HomeMy WebLinkAbout02C Org Study Proposal
January 10, 2019
Mr. Myron Bailey, Mayor
Ms. Jennifer Levitt, City Administrator
City of Cottage Grove
12800 Ravine Parkway South
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
RE: Proposal for Organizational Structure Study
VIA EMAIL
Dear Mayor Bailey and Ms. Levitt,
Thank you for your interest in engaging Ethical Leaders in Action (ELA) to study the organizational structure
and staff capacity of the City of Cottage Grove (“The City”), and to recommend an optimal organizational
structure for the City. We appreciate this opportunity to continue our work together; this letter is presented as a
concise proposal to do that work. In the interest of brevity, we have presented our proposed project plan in
outline form and omitted any sales-oriented description of our organization. We are happy to provide further
information upon request.
Situation Summary and Project Objectives
Cottage Grove is a growing and vibrant city with strong residential, commercial, and recreational assets. The
City’s elected officials and staff remain committed to providing excellent services to the people of Cottage
Grove, equitably and efficiently, while containing taxpayer costs. As the needs of the community have grown
and changed over time, City leaders have identified an opportunity to look critically at how City staff resources
are organized and deployed, and to recommend a staffing structure (organizational chart and staffing levels) that
will meet the needs of the City today and into the future, while enabling City officials to plan for Cottage
Grove’s future both fiscally and operationally.
The specific goals for the study will be:
To inform any reorganization or realignment of city staff necessary to optimize work performance and
cost containment.
To inform city planning with respect to future staffing needs.
To engage city employees in considering how organizational changes may better enable them to serve
the people of Cottage Grove effectively and efficiently.
While the first two goals are somewhat self-explanatory, this third goal is also critical. Through interviews and
working groups, we will engage staff members and elected officials in thinking about how the City’s personnel
are organized and resourced. These conversations will both assure that our recommendations are well-informed
and realistic, and promote a level of understanding and buy-in among staff members with respect to the City’s
future direction.
P.O. Box 14714
Minneapolis, MN 55414
www.ethinact.com
Ethical Leaders in Action
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove Organizational Study
Page 2
Project Approach and Parameters
Our approach to this project will be collaborative, hypothesis-driven, and iterative. We will obtain guidance
from Cottage Grove’s elected officials and work with City staff throughout the project, while maintaining our
objective perspective. We will use data from Cottage Grove and limited analogs from other cities to form
preliminary concepts. While not a benchmark study of other cities (as we do not believe that approach would
yield the best data), we will likely use limited analogs to inform and substantiate recommendations (for
example: staffing for comparable recreational programs, pavement maintenance plans, public safety staffing
models, etc.).
We will test and refine our initial concepts through interviews, working sessions with staff, and outside research
to frame preliminary recommendations, and present them to a group of staff leaders in an interim project
review. We will then finalize our report. At each stage, we will provide logic and data to support increasingly-
firm assertions and recommendations.
Ultimately, we will present our findings and recommendations report to staff and to City Council. and discuss
options consistent with our recommendations as appropriate. Our proposed project deliverables are described
below.
Project Outline
We propose to conduct the project by means of the following tasks:
1. Project Kickoff
1.1. Kickoff Meeting. Meet with selected City staff to gather data and information, and to plan the project.
This will include allocating interviews and working sessions across project phases.
1.2. Planning. ELA will prepare interview guides and preliminary hypotheses based on written information
from the City.
2. Phase I Initial Interviews
2.1. City Council and Mayor. ELA will interview each council member and the mayor individually, in
person by phone at the discretion of the elected official. (5 interviews)
2.2. City Department Heads. ELA will interview each City department head individually.
2.3. Other Personnel. ELA will Interview additional staff members, to be determined in planning process.
3. Phase I Outside Research
3.1. ELA will investigate limited analogs from other cities, using data from those cities and conducting
individual interviews as necessary.
4. Interim Project Review
4.1. ELA will prepare a preliminary project report outlining the emerging recommendations and additional
questions for consideration, in the form of a memorandum submitted to senior staff leaders.
4.2. ELA will meet with senior staff leaders in a working session to discuss the project status and
preliminary recommendations, then adjust the course of the project as necessary.
