City employee efficiency study costs $52,000

Carson City’s Audit Committee Tuesday recommended a $52,000 city employee efficiency study with a shared cost involving the panel’s budget and Board of Supervisors’ contingency money.

The board, at the urging of Supervisor Brad Bonkowski, sought the study. It agreed to have Moss Adams LLP, internal auditor working with the audit panel do it, and referred the cost allocation question to panel members. The allocation recommendation was $20,000 from this fiscal year’s panel budget, $7,000 Sheriff Ken Furlong agreed to kick in, and the remaining $25,000 from board and city government contingency money.

It was pointed out during discussion, however,$10,000 of that would in essence be available because it wasn’t spent in last year’s budget for the audit panel. The city’s governing board is expected to take up the panel’s recommendation at its Sept. 4 meeting, according to Finance Director Nick Providenti.

The panel also got a preview of the study work plan from Mark Steranka of Moss Adams. He said he worked on it with City Manager Nick Marano. It will cover departments overseen by Marano, plus the Sheriff’s Office, the Carson City Library, the clerk/recorder’s office and the city treasurer.

Steranka called the plan “relatively straightforward” delving into management going down at least two levels, perhaps a third, so directors, managers and in some cases supervisors will be included in the analyses. He characterized it as “high level” with breadth rather than depth, but said it “will still cover a lot of territory.”

If a more comprehensive look at employee efficiency had been sought, Steranka said, there would have been more “drilling down.” He assured panel members, however, will strike a balance and plenty can be learned from the findings.

Supervisor John McKenna, the board representative on the panel, asked how much it would go into outsourcing/insourcing matters. He cited Marano’s recent move toward outsourcing animal services to the Nevada Humane Society.

“We may come across things” that lend themselves to recommendations involving such matters, Steranka replied, “but we won’t delve too deeply into any one area.”