By LOUIS CAPPELLI JR.
It’s technically called the Camden County Transformation Initiative. More simply, it’s our effort to produce the most effective and efficient government that we can.
The objective of this year-long effort launched on Feb. 12 is to identify opportunities to consolidate or share “back office” functions between the county government and the seven independent county institutions – including the Camden County College, the Library System, the Board of Social Services and the Camden County Improvement Authority.
The freeholders have partnered with the Camden County College’s Center for Civic Leadership and Responsibility in this effort. How might the county centralize or consolidate such functions as accounting, legal services, purchasing, payroll services and property maintenance? Where other opportunities to improve government services exist?
This could mean many new strategies and approaches to operating government, truly a “Transformation.” For example, it could mean that the county-run technical schools in Pennsauken and Berlin use the county college’s janitors and landscapers. We might see closer collaboration and integration of currently disjointed telecommunications systems and IT support and infrastructure operations.
Basically, it is government’s effort to adopt a private sector approach by breaking down walls in and chipping away at inefficient government spending on duplicated services.
Through the Transformation Initiative we expect to generate new ideas, strategies and innovations that will fundamentally alter the way county government operates.
The very structure of the project embodies the spirit of transformation and cooperation in that the freeholders have entered into a shared-services agreement with Camden County College to identify cost savings and operating efficiencies that can be achieved through restructuring, centralization, other shared-services arrangements or any other new configuration of the county government’s infrastructure.
Louis Bezich, vice president for administrative services at the county college, will direct the project. A former county administrator, Lou supervised many award-winning innovations in county government – including implementation of the County Store system. He has tremendous insight in the operation of county government and its semi-autonomous agencies.
It’s expected the effort will form the template for “Transformation Initiative” activities that will spur institutional change at the local level, from municipal governments and school boards to fire districts and all taxing authorities.
And, of course, gaining control over the cost of property taxes is the ultimate goal of this important effort.
Louis Cappelli Jr. is the director of the Camden County Board of Freeholders.
Mon, Apr 6, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Opinion