Shared Services?

This past Tuesday I  spoke to a concern that was brought to my attention by several individuals.   After researching the situation I made the following comments at our meeting.

"It has been brought to my attention that a DuPage County Employee is spending time approximately 12 hours a month on DuPage Forest Preserve matters and using DuPage County resources to do this work.  There is no intergovernmental agreement.  This employee is not receiving any compensation from the forest preserve.

Although this may seem minor 12 hours per month equals 144 hours per year.  That is almost one month of county employee time and resources spent on matters not related to the county.

I would recommend that by April 1st these duties are turned over to the forest preserve, where they belong.

It has also come to my attention that DuPage County is storing DuPage Forest Preserve Documents.  There is no intergovernmental agreement or rental agreement.  DuPage County is not collecting rent for the storage of these documents.  Who is ultimately responsible for the documents?

If for some reason these documents can not be stored at the forest preserve I believe that it would be in the best interest of DuPage County to complete an intergovernmental agreement which outlines responsibilities for the oversight of the documents and rent for storage.

I find the whole situation troubling and I am hoping that these recommendations are implemented."

To claim that the situation between the DuPage Forest Preserve and DuPage County is a "Shared Service" is a stretch.  What is a Shared Service?  A Shared Service should be a win/win situation. It should be equitable for all rather than one entity gaining at the expense of others.  When a Shared Service is established it is important to distinguish responsibilities and share all associated costs. Shared Services should be an Agreement and as such requires an Intergovernmental Agreement.  Examples of Shared Services would be  purchasing in bulk, combined fuel purchases or when fire and police protection between neighboring villages is a shared.  

The fact that there are no intergovernmental agreements and no sharing of costs the situation is clearly not shared.

If interested you can view the complete debate starting at 57:40

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