5. Phase II Interviews and Research
5.1. ELA will conduct individual interviews to continue refining or validating recommendations, and will
conduct additional outside research if necessary.
5.2. ELA will conduct up to five group working sessions with staff groups, typically organized by
departments, to refine and discuss staffing options and recommendations.
Ethical Leaders in Action
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove Organizational Study
Page 3
(Project Outline, continued)
6. Final Report
6.1. ELA will prepare a final deliverable and review it with senior staff members (one working session).
6.2. ELA will make final edits based on the senior staff review and present the findings at the discretion of
City leaders (up to 3 final presentations of findings).
7. Project Management
7.1. City will designate an executive sponsor and may assign an administrative project lead. (ELA’s
personnel are described below.)
7.2. As noted above, specific project milestone dates, interviews, and working sessions will be established
in the project kickoff (task 1.1, above), consistent with project scope parameters (given below).
7.3. ELA will submit project status reports via email at the frequency designated by the City’s sponsor, up
to twice monthly.
7.4. The City will assist ELA with scheduling interviews with staff members and working sessions.
7.5. The City will provide facilities for all interviews and meetings.
Project Deliverables
The project deliverables will include:
1. Interim Project Report. A memorandum outlining preliminary findings and recommendations for
discussion, along with research conducted, in progress, and planned.
2. Status report emails, at an interval requested by City staff leaders.
3. Final Report. We anticipate using the following outline, subject to change in consultation with City staff:
3.1. Executive Summary
3.2. Project objectives and method
3.3. Situation summary
3.4. Recommended organizational chart for the City of Cottage Grove, with discussion of staffing roles and
numbers for each unit
3.5. Analysis and support for overall staffing recommendations
3.6. Projection of recommended staffing changes over 5-10 years, with analysis and support.
3.7. Discussion of viable alternatives to recommendations, as appropriate.
3.8. Conclusion
3.9. Notes and references
Project Scope Parameters and Timeline
The above scope of work, and fees presented below, are based on conducting up to:
50 individual interviews
6 working sessions
4 “cases” from other cities studied
1 interim project review
3 presentations of findings (e.g., senior staff, council, and an open staff meeting)
We are confident that we can deliver well-substantiated recommendations within this scope of work.
We are prepared to begin work on this project as early as March 1, 2019. We understand that a final deliverable
must be submitted in May; to assure that we achieve this objective, we will want to begin no later than March
15, 2019.
Ethical Leaders in Action
Proposal for City of Cottage Grove Organizational Study
Page 4
Project Staff
The project will be conducted by Charles Weinstein and Martin Scheerer of Ethical Leaders in Action.
Weinstein will serve as lead consultant, conducting most or all of the interviews and facilitating group working
sessions. Scheerer will participate in analysis of findings, may conduct a limited number of interviews, and
may co-facilitate larger working sessions. Weinstein will author the final deliverable document and present it to
the City. Brief profiles of both staff members profiles can be found at http://www.ethinact.com/about; more
complete resumes and references are available upon request. Additional team members shall be approved by
City staff in advance of their engagement on the project.
Fees
We propose a fixed fee of $24,000 for this project, which includes all professional labor. There will be no
additional travel or out-of-pocket expenses based on a one-day facilitation in the Cottage Grove area.
Fees do not include facilities costs, or other out-of-pocket expenses. We may also ask the City to duplicate
some working documents, and we will not charge for travel to Cottage Grove. Beyond that, we do not
anticipate additional expenses.
We propose to invoice the City upon completion of the following project milestones:
$6,000, upon project kickoff (Task 1.1, above).
$8,000, upon completion of the interim project review (Task 4.2, above).
$10,000, upon your acceptance of our final project deliverable.
We ask that invoices be due 15 days from receipt.
Conclusion
Thank you affording ELA the opportunity to propose this work to you. As noted above, we are open to
modifying our approach to best meet the needs of the City. We are likewise pleased to provide any additional
information upon request.
We are prepared to begin work on this project upon your written acceptance of this proposal (email will
suffice).
Very truly yours,
Charles A. Weinstein, Ph.D.
President
Ethical Leaders in Action, LLC