Research in Los Angeles County government: Development of the Bureau of Administrative Research
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RESEARCH IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY GOVERNMENT: DEVELOPMENT OP THE BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH
A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the School of Government The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Public Administration
by Wilfred Potter Hazen June 1942
UMI Number: EP71296
All rights reserved INFORMATION TO ALL USERS The quality of this reproduction is dependent upon the quality of the copy submitted. In the unlikely event that the author did not send a complete manuscript and there are missing pages, these will be noted. Also, if material had to be removed, a note will indicate the deletion.
UMT D issertation Publishing
UMI EP71296 Published by ProQuest LLC (2015). Copyright in the Dissertation held by the Author. Microform Edition © ProQuest LLC. All rights reserved. This work is protected against unauthorized copying under Title 17, United States Code
Pro ProQuest LLC. 789 East Eisenhower Parkway P.O. Box 1346 Ann Arbor, Ml 481 06- 1346
(/
This thesis, w ritte n by ........ Wilf red Po11 er Hazen under the direction of
AiS__ Faculty
Comm ittee,
and approved by a ll its members, has been presented to and accepted by the C ouncil on Graduate Study and Research in p a rtia l fu lfill ment of the requirements fo r the degree of Master of Science in Public Administration
Dean
S ecretary D a te ...
F a c ility C o m m itte e
C/ffairman
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER
PAGE
I. BACKGROUND .
................................
1
The p r o b l e m .................... • .........
1
. « ........
2
Historical approach to research
Research movement in American history
II.
3
The research movement and scientific management
7
Research movement in Los A n g e l e s ........... •
8
THE BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY......................
10
Legal b a s i s ...............................
10
Early h i s t o r y .............................
11
Post-war developments
• • • • • • • • • • • •
15
First real expansion • • • • • . • • • • • • •
17
Departmental surveys begin ..................
17
Separation of staff; creation of
19
Further steps toward separation
III.
• . . .
staffdirector .........
20
Expending scope of Bureau s t u d i e s ..........
24
Final separation of Research Staff from Bureau
26
THE DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND R E S E A R C H ........
28
Legal b a s i s ...............................
28
Reasons for establishment of the department Original organization
•
29
......................
31
Subsequent three divisional organization . . .
31
Increasing responsibilities of department
.
Abolition of d e p a r t m e n t ....................
.
34 35
iii CHAPTER IV.
PAGE THE BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH........
36
Reasons for establishment of the Bureau . . .
36
Legal basis
37
Organization
.............................
Policy regarding acceptance of studies
38
...
38
Comparison with Bureau of Budget and Efficiency, City of Los A n g e l e s
•• • • •
41
Present Bureau personnel— number and qualifi cations V.
.............................
42
BUDGET RESEARCH.............................
43
Importance of budget research ..............
43
History of budget research in the County
43
. ♦
First complete budget a n a l y s i s ..........
45
Appointment of budget expert to staff . . .
46
Budget Procedures Ordinances
47
..........
Organization of bureau for budget work Actual budget preparation
.
...
52
....
52
Early s t e p s ....................... Working papers provided ..........
53 ....
53
Staff conferences........................
55
Departmental contacts.............
56
Departmental budget h e a r i n g s ...........
57
Preliminary budget adopted
........
57
Quarterly a l l o t m e n t s ....................
58
...
iv CHAPTER
PAGE Final approval............................ County Budget L a w ......................
71.
58 59
GENERAL RESEARCH.............................
60
Numbering of studies....................
60
Scope of studies........................
61
Departmental studies......................
61
Studies by outside experts................
62
Problems of mileage and County cars
• . . .
63
Studies which used several staff men • • • •
64
Investigation of sales proposals..........
65
Data accumulation...........
65
Digests of departmental r e p o r t s ..........
66
Digests of legislative bills ..............
67
Joint s u r v e y s ...........................
67
Humorous studies ..........................
68
Work load statistics and reasons for lack of validity................................. VII.
PRESENT BUREAU PROCEDURE...................... Preliminary steps for
astudy— assignment
• •
69 75 75
Study in hands of staff man— researchtechniques
79
Sampling.................................
79
Field investigation......................
80
Questionnaire
...........................
81
Schedule.................................
82
V CHAPTER
PAGE Time and motion s t u d y ......................
62
"Pick and Shovel."
85
Interview
...........
.........
84
Comb i n a t i o n s.............................
84
Preparation of report ........................
84
Report to the Director
86
...........
Approval by D i r e c t o r ...................
