THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Wednesday, June 28, 1995 TAG: 9506270138
SECTION: VIRGINIA BEACH BEACON PAGE: 08 EDITION: FINAL
TYPE: Cover Story
SOURCE: BY JO-ANN CLEGG, STAFF WRITER
LENGTH: Long : 187 lines
BACK IN THE EARLY 1970s, when gas and utility bills were soaring, an article in a women's magazine offered mothers a novel idea.
Gather the family around the dining room table, the writer suggested, spread out one month's bills, total them, brainstorm ways to cut expenses, then make the kids an offer they can't refuse.
Tell them that any money saved on subsequent bills would be divided equally among family members at the end of the year and given to them to do with as they saw fit.
Fast forward 20 years to Virginia Beach, substitute the words ``employees'' for ``families'' and the words ``city budget'' for ``bills.'' Make a few changes to meet state and federal guidelines and you have the premise for the cost-cutting, productivity-increasing program that the city calls ``gainsharing.''
For the past three years Virginia Beach has been doing just what the magazine suggested that families do: getting ideas on how to save money from the people who spend it and returning the saved money, in equal parts, to those who helped save it.
In the city's case, citizens also benefit since employees receive only a portion of the amount saved. The remainder goes to the city coffers to be put toward long-term capital needs and to finance reserves.
How well has gainsharing worked?
During the 1992-93 fiscal year the city estimates it saved $5 million. Each eligible full-time employee received a check for $319; part-time employees received half that much.
With belts already tightened, fiscal year 1993-94 savings were predictably less: $3.3 million. Full- and part-time employees received $258 and $129 respectively for those efforts.
This fiscal year's efforts, which conclude this week, have not yet been computed.
Even so, the savings and cooperative efforts recently attracted the attention of the U.S. Department of Labor's Task Force on Excellence in State and Local Government.
The Beach was one of only three cities in the Southeast asked to share what they had been doing to increase employee participation in money-saving and service-enhancing programs.
The idea of sharing savings with those who find and implement them is part of a city initiative called Total Quality Management (TQM).
``It is just a systematic way of looking at the work that needs to be done and continuously trying to improve the ways in which the work is accomplished,'' City Manager James Spore said.
``The backbone of TQM is that the employees who are doing the work understand the work the best. If they're involved in the process you'll maximize the number of the ideas, the quality of the ideas and the ability of the ideas to be implemented because the people who are going to implement them are the ones who came up with them,'' he explained.
A case in point is the installation of ``Water Wardens'' on commodes and urinals in city buildings.
``The people in Public Utilities got the information on them and sent it to us,'' said Chuck Davis, the city's building maintenance administrator.
``Our plumbing staff took a look at the information, got some and decided to try them out,'' Davis explained.
The devices passed the test in a heavily used restroom at one of the recreation centers.
City plumbers are now installing the $3.86 devices in as many of the city-owned buildings as the Water Warden budget will allow.
The real savings to water conscious Virginia Beach are in gallons saved: 542 gallons per day average at the Bayside Recreation Center alone, for instance.
That example is one of several hundred initiatives that have been undertaken since the productivity efforts began in 1993.
Another idea was generated by employees in several city departments who believed that there had to be a better way to provide routine maintenance for city vehicles.
In the past, a vehicle in need of something as routine as a new water pump had to be taken to the city garage on Leroy Drive near the Municipal Center for service.
That involved tying up two employees to make two trips to the garage: one to drive the ailing vehicle and one to bring the employee back to work.
For police precincts, fire stations and those city agencies located outside of the Municipal Center, the time was significant.
The obvious solution was road service, now provided by longtime automotive division employee Elwin Ansell, the city's ``Man on the Road.''
Ansell and his well-stocked pickup spend each workday going from site to site tinkering with engines and replacing burned out headlights, worn tires and balky power window switches.
``If I work on 15 to 20 vehicles a day, that's 15 or 20 that don't have to go into the shop,'' Ansell said. ``That gives the people at the shop more time to work on the big jobs.''
