription

1 ALBEMARLE COUNTY SERVICE AUTHORITY AGENDA ITEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY AGENDA TITLE: Strategic Plan Process STAFF CONTACT(S)/PREPARER: Gary O Connell, Executive Director AGENDA DATE: September 20, 2018 ACTION: ATTACHMENTS: Yes BACKGROUND: The ACSA s current Strategic Plan ( ) was completed in July, with a few carryover items for completion over the next six months. This Board item outlines an approach and process for the next Strategic Plan, and seeks Board feedback on the proposed process. The ultimate goal is to have a new Strategic Plan in place by early The staff is proposing that the new Strategic Plan be for a three-year period, , which is sufficient time to deal with more strategic items that help move the ACSA forward, yet be focused, and manageable. Most strategic plan processes stop to take a look at upcoming strategic issues, and identify any strategic future oriented gaps that need to be addressed. The two main strategic areas we see addressing over the coming three years are the AMI project (advanced metering infrastructure), and CMMS project (computerized maintenance management system service requests, work orders, inventory and asset management). Both are major, multi-year efforts to successfully implement. We are developing working plans that will fit nicely into the three-year strategic plan timeframe. There are a number of areas that we have reviewed or propose to plan to review as part of the ACSA Strategic Plan process. The following summarizes those efforts to look at the ACSA strategically, and a couple are proposed for a fall-winter development. 1. Benchmarking The ACSA participated in the 2017 American Water Works Association (AWWA) Utility Benchmarking Program, with comparative results available in early The primary objective of the benchmarking project was to provide comparative performance measures for water and wastewater utilities. The ACSA was one of 129 nationwide utility participants. The ACSA ranked high in strategic planning and strategic plan implementation, long-term financial planning, risk management (emergency planning), governing body transparency and accountability, drought response/water shortage contingency plan, source water protection plan and leadership effectiveness. Areas for improvement (on ACSA plan to address) includes: performance measurement program (CMMS); customer involvement program (AMI, service requests in CMMS, proposed customer survey); Succession Planning (completed organizational succession plan in 2018); continuous improvement

2 ALBEMARLE COUNTY SERVICE AUTHORITY AGENDA ITEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY program (CMMS, EUM (effective utility management) review proposed, conducted Best Practices Review by peer utility managers in 2018); 2. Best Practices Review Panel Conducted peer utility manager review in February 2018, with report to Board at the August meeting. Identified two major gaps to address strategically; AMI and CMMS both have active projects underway to address. The ACSA was highly rated in a number of management areas. 3. Employee Insights Survey As part of the AMI project, an extensive employee survey was conducted that concluded that the ACSA staff is supportive and ready to implement AMI. Further results from the survey will be shared this fall. 4. EUM Effective Utility Management The ACSA staff will use the EUM ranking process to look at current management areas, and use the ranking criteria for current or expected challenges. EUM is a nationally recognized strategic planning tool (EPA, AWWA, WEF and other water organizations) to use as an organizational self-assessment. EUM focuses on ten key management dimensions: (1) water resource and supply adequacy; (2) water quality clean and safe water; (3) customer satisfaction; (4) community sustainability and economic development; (5) employee and leadership development; (6) financial viability; (7) operational optimization; (8) infrastructure stability; (9) operational resiliency vulnerability assessment; (10) stakeholder (community and customers) understanding and support. We would recommend a summary report to the Board. 5. ACSA Customer Survey The ACSA staff is exploring a strategic plan survey for our customers, utilizing a commercially available survey product (like SurveyMonkey) to gain customer feedback and input into the strategic planning process. We plan to develop and kick-off the survey this late fall. 6. Employee Feedback on Proposed Strategic Plan Conduct a series of employee meetings (around the regular monthly Employee Board Recap meetings) on the strategic plan for input, and provide an summary for feedback, so all employees are a part of the process. This would include a review of the current Vision and Values. Strategic Plan Areas for Consideration, for which annual business plans would be developed for implementation: 1. AMI (advanced metering infrastructure) detailed annual schedule; November report to Board; 2. CMMS (computerized maintenance management system) overview report to Board at September meeting. Other Areas to Either Complete or Implement: 3. Succession Plans (continuing);

