County officials learn to be more efficient

DAVE MOSIER/independent editor

Several Van Wert County officials are in class all this week to learn how to make their agencies more efficient.

Van Wert County Economic Development Director Sarah Smith, County Sanitarian Jason Menchhofer of the County Health Department, and George Brake, manager of the Van Wert Solid Waste Management District, all received $2,000 scholarships from the Ohio Department of Development Services to attend the training, which is being conducted by Jim Drewes, director of community and workforce development custom training solutions at Northwest State Community College.

In addition to the county employees, some Delphos city employees, including new Safety-Service Director Shane Coleman, also participated.

The training, which is being held at Vantage Career Center, has been used by private businesses for a number of years and is about working smarter to make processes simpler, faster, better and, perhaps most importantly, less costly.

The training uses continuous improvement processes such as Lean, Kaizen and Six Sigma, the same tools top companies use to increase efficiency, cut costs and strengthen customer satisfaction. Those participating in Monday’s session focused on coming up with priorities and identifying core processes they can use in their day-to-day operations.

The LeanOhio Office, located within the Ohio Department of Administrative Services, coordinates the statewide initiative, while Northwest State provides training in this area through a contract with the state.

The focus of the program is to simplify governmental processes to eliminate the red tape that often plagues government, while also allowing agencies to efficiently and effectively meet the needs of their customers’ — in this case, the citizens and taxpayers of Ohio.

The LeanOhio Network includes hundreds of employers who have been involved in Kaizen events, trainings or continuous improvement efforts in both local and state governments, and  also provides advanced training through the Lean Green Belt and Black Belt programs.