by Laura Adelmann
Thisweek Newspapers

Dakota County has been regularly surveying its citizens since 1995, but only last year did the county seek help to survey itself.

After undergoing a version of the Malcolm Baldrige Performance Excellence assessment last year, the county will begin evaluating its processes to improve operations.

County commissioners reviewed reasons for the county's average score and plans to improve it during a Jan. 8 committee meeting.

Rated "advancement" level, the county is doing a good job at meeting basic requirements, said Karen Harrington assistant director of the county's Operations, Management and Budget Department.

However, after evaluating the county's written information and conducting a series of on-site interviews, the Minnesota Quality Council recommended some improvements.

Among the suggestions the nonprofit corporation offered is for the county to evaluate initiatives as they progress, examine comparative data and consistently collect and use customer data in order to evaluate county operations.

However, Commissioner Mike Turner noted sometimes other counties don't collect data to allow for outside comparisons.

"Some times, other counties don't gather data like we do. Sometimes it's by design," he said.

Another suggestion offered is perhaps easier to institute: The county's balanced scorecard approach to evaluating progress toward meeting goals and is recommended to be applied to more evenly.

Under this system, department activities are measured against performance standards that are aligned with county goals.

Commissioners regularly review department activities based on the balanced scorecard rankings.

Operations, Management and Budget Director Jack Ditmore said the sheriff and attorney's offices have not been offered it as of yet.

"They are suggesting we spread it to their departments too, so that the balanced scorecard is fully deployed," said Ditmore.

Many of the county's internal operations received positive remarks.

Harrington said the county's strengths include leadership, strategic development and the organization's customer focus.

In February, commissioners will review action steps to implement the Baldrige suggestions.

County Commissioner Kathleen Gaylord praised the report and said, "This gives us some good ideas of what we can do next."

Dakota County is the first county in the state to participate in the Minnesota Quality Award assessment through the state Council on Quality, a nonprofit corporation providing resources to help organizations improve.

Laura Adelmann is at dceditor@frontiernet.net.