Recently it was reported by the Keynoter on KeysNet.com that Monroe County Administrator Roman Gastesi has begun an initiative to have County agencies work together to share resources and services in an effort to create efficiency and reduce expenses.
This is fantastic, and Gastesi deserves a lot of credit for pursuing this. More importantly, it's great that it is coming from the top, otherwise it might simply be disregarded by the various agencies administrators.
Why would I say that? Because I have experienced it first hand. In 2009 when I returned to work at the Office of the State Attorney as their IT Director it became readily apparent that technology was playing a more prevalent roll in the justice system than ever before. Therefore it seemed to me that it would only be logical if the various agencies worked together to leverage technology in the entire judicial system, to reduce duplication of effort, and consolidate systems and services.
With the support of State Attorney Dennis Ward, then Chief Assistant Don Barrett, and Executive Director Nancy Criswell I began my pursuit of this project with high hopes. I attempted to coordinate meetings and dubbed the effort the Monroe County Justice IT Committee.
What I was met with was what I would call a serious protectionist type of paranoia. While certain agencies were willing and eager to participate, others were more concerned about what type of power trip I was on, and how I may have been trying to take control of any aspect of their agency. Perhaps they were nervous about light I might shed on inefficiencies or how they were managing their current budgets.
The initiative did establish a good working initiative between our agency and the other willing agencies. For instance, Jim Painter and Mike Grattan of the MCSO worked with us to integrate our networks so that we could download in-car videos at a higher bandwidth right to our desktops, eliminating a dedicated circuit that cost the County $5,000 per year. Bob Ward from the County, and Marti Roy from the Courts assisted with that endeavor as well. We worked with Capt. Sauer and Lt. Reams of the Key West Police department to procure a common document management system that will ultimately help integrate our agencies as we move to a more paperless environment.
But some of the most critical agencies were resistant if they participated at all. County Clerk, Danny Kolhage never once returned an email or invite. Some participants at meetings read me the riot act about my initiative being a power grab of some sort, and spoke of that rationale being the reason behind other agencies' resistance. The Public Defender's office sent their IT guy to the first meeting and then stressed that she would be paying attention, but that her staff just didn't have the time to participate.
My invites always stressed that while I was initiating the effort, I did not want the State Attorney's Office to lead the group. Further, I did not want the group to be lead from the perspective of technology, but rather the end users and their needs. To that end I also encouraged all staff from the various agencies to participate and provide input.
In one instance of such "helpful" co-operation, Mary Cintron, Executive Director of the Public Defender's Office asked me to remove one of their interested attorneys from our mailing list. In an April 7, 2010 email Cintron states;
Nice. So while not co-operating or working as a team on the IT committee, Public Defender Rose Enright did somehow convince State Attorney Dennis Ward to just give her office $20,000 of technology money. Sweet. Talk about a sharp stick in the eye. While I am out there working to reduce costs, and the PD won't even participate in an initiative to help consolidate or reduce costs, they still got a piece of our technology budget to spend as they see fit because they were running short for some reason. Needless to say, I got tired of the flack and worked individually with those agencies that shared my same concern.
I can see such resistance in Gastesi's initiative already. For instance from the Keynoter article Marathon City Manager Roger Hernstadt says;
That sounds more like, "I'm going there to not get shafted." Hey Mikey, how about you bring those numbers yourself? How about you bring some ideas to the table? How about you do more than "go to listen?" That sounds like the same protectionist rhetoric I heard when I was trying to establish my Justice IT Committee.
Fortunately for Gastesi, he's the top dog, and coming from a central perspective of the County itself, and funds many of these other agencies. So maybe he'll have an easier time of developing co-operation that extends beyond the lip service of saying the you are "going there to listen."
Every level of government is challenged with budget issues, and taxpayers are at their limits. County Administrator Roman Gastesi deserves much praise for starting this parade, let's hope other agencies respond in a positive manner and avidly want to jump on the bandwagon. We'll be watching.
