Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
JANUARY 18, 2024
Subject
SUBJECT: BOARD ADMINISTRATION 5-YEAR STRATEGIC PLAN - MOTION 43 ANNUAL UPDATE
Action
ACTION: RECEIVE AND FILE
Heading
RECOMMENDATION
Title
RECEIVE AND FILE the annual update to the Board Administration 5-Year Strategic Plan (Attachment A).
Issue
ISSUE
Motion 43 by Directors Garcetti, Solis, and Najarian (Attachment B) was approved at the May 27, 2021, Regular Board Meeting. This Motion directed the Board Clerk to prepare a strategic plan, including but not limited to:
1. Delivering continuous improvement to encourage meaningful public engagement and improve the accessibility of Board meetings, materials, and public comments; and
2. Continuation of effective public engagement options developed as Metro and L.A. County jurisdictions responded to the pandemic and its recovery process.
The strategic plan was presented in January 2021. The Board Clerk committed to coming back with yearly updates on the progress of the goals laid out in the Strategic Plan.
Background
BACKGROUND
Led by the Board Clerk, the Office of Board Administration (Board Administration) is currently a 27-member team. Board Administration is comprised of the Board Clerk’s Office, Legal Services, the Dorothy Peyton Gray Research Library and Archive, and the Records Management Center. As the agency’s record keeper, the Board Clerk is responsible for keeping accurate Board Meeting minutes and producing Committee and Board Meetings. The department handles public records requests, claims for damages, electronic records management, and manages the research library and archive. The need for innovation has increased exponentially as the department has moved away from a paper process and embraced technology in multiple facets of business operations. Board Administration no longer solely plays an administrative role at Metro but is an important strategic partner for the agency. This team comprises future-thinking, highly skilled individuals who strive to keep Metro transparent, responsive, equitable, and accountable. Transparency and public engagement are crucial to the democratic process and quality decision-making by our Board of Directors. As the conduit between the public and the Board of Directors, we aim to remove any barriers to access.
The Board Administration 5-Year Strategic Plan was presented to the Board of Directors in January 2021 and has four goals, each with subgoals and yearly milestones. The Strategic Plan is a roadmap for Board Administration and gives our customers a clear picture of where we plan to be and how we will get there in five years. The four goals are: 1. ongoing workforce development; 2. responsive, accountable, and trustworthy governance within the Metro organization; 3. enhanced public engagement with Metro’s Board of Directors; and 4. improved agencywide Strategic Knowledge Management, utilizing innovations in the preservation, access, and curation of Metro’s information.
Discussion
DISCUSSION
Progress on the goals is detailed in Attachment C, with highlights shown below:
1. Ongoing workforce development.
• Subgoal 1.4: Succession Planning - Hire and train new full-time, permanent library staff.
o The hiring of 4 new professional full-time employees (FTEs) is complete. Training and team building are underway, as is setting priorities for each new team member regarding successful succession planning, as the two senior members of the library team are scheduled to retire within the next three years.
2. Responsive, accountable, and trustworthy governance within the Metro organization.
• Subgoal 2.2: E-Filing Systems for Claims for Damages
o This goal is under reconsideration because although there have been numerous discussions with County Counsel and Risk Management, there are legal limitations to accepting the form in an electronic format (fax or email).
o At this time, the goal is not feasible but will continue to be considered for the future.
3. Enhanced public engagement with Metro’s Board of Directors.
• Subgoal 3.4: Board Systems (Internal) - Improving the visuals of Committee and Board Meetings.
o Working with our IT partners, a solution was created to make the presentation screen clearer by overlaying a digital version for those viewing the meeting remotely. Additionally, another camera angle was added so remote viewers can see those speaking from the podium.
4. Improve agencywide Strategic Knowledge Management, utilizing innovations in preserving, accessing, and curating Metro’s information.
• Subgoal 4.4: Archival Management - Metro’s first-ever professional archivist recruited, selected, hired, and onboarded in FY24.
o Library & Archive has selected a digital asset management system to provide long-term collection, organization, storage, and retrieval for digital and digitized assets of lasting historical significance for the agency.
o The archivist will identify archives priorities and develop strategic directions for a work plan regarding collection development, preservation/conservation, and access. This includes developing protocols for accessing and/or ingesting enterprise digital assets held by the Communications Department in their Portfolio Extensis platform. The archivist will also develop protocols in coordination with Records Management for reviewing materials set for destruction and assessing their value as resources of lasting research significance. The archivist will work with the data librarian for preliminary work to launch the use of a new digital asset management system and develop a framework for a Metro Oral History project. They will also collaborate with the digital resources librarian and other stakeholders across these and other projects.
Although Board Administration is making progress on the Strategic Plan Goals, some milestones will be reconsidered or their due dates reevaluated. Many Records Management Center (RMC) goal timelines have unexpectedly slipped due to changes in staff. In the second half of FY23, RMC lost one full-time employee to an interim assignment, and RMC’s County Counsel contact left the agency. This has led to RMC focusing its resources on public records requests since these leave the agency most susceptible to litigation if not addressed per the law.
Furthermore, due to an internal realignment, Legal Services now reports to RMC, and there is increased awareness of shortcomings within that office due to a lack of direction in the past. Dividing time and resources between these two cost centers has added to the challenges of achieving Strategic Plan goals.
Still, RMC finds its Strategic Plan goals critical to its standing within the agency and to its day-to-day duties and will do everything it can to advance those goals whenever and wherever possible.
Equity_Platform
EQUITY PLATFORM
The Board Administration’s mission is to reduce barriers to the public accessing information by providing a one-stop shop.
The Strategic Plan will support equitable access to information for internal staff and the public. Additionally, the Strategic Plan reduces barriers to information access by offering multiple means of communication with the Board, including options for communication in different languages. For example, optimizing search capabilities in our Board archive database, integrating an online translating service for forms such as the forms for public records requests and claims for damages; and continuing to provide opportunities for public participation at Committee and Board meetings by accepting public comment both in-person and via telephone during meetings, and via email and U.S. Mail in advance of meetings.
All of this is in pursuit of making Metro more transparent and responsive to our community.
Implementation_of_Strategic_Plan_Goals
IMPLEMENTATION OF STRATEGIC PLAN GOALS
This recommendation supports Metro’s Vision 2028 goal 5 to provide responsive, accountable, and trustworthy governance within the Metro organization. Further, the goals contained within the Board Administration 5-Year Strategic Plan are connected to the following Metro subgoals under goal 5:
• Subgoal 5.3: Metro will develop a transparent data management policy that addresses open data, data storage, and data protections.
• Subgoal 5.4: Metro will apply prudent commercial and business practices to create a more effective agency.
• Subgoal 5.7: Metro will build and nurture a diverse, inspired, and high-performing workforce.
Next_Steps
NEXT STEPS
Staff will return annually with an update on milestones achieved and will return in FY2028 with an updated 5-Year Strategic Plan.
Attachments
ATTACHMENTS
Attachment A - Board Administration 5-Year Strategic Plan
Attachment B - Motion 43
Attachment C - Detailed Strategic Plan Updates
Prepared_by
Prepared by:
Matthew Barrett, Director, Library Services & Records Management, (213) 922-7444
Omar Camacho, Sr. Manager, Systems Projects, Research & Records Information Management, (213) 922-2335
David Lor, Sr. Manager, Information Governance (Interim), Research & Records Information Management (213) 922-2883
Shelly Ray, Principal Transportation Planner, Research & Records Information Management (213) 418-3040
Reviewed_By
Reviewed by: Collette Langston, Board Clerk, (213) 922-2837
