Gwinnett County Administrator Glenn Stephens recently put together six teams of employees to address the findings of a countywide performance assessment released in June, which praised county leadership but made almost 500 recommendations for improvement.
Many of the recommendations concerned the county’s most public-facing departments. The audit, performed by Mauldin & Jenkins, found some department heads were micromanaging. Department of Community Services staffers reported concerns about being “publicly humiliated” by leadership.
Among the other problems identified were a senior services wait list that could last years, an inefficient response system for calls to the elections division, a fire department schedule that required 48-hour shifts and a feeling among civilian police staff that the department does not provide opportunities for advancement.
The county formed teams to focus on each of the five major categories — people, process, culture, performance assessment and technology — identified in the report. They will support a sixth team in coming up with actionable strategies, according to the county website.
“We’ve created a hierarchy of diverse teams to methodically work through every recommendation,” Stephens said in a statement on the county’s website. “Those teams have been given significant leeway to determine how we will work through addressing the report’s findings with expectations of consistent progress and ongoing communication.”
Mauldin & Jenkins conducted the performance review over 15 months. The process included surveys, in-person interviews, job shadowing and walkthroughs.
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