87
Completion of office routine— indexing and f i l i n g ...................................
89
Transmittal.................................
91
VIII* OTHER BUREAU ACTIVITIES........................ Student internship p r o g r a m .........
IX.
• • • •
92 92
Prevailing Wages-Salary Ordinance ............
97
Mileage permits.............................
98
Legislative a d v i c e .............
99
VALUE OF BUREAU AND ITS F U T U R E ................
100
Value of the B u r e a u ..........................
100
Financial value of s t u d i e s .............
100
• •
Length of reports............... The Bureau and the war e f f o r t .........
102 . . •
103
Suggestions to improve the Bureau . . . . . . .
105
The future of the B u r e a u ....................
107
B I B L I O G R A P H Y .....................................
109
LIST OF CHARTS CHART 1*
PAGE Organization Chart— Department of Budget and Research, After September, 1937 ...............
2.
Organization Chart— Bureau of Administrative Research, After January, 1942 .................
3*
33
40
Work Load Statistics, 1926-1942, Bureau of Efficiency, Department of Budget and Research, Bureau of Administrative Research.............
4*
71
Analysis of Reports Made, 1940-1941, Bureau of Administrative Research
......................
72
LIST OF PLATES PLATE
PAGE
1*
Study Assignment C a r d .......................
77
2.
Annual Staff Record C a r d .............
78
3*
IntradepartmentalM e m o ......................
85
4*
Bureau Stationery
..................
88
5.
"Face-S h e e t "...............................
90
• . •
CHAPTER I BACKGROUND The problem. How many persons at sometime or other in their experience, have not expressed the wish that they might "he in two places at the same time"?
To multiply
this wish five-fold or ten-fold might seem to he ashing more than the impossible, hut, in effect, this is what administra tive research achieves*
Administrative research multiplies
many times over the places to which the administrator can go, and increases greatly the range of his effectiveness* It provides the extra eyes, ears, hands, and time necessary to make all sorts of investigations and to present the find ings to the administrater in order that he might deal intel ligently with the developing problems of government*
This
thesis deals with the development and present activities of one of these agencies— the Los Angeles County Bureau of Administrative Research— which has achieved national reputa tion as a leader in the field of governmental research*
The
development of this Bureau will he shown by following the history of its two predecessors; while explanation of the present operation of this Bureau in its general and budgeting research work will bring the story of this research agency up to date*
The complete budgetory program is outlined and
the progress of a study through the office is shown*
In con
clusion, certain recommendations to improve the Bureau are
noted* Before getting into the main topie it is desirable to see what lies back of the researeh agency of today; for in the whole soope of history, the research movement, especially in government, occupies only a tiny fraction of recent times* The span of years represented in this background is quite a large one, yet the movement in the field of govern mental research is a very recent one— within the memory of many persons still active in the field*
Why did it take
such a long time to get "scientific” about government?
Be
cause it took many years to convince the public that govern mental administration was not a job that any person, regard less of training or experience, could handle adequately*
As
long as that belief prevailed, and it has by no means com pletely disappeared yet, little progress toward better admin istration which must include research could be made* Historical approach to research*
Some writers would
place the beginning of government as far back as five thousand years ago— at least the theories concerning the nature of government will date back that far*
However far into the
past one cares to carry this point, it is certain that for such a time also there has been the problem of administering these governments*
But not a great deal of attention seems
to have been given to just how these governments were being administered or how they might better be administered*
Such
3 a practio© is of very recent date indeed* This more careful consideration of governmental opera tions might be said to have its beginnings in the seventeenth century when a new technique was developed— the so-called "scientific method."
A scientific spirit arose out of the
Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth century and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth, and old accepted dogmas and traditions were now subjected to closer scrutiny— to testing and to analysis through all sorts of experimentation.
These
earliest of scientific research men included such individuals as Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton.
These men and others
developed the "experimental method" or "scientific method" to disprove many of the opinions of their time by experiment, observation, and induction* In spite of the comparatively early* beginning of the scientific method, government did not avail itself of these same techniques until long after they had become well estab lished in the field of the natural sciences*
This can be
laid to several reasons, chief of which is that only very recently have people seen that government, as well as other social subjects, is a science, with principles and formulae, and subject to experimentation even as the natural sciences* Research movement in American history*
Governmental
research has passed through three stages, each one progres sively better, while at the same time maintaining certain
features of the earlier stages.
