Agency: Administrative Services

Line Item: Executive Director

Function

The Executive Director's Office (EDO) provides financial management, strategic planning, organizational development, internal auditing, and public relations for the Department of Administrative Services. While the client base for most state agencies is taxpayers, the primary customers for the Department of Administrative Services are other state agencies. The director helps coordinate inter-agency cooperation on issues such as fleet consolidation, archival procedures, and purchasing guidelines.

The auditing staff within EDO provides information that is valuable not only to the director, but also to the Legislature and its staff.

Statutory Authority

The following laws govern operation of the EDO:

• UCA 63A is the 'Utah Administrative Services Code'
• UCA 63A-1-105 requires the governor to appoint the executive director with the consent of the Senate
• UCA 63A-1-105.5 gives the executive director rulemaking authority
• UCA 63A-1-106 allows the executive director to accept federal funds and bind the state to the terms of federal assistance
• UCA 63A-1-107 requires the executive director to provide administrative support to the State Building Board and State Building Ownership Authority
• UCA 63A-1-111 requires each division of DAS to formulate annual service plans describing services to be rendered, methods of providing those services, standards of performance, and performance measures used to gauge compliance with those standards. A copy must be sent to each customer agency before the beginning of each fiscal year
• UCA 63A-1-112 prohibits the issuance of certificates of participation for capital projects by the department or any other state agency without prior legislative approval
• UCA 63A-1-114 creates the ISF Rate Committee and requires the executive director or a designee to be a member
• UCA 63A-9-301 requires the executive director or a designee to sit on the Motor Vehicle Review Committee

Intent Language

Under Section 63J-1-603 of the Utah Code the Legislature intends that appropriations provided for the Department of Administrative Services - Executive Director in Item 32 of Chapter 396 Laws of Utah 2009 not lapse at the close of Fiscal Year 2010. The use of any nonlapsing funds is limited to the following: Customer Profiling Project - $40,000; Child Welfare Parental Defense Expenses - $27,000.

Performance

The primary responsibility of the EDO is administrative oversight. Administrative overhead should be as low as possible so more dollars can be allocated to service-programs.

Measure: Executive Director's Office expenditures as a percentage of total departmental costs (appropriated and appropriated plus ISF).

Goal: Administrative overhead should be as low as possible (below four percent of total expenditures for DAS appropriated entities, and below 0.5 percent of total expenditures for DAS appropriated and ISF entities combined) so more dollars can be allocated to service-providing programs.

Methodology: This measure is a calculation of the Executive Director's expenditures divided by the total departmental costs.

Measure Type: Efficiency.

Funding Detail

In FY 2007 two significant changes occurred in the Executive Director's Office. First, the creation of the Department of Human Resource Management (DHRM) internal service fund resulted in a transfer of three FTE from the EDO to DHRM. Second, the transfer of Division of Information Technology Services (ITS) to the new Department of Technology Services resulted in a loss of dedicated credits revenue. With ITS (the largest ISF in the department) moving to another department, the EDO will no longer oversee its operations nor collect the administrative fees.

Program: Executive Director

Function

This program covers all aspects of the Executive Director's Office including department oversight, management and implementation of statutory responsibilities.

Funding Detail

Declines in the FY 2007 appropriated budget are the result of losing three FTE and losing dedicated credits revenue for ISF administration.

Program: Parental Defense

Function

House Bill 268 (2004 General Session) created the Office of Child Welfare Parental Defense and transferred ongoing funds from the Department of Human Services to the Child Welfare Parental Defense Fund line item.

The DAS Executive Director's Office outsource contracts with licensed attorneys to represent indigent parents and assists those attorneys in fulfilling their duties. The purpose is to strengthen the role of the parents' attorney in juvenile court and to assist with family reunification. Typically, parents are under-represented in child custody hearings.

Statutory Authority

The following statutes govern operation of the office:

UCA 63A-11-103 creates within the Department of Administrative Services the Office of Child Welfare Parental Defense

UCA 63A-11-104 requires the DAS executive director appoint an attorney as office director. However, if the DAS executive director does not appoint an office director, he/she becomes the office director.

UCA 63A-11-105 gives the office the following duties:

• Provide assistance and advice to parental defense attorneys
• Develop and provide education and training programs to parental defense attorneys
• Provide information and advice to help parental defense attorneys meet their professional, contractual, and ethical duties

UCA 63A-11-106 requires the director to report by October 1st each year to the governor and Child Welfare Legislative Oversight Panel regarding the preceding fiscal year of operations and submit a budget for the upcoming fiscal year.

UCA 63A-11-201 allows the office to contract with a qualified attorney to defend an indigent parent. Payment shall come from the Child Welfare Parental Defense Fund.

UCA 63A-11-202 outlines the duties of a contracted parental defense attorney.

UCA 63A-11-203 creates the nonlapsing Child Welfare Parental Defense Fund.

UCA 63A-11-204 allows counties to annually enter into written agreement with the office to provide for payment of parental defense attorney costs out of the fund.

Funding Detail