This is fantastic, and Gastesi deserves a lot of credit for pursuing this. More importantly, it's great that it is coming from the top, otherwise it might simply be disregarded by the various agencies administrators.
Why would I say that? Because I have experienced it first hand. In 2009 when I returned to work at the Office of the State Attorney as their IT Director it became readily apparent that technology was playing a more prevalent roll in the justice system than ever before. Therefore it seemed to me that it would only be logical if the various agencies worked together to leverage technology in the entire judicial system, to reduce duplication of effort, and consolidate systems and services.
With the support of State Attorney Dennis Ward, then Chief Assistant Don Barrett, and Executive Director Nancy Criswell I began my pursuit of this project with high hopes. I attempted to coordinate meetings and dubbed the effort the Monroe County Justice IT Committee.
What I was met with was what I would call a serious protectionist type of paranoia. While certain agencies were willing and eager to participate, others were more concerned about what type of power trip I was on, and how I may have been trying to take control of any aspect of their agency. Perhaps they were nervous about light I might shed on inefficiencies or how they were managing their current budgets.
The initiative did establish a good working initiative between our agency and the other willing agencies. For instance, Jim Painter and Mike Grattan of the MCSO worked with us to integrate our networks so that we could download in-car videos at a higher bandwidth right to our desktops, eliminating a dedicated circuit that cost the County $5,000 per year. Bob Ward from the County, and Marti Roy from the Courts assisted with that endeavor as well. We worked with Capt. Sauer and Lt. Reams of the Key West Police department to procure a common document management system that will ultimately help integrate our agencies as we move to a more paperless environment.
But some of the most critical agencies were resistant if they participated at all. County Clerk, Danny Kolhage never once returned an email or invite. Some participants at meetings read me the riot act about my initiative being a power grab of some sort, and spoke of that rationale being the reason behind other agencies' resistance. The Public Defender's office sent their IT guy to the first meeting and then stressed that she would be paying attention, but that her staff just didn't have the time to participate.
My invites always stressed that while I was initiating the effort, I did not want the State Attorney's Office to lead the group. Further, I did not want the group to be lead from the perspective of technology, but rather the end users and their needs. To that end I also encouraged all staff from the various agencies to participate and provide input.
In one instance of such "helpful" co-operation, Mary Cintron, Executive Director of the Public Defender's Office asked me to remove one of their interested attorneys from our mailing list. In an April 7, 2010 email Cintron states;
"Thanks for the update on the IT meeting. I see that Margaret Gutierrez is on the participant list. Please note that any employee of this office participating in work related activities must have advance approval by Rosemary or me. Please remove her from the list."
Nice. So while not co-operating or working as a team on the IT committee, Public Defender Rose Enright did somehow convince State Attorney Dennis Ward to just give her office $20,000 of technology money. Sweet. Talk about a sharp stick in the eye. While I am out there working to reduce costs, and the PD won't even participate in an initiative to help consolidate or reduce costs, they still got a piece of our technology budget to spend as they see fit because they were running short for some reason. Needless to say, I got tired of the flack and worked individually with those agencies that shared my same concern.
I can see such resistance in Gastesi's initiative already. For instance from the Keynoter article Marathon City Manager Roger Hernstadt says;
"I'm going there to listen. I hope there's some quantitative types of information to evaluate the savings on any collaborative efforts. So far, there's not been any numbers or conditions that someone could base a decision upon," he said.
That sounds more like, "I'm going there to not get shafted." Hey Mikey, how about you bring those numbers yourself? How about you bring some ideas to the table? How about you do more than "go to listen?" That sounds like the same protectionist rhetoric I heard when I was trying to establish my Justice IT Committee.
Fortunately for Gastesi, he's the top dog, and coming from a central perspective of the County itself, and funds many of these other agencies. So maybe he'll have an easier time of developing co-operation that extends beyond the lip service of saying the you are "going there to listen."
Every level of government is challenged with budget issues, and taxpayers are at their limits. County Administrator Roman Gastesi deserves much praise for starting this parade, let's hope other agencies respond in a positive manner and avidly want to jump on the bandwagon. We'll be watching.
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