In the first state, there
was no research at all— governments just "ran,* but no one troubled to see why or how*
In the second stage, dating in
.America from about 1850 we see government starting to look at its operations— chiefly personnel and financial problems— to see if they could not be improved in order to make the day-to-day functioning a bit smoother*
The third and final
stage is the planning for the future*
Government is at the
present time, and has been for perhaps twenty years now, examining its processes in the light of the whole problem of administering its many functions for the betterment of the entire nation*
It is projecting itself years into the future,
and trying to work out newer and better ways of doing things with not only the immediate present in view but also the not too distant future, in order that government need not merely "muddle through" but might have a healthy program for the days ahead* It will be realized at once that this third stage is not carried out independently of the second, but both operate together*
Look for a moment at some of the developments in
this second stage of "self-analysis" or governmental research in our own history* In the 1850Ys a governor of Massachusetts urged salary standardization; about the same time the Secretary of State provided for training of Consular pupils; there was agitation
5 for Civil Service reform also but the Civil War temporarily put a stop to this problem*
However, after the war, primarily
under the influence of sueh men as Thomas A* Jenokes and Carl Sohurz, Grant in 1370 did ask for such a law, and some few offices in Hew York and Washington were put tinder Civil Ser vice rule on January 1, 1872*
However, the project was
short-lived, since in 1873 no appropriations were forthcoming* In 1876, the reformers fought for Civil Service reform, tariff reform, abolition of campaign assessments, etc*, and by 1883, after the assassination of Garfield, they did get a Civil Service Law*
Agitation was carried on by an early
private "research" group— (although hardly comparable to our present concepts of such a body) the National Civil Service Beform League* Other similar reform movements served to indicate that persons were considering government as semething more than a "necessary evil" and were bending their efforts toward getting the most good out of government through careful revisions of existing practices and procedures* Luring the last quarter of the nineteenth century, our institutions of higher learning started giving courses in the study of government although the "political economy" courses of 1890 were quite different from our "governmental adminis tration" courses of today*
Still, they were all steps in the
direction of a more sincere attempt to improve on government*
6 Toward the close of the last century such social problems as housing, education, and recreation were catching the public interest , and demands were made that government do something about them*
The so-called "reform movements"
had been quite unsuccessful in accomplishing desired results so another technique was tried* In New York, Mr* R* Fulton Cutting was president of the Association for Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, and Dr* William H* Allen was director of this association* They were desirous of obtaining information relating to welfare. In 1905 Mayor McClellan of New York appointed a Commission on Financial Administration and Accounting; which in cluded Dr. Frank J. G-oodnow of Columbia, and Dr. Frederick A* Cleveland. Out of this came the Bureau of Municipal Research in 1906, with which were asso ciated Dr* Allen and Dr. Cleveland as well as Mr* Henry Bruere. Mr* Cutting finally obtained the assistance of Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller in financing the bureau for a term of years. Out of the successes of their bureau came the original im petus to direct study of administration. Thus was born the first bureau of governmental research in this country. 3This first governmental research agency was a privately financed one and was not sponsored by any governmental juris diction.
The agency within the framework of a jurisdiction,
such as the one about to be studied, was a still later product* Too much credit cannot be given this particular agency as it served to start the movement toward governmental research agencies and served as the pattern for similar agencies in 1 H. F* Scoville, "Research in Public Administration" (speech, July 17, 1939, from Speech File, Bureau of Adminis trative Besearch, 30 pp.), p. 13*
7 many cities*
From 1911 to 1917 the states alone appointed
a score or more •’efficiency** and ’•economy** commissions*
The
Taft Commission of 1912 pointed out the loose budget methods in our federal government and steps were taken shortly after the World War to remedy them, culminating in what is now the Bureau of the Budget, a research, staff agency of the highest caliber* The research movement and scientific management*
The
research movement in its early days received much encourage ment from Frederick W* Taylor who published his Principles of Scientific Management in 1913*
Here again administrative
research must take a ’’back seat” to industry which had worked out the basic principles enumerated in **scientific management” movement*
These principles had been successfully employed
in the industrial work and had been tested over and over again, end were especially valuable to government because of the increasing number of technical functions administered by government * Taylor took official cognizance of the necessity for research in industry when he advocated the "planning room,” or planning phase, where certain of the workers* foremen were to work with slide rule, stop watch, and other techniques* He believed in one best way to do each job and felt this needed to be found out before the work could be efficiently done*
He stated his problem thus, "And this one best method
8 and best impliment oan only be discovered or developed through a scientific study and analysis of all the methods and impliments in use, together with accurate, minute , motion and time study.
