Running a county like a business
Chris Collins”™ friendly demeanor belies his hard charging, no-holds-barred way of running government.
His first order of business upon taking the office of Erie County executive in 2008 was to replace 21 of the 25 county commissioners.
It was no unilateral decision.
He acted on the findings of his 250-member transition team.
Most county executive transition teams might have eight people, Collins said. But he had 10 people per county department. He wanted to weed out the bad, the nonperformers.
He gave each team a mission: “I said to them go in and peel that onion back eight ways. I want to know where the waste is; I want to know who the keepers are; I want to know who isn”™t a keeper. And that”™s how we decided to replace 21 out of 25 commissioners.”
The transition team document amounted to a couple hundred pages with 25 binders. “Because it was real; it became our road map for how we were going to re-engineer government.”
Collins was in White Plains last week to share his views on streamlining government, cutting taxes and fostering economic development before a roundtable hosted by Rob Astorino, a candidate for county executive in Westchester.
Members of the roundtable included: Marsha Gordon, president and CEO of The Business Council of Westchester; William Mooney Jr., president of the Westchester County Association; Larchmont Mayor Liz Feld; Rye Town Supervisor Joe Carvin; and other members of the business community.
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Collins was elected in 2007 with just the Republican line on the ballot. He garnered 64 percent of the vote.
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“My campaign was to elect a chief executive, not a chief politician. And my promise was to run Erie County like a business. A lot of people said that government and business are so different you cannot run government like a business,” he said.
With 35 years as a businessman ”“ he founded Nuttall Gear Corp. ”“ he said you can run government like a business.
He promised to reform Erie County government using Lean Six Sigma, which consists of business principles that essentially cut costs and grow revenue.
“Any business that isn”™t adhering to the principles of Six Sigma is not going to prosper. I introduced that in a large county for the first time in the United States. The people at first, laughed at me. Green belts, yellow belts, black belts (referring to the level of certification.) A bunch of ninjas. I said that”™s right; ninjas fighting for the taxpayers.”
Initially criticized, Collins said the program is now a household word in his county and small businesses are signing up for classes at the University of Buffalo.
“We have saved tens and twenties of millions of dollars. And how do we do it? By empowering municipal union employees to re-engineer their processes to make them more cost effective and more efficient. And all the naysayers who said how do you motivate municipal union employees? I said treat them with respect.”
Collins said 200 union workers across all departments have now been trained in Lean Six Sigma.
Erie County was once on the verge of bankruptcy. “Our fund balance was negative. Our road balance was negative. It doesn”™t get any worse than to have a hard control board (the Fiscal Stability Authority) appointed by the state of New York saying that New York is going to tell you how to run your finances. It”™s kind of laughable on its face,” Collins said.
Some 50 projects are featured on the county web site (erie.gov/erie/) that “have saved tens of millions of dollars for this year for our 2010 budget,” Collins said. “Our year-over-year increase in spending is 0.2 percent. There”™s no tax increase. We ran surpluses the last two years.”
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Critics had said that no one can fix Erie County; but Collins said he could.
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“You start with a vision that Erie County will be a world-class community: where people want to live; businesses want to locate; and tourists want to visit; which provides jobs and opportunities for our children and grandchildren. That vision has been accepted by every angle of our community.”
To help silence the cynics, Collins said, the county put together an economic development plan called Erie County”™s Road to a Bright Future.
“We”™re on our way back with a vision: core values of small government; holding people accountable; taking the county out of nonmandated services.” Programs such as WIC, foster care, dental and women”™s health are being transferred to the private sector, such as Catholic Charities.
“And it”™s working,” he said. “We”™re cutting 200 employees at a time. And yes, I”™m sorry those people lose their jobs.” The workers say they can”™t work for Catholic Charities because they “don”™t pay as much money as the county, I”™m not in a defined-benefit pension plan and I don”™t get lifetime health insurance. All I can say is, I”™m sorry. But the taxpayers cannot afford those kinds of benefits for you.”
In his directives for cooperation among agencies, Collins said he has the IDA and Empire Zones working together for regionally significant projects. One such endeavor was attracting GEICO and 500 employees.
Collins acted incredulous when he heard that Westchester County owns Playland amusement park. “That”™s low-hanging fruit,” he said, adding he would sell it in a “heartbeat.”