Meeting_Body
EXECUTIVE MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE
JANUARY 19, 2023
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 amended Metro’s Administrative Code to refer to the Board Secretary as Board Clerk and 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 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 26-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 for producing Committee and Board Meetings. The department handles public records requests, claims for damages, electronic records management, and manages the research library and archive. As the department has moved away from a paper process and embraced technology in multiple facets of business operations, the need for innovation has increased exponentially. Board Administration no longer solely plays an administrative role at Metro but is an important strategic partner for the agency. This team is composed of 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 to 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 1.3: Onboarding Program for Board Members - Develop a comprehensive onboarding program to welcome and orient new Board members.
o As the onboarding document developed, it became clear that for an effective and comprehensive program, multiple departments would be involved. Before program development, the team met with three Board Offices to understand what onboarding looked like from different perspectives. Refinement continued with early presentations of the document to internal Metro departments, new Board staff, the Chief Executive Officer, and the Chief Ethics Officer.
o December 2022 saw the change of two Board Members with the possibility of additional changes in the near future, and it was imperative the onboarding program was completed and ready for implementation by mid-December.
2. Responsive, accountable, and trustworthy governance within the Metro organization.
• Subgoal 2.1: Comprehensive Research Support - Leverage the Library’s unique collection of resources, and its staff’s research expertise, to assist the Board of Directors, Metro employees, and the public, in making key decisions.
o The Library Team was instrumental in supporting the opening of the K Line with a detailed written history published online. LAist, Leimert Park Beat, LA Times, and NPR cited the library’s resources in their own stories about the K Line.
3. Enhanced public engagement with Metro’s Board of Directors.
• Subgoal 3.3: Public Access to Archived Board Meeting Documents - Improve internal and external access to records of past Board decisions so it’s easier to evaluate future decisions in context.
o The migration of all Board documents into a single repository accessible to the public is a year-3 milestone. In the meantime, staff launched a federated search tool for the public to search multiple Board archives (pre-2015 documents) in one place. The tool allows a user to search several different data sources at once by making a single query. The federator gathers results from one or more search engines and then presents all of the results in a single user interface. It is used when looking for files through Records Management, Library, Board Office, and the public via boardagendas.metro.net.
4. Improve agencywide Strategic Knowledge Management, utilizing innovations in the preservation, access, and curation of Metro’s information.
• Subgoal 4.6: Promote Records Management Center (RMC) as a Resource of the Agency - Annually, RMC handles approximately 2,000 requests made under the California Public Records Act and it is vital that all requests are responded to appropriately by being filtered through RMC. The department analyzes each request and works closely with County Counsel to determine the appropriate responsive documents.
o Promoting the department and its processes are key to building trust among RMC and the many internal partners it supports. RMC has fostered this through email blasts promoting International Records and Information Management Month, training presentations to Countywide Planning and Development, participation in the Hoteling Working Group, and adoption of the updated Records Retention Schedule.
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 request and claims for damages; and continuing to provide opportunities for public participation at Committee and Board meetings by accepting public comment 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, Manager, Information Governance, 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