3 ALBEMARLE COUNTY SERVICE AUTHORITY AGENDA ITEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 4. Best Practices Review Following up on panel recommendations; schedule utility tour; 5. Emergency Response Plan Completion; and development of Business Continuity Plan; annual exercising and updates; 6. Explore Financial System Update By 2022; 7. Cyber Security Assessment Implementation of recommendations; 8. Facility Master Plan Completion plan for approval; implement near term recommendations (three-year time horizon); 9. Managing/Utilizing Data Explore strategic implementation plan to best manage for upcoming available data: GIS, Financial, SCADA, CMMS, AMI, Modeling, etc.; 10. Annual Water Audit Complete the first one in late 2019, once one year of wholesale metering data is available; complete Scottsville and Crozet in 2019, complete Urban system in early ACSA Future Challenges and Opportunities Overview of Coming Issues: Safe, clean, reliable water; high quality; proactive maintenance, continually testing to assure; Success for big upcoming projects: o CMMS o AMI; Goal to be a fun, energetic place to work; good employee morale/employee relations; Hiring entry-level maintenance and retention; effective pay and benefit plans to the local job market; job readiness and training; New Strategic Plan 2019; Financing and rates given $ million RWSA CIP over next years; Success Key Leadership position transitions over next 5+ years Succession Plan effort to address (Attorney, Executive Director, Director of Engineering, Operations Manager and others); Development growth planning; County s Economic Development Strategic Plan, expansion growth area, utilities impact; Board Governance; Adequate Capital Asset Replacement Schedule; thoughts to approach and pros/cons formal asset management ; CMMS next step; Water Audit formalizing with new RWSA Wholesale Metering System; Non-Revenue Water; Water Partnerships City and RWSA; Leadership Coaching Leadership Assessment this fall; Open communications with employees and customers;

4 ALBEMARLE COUNTY SERVICE AUTHORITY AGENDA ITEM EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Good customer communications; excellent customer service. BOARD ACTION REQUESTED: Suggested Strategic Plan Process over the fallearly winter outlined; seeking Board feedback on the general process and on the strategic targeted areas that are outlined. ATTACHMENTS: ACSA Strategic Plan Process Recommendations PowerPoint.

5 ACSA Strategic Plan Process Recommendations

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7 Strategic Plan Process: 1. Benchmarking AWWA 2. Best Practices Review Panel 3. Employee Insights Survey 4. EUM 5. ACSA Customer Survey 6. Employee Feedback 3

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9 AWWA Benchmarks: Highly Ranked: Strategic Planning Strategic Plan implementation Long Term Financial Plan Risk Management Governing Body transparency and accountability Drought Response Supply Source Water Protection Leadership Effectiveness 5

10 AWWA Benchmarks: Areas for Improvement: Performance Measurement (CMMS) Customer Involvement (AMI, survey, CMMS) Succession Plan (completed 2018) Continuous Improvement (CMMS, EUM) 6

11 Overall Best Practices Review Panel Summary: Well managed organization Dedicated Group of Leaders, Managers and staff Well maintained system, waterline replacement, proactive: Nice, well-kept facilities Good approach, able to give good customer service, and responsiveness Financially strong, good value for customers, for employees 7

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16 ACSA Customer Survey to develop: Define the dimensions the ACSA would like to measure. Use an online questionnaire development tool to generate a survey to capture details about the customer experience. Create questions asking customers to rate the ACSA in terms of the attributes defined as being critical to business. Ask a few open-ended questions to obtain more details about the customer experience. 12

17 Employee Feedback on Strategic Plan 13

18 Strategic Plan Major Areas: 1. AMI 2. CMMS 14

19 Other Areas: Succession Best Practices Review Emergency Response Plan Financial System Update Cyber Security Assessment Facility Master Plan Data Management Utilization Water Audit 15

20 Future Challenges: Great Place to Work Job Readiness and Training High Quality Customer Service New Development Succession Safe, Clean and Reliable Water 16

21 Questions? 17