Employees at the city's outlying locations are understandably enthusiastic. ``It's one of the best things the city ever did,'' said Police Lt. W.S. Boswell of the Fourth Precinct in Kempsville.
``Vehicle maintenance was a constant problem for us before we had (the road service),'' he added.
``Now the mechanic can come out here and do the minor work on the vehicles while they sit here. It's saved us countless man hours and it makes it safer both for the officers and the public.''
During the last fiscal year the city estimated that the Man on the Road program saved the Police Department alone $8,894.70 in wages and gasoline, 911 hours in staff time and 30,408 miles of driving.
That doesn't include the savings from reduced downtime for the vehicles and the cost of having a second employee drop off or pick up the one taking the vehicle in for service.
At the city's Comprehensive Substance Abuse Detox Center on Virginia Beach Boulevard, the contribution to the city's quality and productivity initiatives have been taking place in Roz Awa's kitchen.
Awa, a retired Navy chief mess specialist, provides clients in the center and those in the adjoining day treatment and support program with meals that could stand up against those served in any wardroom.
That's not surprising, considering some of the best food he's now serving came from the freezers and storerooms of ships in the process of being decommissioned.
``We don't know exactly how that happened,'' said Clyde Vandivort, the center's supervisor. ``All we know is that those foods were designated by the federal government for use in substance abuse treatment programs and that we were lucky enough to be included.''
Donations of food from ships is just one of the ways in which Awa is able to keep costs at the center to $1.53 per meal, including the cost of paper products, which accounts for about half of that figure.
``We couldn't do it without the Food Bank,'' Awa said. ``We get a lot of our food from them and from restaurants who donate through them.''
Awa said a number of restaurants and catering houses also contact the center directly with offers of food.
``All of those donations have made a big difference to us,'' Vandivort said. ``We used to have 500 to 600 admissions (to the program) each year. Now we're up to 2,500 but for the first time ever we've been able to stay within our food budget.''
Donations, along with volunteers, also have played a significant part in establishing new services.
One new effort that involved both free materials and labor are the tree planting nurseries located at several schools and on land occupied by the Department of Parks and Recreation.
Working with the Habitat Enhancement Committee, which operates under the Planning Department, volunteers take young native trees donated by the state Department of Recreation, transplant them in the nursery on school property, then make them available for planting in neighborhoods where trees are scarce.
``We use vacant surplus property to grow them and volunteers to tend them,'' said Roper Davis of the city's Landscape Services division. ``Basically it's a quality of life issue. Most people want to live in a neighborhood with trees. Putting them there increases house values and our tax base, too.''
As employees in each of the city's departments have become involved in the business of cutting costs while maintaining or increasing services, several things have become apparent, said city manager Spore.
``Gainsharing has meant a small financial bonus (to employees) but the monetary reward has been the least important of all. The recognition that they get from the council and from management, but more importantly from their own feelings of satisfaction about doing their job well, really pays off.''
His words were echoed by a worker in his own office who had firsthand experience with the process.
Karen Akers, secretary to chief of staff Oral Lambert, is one of four members of the executive clerical staff who worked out their own plan to take up the slack when a fifth position in the office was eliminated.
``We just kind of pulled together to work it all out. I really appreciated upper management giving us the opportunity to provide input because we're the people who do the job,'' Akers said.
``I think gainsharing is wonderful,'' she continued. ``It allows us to think more creatively and save the city, which in turn benefits us when we get those gainsharing checks at the end of the year.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photo on cover
Staff photo by STEVE EARLEY
Elwin Ansell, a longtime automotive division employee, hits the road
to do minor repairs of city vehicles on site, rather than at the
city garage.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
City plumber Todd Betz installs a water-saver device in a city
restroom. The $3.86 devices, tested in recreation centers, help save
hundreds of gallons a day.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Roz Awa and his kitchen staff at the city's detox center search high
and low for free and inexpensive sources of food.
Staff photo by CHARLIE MEADS
Anne Henry checks on the growth of maple trees planted in the city's
nurseries by her and other volunteers. The trees are available for
use in tree-scarce neighborhoods.
by CNB