County CEO Unveils Reorganization Plan

County Chief Executive Officer Jan Mittermeier on Thursday unveiled a reorganization plan for Orange County’s ailing government that would cut 241 jobs and use the cost savings to improve public services slashed during the bankruptcy.

Mittermeier said the restructuring would free up $11.4 million that could be used for such things as building new park trails, purchasing library books and reducing landfill dumping fees.

But the plan is also expected to result in dozens of layoffs, a prospect that troubles county employees who saw more than 500 co-workers lose their jobs last year in the wake of the bankruptcy.

“It’s pretty tough for someone who gave his whole career and enthusiasm to the county to have this happen,” said Frank Eley, president of the Orange County Employees Assn. “It just prolongs that terrible feeling that started with the bankruptcy.”

The county will offer early retirement packages to workers in the affected departments, and officials expect some of the staffing reductions to be absorbed through attrition. The exact number of layoffs won’t be known for several months.

Mittermeier said the cutbacks are a painful but necessary move as the county attempts to operate more efficiently and direct more money at programs and services that lost funding because of the county’s financial crisis.

“We do not intend to imply in any way that these are not good employees,” she said. “But the county, like private industry, faces a need to downsize and restructure. . . . The goal is to focus resources on services, not on overhead and administration.”

The plan, which the Board of Supervisors will consider next week, calls for the elimination of the Environmental Management Agency and General Services Agency, which together employ more than 2,000 of the county’s 14,000 workers and have a combined budget of $130 million.

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Maintenance, purchasing and other internal functions now handled by the GSA would be turned over to individual county departments in a move Mittermeier says will cut bureaucratic red tape and require fewer workers.

EMA would be broken up into three smaller departments, reducing administrative overhead costs.

One of the two new departments is Public Facilities and Resources, which will merge Flood Control, Public Works, Harbors, Beaches and Parks and Transportation services into one entity.

John Sibley, who will head the department, said the new structure will allow engineers, maintenance crews and others who now work for a single department to contribute to work at several, resulting in a need for fewer workers.

An engineer who now handles flood control projects, for example, will be able to work on parks or road projects as well, Sibley said. The changes would achieve $2 million in savings for parks and $2 million for the Integrated Waste Management Department.

The cutbacks target both line workers and managers. But the elimination of various independent departments is expected to hit managers especially hard. Mittermeier said department directors and division managers who are demoted as part of the reorganization will take pay cuts.

Almost all of the cost savings outlined in the plan occur in “special purpose” departments, and the money can only be used to provide specific services. The savings in parks, for example, cannot be spent elsewhere in the county budget, or used to repay bankruptcy-related debts.

So the cost savings will be placed back into parks, transportation, flood control and other EMA programs that under the county’s bankruptcy recovery plan had seen $500 million in projected tax revenues diverted over the next 20 years.

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The diverted funds are being used to pay off $800 million in bankruptcy bonds that the county issued in June to raise money to retire its short-term debts to creditors.

County supervisors have expressed general support for Mittermeier’s efforts, which they praise for “flattening” the bureaucracy and reducing layers of management. “This is a strong starting point for cutting costs,” Supervisor Jim Silva said.

But equestrians, hikers and other park users expressed disappointment that the CEO rejected their request that the Harbors, Beaches and Parks Department be an independent entity rather than being folded into the new Public Facilities and Resources Department.

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By the Numbers

The county unveiled a reorganization plan that will result in employee layoffs but also provide additional funds for public services battered by the county’s December 1994 bankruptcy. An overview:

* 241 jobs will be eliminated in the Environmental Management Agency and General Services Agency. Some workers will take early retirement; others will be laid off.

* 580 county workers were laid off last year after the bankruptcy.

* 399 county workers took early retirements in the year following the bankruptcy.

Staffing levels:

* 16,062 positions (as of 12/94)

* 14,845 positions (as of 10/96)

By cutting staff, the county will free $11.4 million that could be used for programs and services. Here are some ways the county might use the funds:

* Reduce dumping fees at county landfills.

* Buy library books or increase library hours.

* Add trails and make other improvements at county parks.

* Improve flood control channels.

Source: County of Orange; Researched by SHELBY GRAD / Los Angeles Times