In a cost-cutting move, the Santa Barbara County Board of Supervisors is considering the formation of a new Community Services Department, unifying a diverse range of public services under one umbrella.
Instructed by the board to restructure county government, County CEO Chandra Wallar recommended consolidating the county Department of Parks, Housing, and Community Development; the Library Advisory Committee; and the Arts Commission into the new department. County Animal Services and the Human Services Commission would also move from the Public Health Department into the new department.
According to Wallar’s assistant Dennis Bozanich, the merger would initially save the county about $500,000 by not filling certain leadership and management positions.
“Looking at the level of funding and the expenses that the county continues to have, we have to restructure the organization to begin to focus as much as we can on serving the community by keeping public service folks at the frontlines,” Bozanich said. “This is the first—but certainly not the last—of these kinds of restructurings that we’re going to be looking at in the county of Santa Barbara.”
In a letter to the board, Wallar explained the move would streamline county government by reducing the number of county departments and eliminating duplicate positions and services.
The board heard public comment on consolidation on April 5, but supervisors continued a decision on the matter to the next meeting on April 12, due to a death in 2nd District Supervisor Janet Wolf’s family.
County Animal Services Director Jan Glick said the consolidation wouldn’t have much impact on her department’s operations. Funding will remain the same, and the department will still work with Public Health on rabies cases, bite investigations, and communicable diseases.
“We will continue to do the best job we can for the animals and the people of Santa Barbara County, whatever department we would be housed in,” Glick said.
Once the board has approved the restructuring, the county will begin the search for a Community Services Department head, tasked not only with bringing together divisions within the department, but also with identifying other positions that could be eliminated for more administrative cost savings.
Assistant to the CEO Bozanich said the county would like to have the position filled by early summer.
This article appears in Apr 7-14, 2011.