The goal of the lean event for the Vermont Department of Environmental Conservation (DEC) was to promote greater consistency and transparency in applying for Federal funds from a variety of Agencies. In the past, this process was held by one person, allowing for a standard practice due to only one person carrying it out. Now […]
Coordination with the Vermont Municipal Bond Bank (VMBB) and the Water Infrastructure Financial Management team is necessary to streamline the process of Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to undersign loans with municipalities. Process bottlenecks slow down the issuance of loans to needy municipalities and overlapping effort contributes to redundancy. A lean event was conducted in December […]
Written by Brion
There was a long lead-time to issue reimbursement checks to customers assisting with the Petroleum Cleanup Fund (PCF) because of redundancies in the review and appeal process. Only 31% of claims were paid within 30 days of receipt. Innovation was needed to provide more time for staff to address reimbursement activity and money owed to the […]
Written by Brion
State of Vermont was looking to streamline the process for compliance to Indirect Discharge Program reports. Monthly or quarterly compliance data is required to be submitted for individual permits. Reports are processed twice: one time for compliance with permit conditions and second time for administrative presence/absence. The program consists of one compliance staff person and […]
Written by Brion
Justin Kenney works for the state of Vermont as a Budget and Performance Analyst, explains how he and his team leverage continuous improvement at the government level. He shares an example of moving away from a paper-based employee donation process to an automated online process. They also discuss the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) experiences […]
Written by Brion
To promote greater predictability of project effectiveness the process of identifying, developing and prioritizing projects for Tactical Basin Planning (TBP) funding needed to be improved. In addition, they wanted to provide better information-sharing with the public and stakeholders. ​ The team uses integrated watershed assessment information to understand water quality conditions and identify appropriate […]
Written by Brion
The current minimum time frame for the processing of Section 248 and Act 250 permit applications is a 21-day turnaround, but it can be longer depending on the type of application. The process for soliciting comments on current applications involves a weekly email to over 200 staff, and does not receive prompt responses to these […]
Written by Brion
Current issues with the reclassification process for contaminated groundwater includes: lacks clarity takes too long improper submittal of information and materials re-do loops are common process lacks definition and transparency inconsistent portrayal, distribution and use of the mapped data after reclassification The goal of the lean event was to improve timeliness of reclassifications, increase transparency, […]
Written by Brion
In March 2015, a lean project was conducted that would cover about 2.5 years of construction procurement processes. The process scope included: putting contracts out to bid award of contract execution of the contracts which includes billing and paying change orders site visits through the end of the 1-year warranty period when loan repayment begins […]
Written by Brion