Governor Walker is considering a plan to completely overhaul the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in an effort to improve the customer service and business support of the agency, as well as enhance its mission to protect our natural resources. If approved by the governor, this new plan could be implemented through executive order within the next few months.
Background
Under the plan, the DNR would operate under a two-year, Charter Agency pilot program that would give the agency increased flexibility to hire employees, offer merit pay and expedite the permitting process. In addition, the agency would be able to better allocate staff resources to those areas where permitting backlogs exist.
The Charter Agency concept has been recently utilized by the states of Iowa and Washington. Both states pursued innovative strategies to achieve better results within the government by testing the hypothesis: given greater operating flexibility, Charter Agencies will be able to produce better outcomes for their customers at less costs than under the standard bureaucratic system. The Wisconsin DNR Charter Agency concept is similar to the Iowa and Washington programs, but is a more streamlined version with less bureaucracy and red tape involved.
New Agency Framework
Under the Charter Agency, the DNR has established various operational goals and has identified ways to achieve those goals. Those goals include:
- Enhancing customer satisfaction through increased outreach and assistance, development of online permitting options and expanding over-the-counter service;
- Improving cost-effectiveness by eliminating duplicative systems, lower priority work and reducing overhead and operational costs for facilities management, rent, travel and other basic operations;
- Improving management systems to reduce permit times for major air and water permits;
- Greater consistency and accountability in decision-making by setting uniform performance expectations for staff and supervisors and implementing biannual audits of programs; and
- Maintaining employee salary and fringe costs below 90 percent of authorized levels for fiscal year, 2011.
To achieve these goals, the DNR would be given more autonomy to independently manage its human and capital resources. Rather than working through the Department of Administration, the DNR would have the discretion to manage the following:
- Recruitment and retention of high performing employees by offering merit pay to reward excellence and retain and attract talented employees;
- Workforce alignment – to shift resources to areas where more staff is needed to remedy permit backlogs;
- Greater utilization of information technology to assist consumers in obtaining information and processing permits; and
- Purchasing and procurements.
The DNR believes this new framework will result in numerous benefits for both our natural resources and the economic development community. These benefits include:
- DNR’s mission to protect and enhance the environment will be better supported;
- DNR will have increased operational flexibility;
- Changes should result in “more boots on the ground” and staff having more hands-on duties and less paperwork;
- Wisconsin businesses would have a more responsive and accountable partner in business development;
- DNR regulatory decisions will be consistent and transparent to the public;
- Customer service and access to the DNR will be greatly improved;
- Efficiencies and cost-savings will be enabled through reduced bureaucracy; and
- Encourages developing Internet-based tools to streamline and more effectively track permit applications.
Finally, to measure the success of this new framework, the DNR has established the following performance benchmarks:
- Customer service – Over-the-counter service will be increased by 30 percent over 2010 base year.
- Reduced Permitting Times – Goal of reducing average permitting times by 10 percent for major air and water permits.
- Customer Satisfaction – Measurable customer service bench marks are established for selected critical business function (by first quarter); improvement goals are established (by second quarter) and measured (years one through four).
For more information on the new plan to restructure the DNR, please contact Tom Larson (tlarson@wra.org) at (608) 240-8254.
Tom Larson is Chief Lobbyist and Director of Legal and Public Affairs for the WRA.