Saratoga could bring in consultants this month to study how City Hall uses its people and money.
The City Council on Wednesday, Nov. 4, will consider hiring Bell Burnett & Atwater, a San Francisco firm, for an organizational assessment capped at $165,000 for the current fiscal year. The council asked for a recommended consultant at its Oct. 7 meeting, according to a staff report from City Manager Leslie Arroyo and Administrative Services Director Ryan Hinchman.
The item is under general business at the 7 p.m. session in the Civic Theater, and the money would come from the City Manager's existing operating budget.
What would be reviewed
The study would cover Administrative Services, the City Manager's Office, Community Development and Public Works, along with how those departments coordinate. It would look at organizational structure, workloads, who handles which duties and how services are delivered, compare Saratoga with similar cities, and point to ways to streamline work and save or avoid costs without lowering service levels, the staff report says.
Staff spoke with six firms and received proposals from three: JGA, Bell Burnett & Atwater and Gallagher. They picked Bell Burnett & Atwater for what the report calls the strongest overall approach, citing its workload and process analysis, attention to coordination between departments and estimates of fiscal effects.
Budget backdrop
The firm's Oct. 20 proposal ties the timing to money. Because Saratoga contracts with the Santa Clara County Sheriff's Office for police services, the proposal notes, a contract that grows faster than revenue squeezes the services city staff deliver themselves, and it says the city's request cites a proposed 29% increase in the sheriff's contract.