This involves the gradual substitution of science
for rule of thumb throughout the mechanical arts.”3
However
much Taylor may have been wrong about the "one best method or however much others may have abused this "time and motion" technique which Taylor advocated, the fact remains that he was the first industrialist who went "all out" for research In industry.
He foresaw its value, and today industry has
at least accepted that portion of his thesis. Besearch movement in Los Angeles.
This movement started
by the Hew York Bureau of Municipal Besearch and aided by Taylor9s scientific management principles did not stay exclu sively in the citizen-supported field for long, but jumped quickly into the field of tax-supported bureaus— those within the structure of governmental jurisdictions.
While possibly
not the very earliest, certainly among the first such agencies were the Efficiency Commission of Los Angeles City and the Bureau of Efficiency of Los Angeles County, both agencies being written into their respective charters in 1912.
Out of
both have come two excellent research agencies— the Bureau of o Frederick W. Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management (Hew York: Harper and Brothers, 1913), p.
Budget and Efficiency in the City, and the Bureau of Admin istrative Research in the County*
This paper will he con
cerned with the story of the latter of these*
CHAPTER II THE BUREAU OP EFFICIENCY In order to properly tell the story of the Bureau of Administrative Research, it is necessary to go hack to the Bureau of Efficiency and follow its history for twenty-three years— from 1913 to 1936— as this organization was the fore runner of this present Bureau of Administrative Research# Next in point of time came the Department of Budget and Research being* as it happened* only an interim organization* for its life was not quite three years#
After its abolition
in 1939* the present organization was set up.
In order to
present this development* this chapter and the two following ones will be devoted to these three organizations* all parts of the same research movement# Legal basis#
The framers of the 191E Los Angeles
County Charter conceived that besides preventing inefficient persons from getting on the County payroll* it was essential that only efficient employees should remain in the County service#
Therefore* in addition to setting up a Civil Service
Commission to administer the newly adopted merit system* they provided for a Bureau of Efficiency#
The Charter speoifies
this in these words: Sec# 34. The Commission shall prescribe* amend and enforce rules for the classified service* which shall have the force and effect of law; shall keep minutes of
11 its proceedings and records of its examinations and shall, as a Board or through a single Commissioner make investigations eoncerning the enforcement and effect of this Article and of the rules and efficiency of the service* • • • The rules shall provides (15) For the establishment of a bureau of effi ciency, consisting of the Commission, the Secretary thereof and the Auditor, for the purpose of deter mining the duties of each position in the classified service, fixing standards of efficiency, investigat ing the methods of operation of the various departments, and recommending to the Board of Supervisors and de partment head, measures for increasing individual, group and departmental efficiency and providing for , uniformity of competition and simplicity of operation* The charter went into effect June 3, 1913, but the Bureau of Efficiency did not organize immediately*
On August
26, 1913, the Civil Service Commission stated in a resolution to the Board of Supervisors: When the Efficiency Board shall have been organized it will then be within its province to investigate the various departments of the County to ascertain the necessary help for such departments, and make recom mendations to the Board of Supervisors relating there to, and will also recommend the standardization of compensat ion•2 Early history*
From the first meeting of the Bureau
of Efficiency held November 4, 1913, personnel requests were sent to the Bureau for investigation*
Probably its first
report came at the fourth meeting of the Bureau, November 14,
* Charter of the County of Los Angeles * Annotated 1939 edition, pp.“31-54* 2 Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, "Minutes," I, 23.
IS 1913, when a speeial committee appointed to investigate the request of a Justice Court that personnel he increased pre sented a report showing percentage increases in business and in salary and showing that the former surpassed the latter* A list of recommendations was attached Before the formation of the Bureau, Civil Service Commissioners made investigations personally*
After ten
weeks in operation we note that the Secretary of the Commis sion was ordered to "act as a committee of one to investigate and report concerning the feasibility of consolidating the County Superintendent9a library with the County Free Library, and the establishment of library service for the benefit of County officials and employees*"* The bulk of the time for the first five or six years was taken up with requests for additional personnel, creation of positions, and request for salary readjustments*
However,
research problems were handled throughout this period as Commissioners Sykes and Alexander were appointed a Committee to examine into the conditions and management of the Juvenile Hall and Detention Home*99®
Also the close of this fiscal
Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," I, 41* 4 Ibid*, I, 63, January 30, 1914* 5 Ibid., I, 78, March 15, 1914.
13 year saw a request for two efficiency investigators to be employed by the Civil Service Commission but to be detailed to work with the Bureau of Efficiency*
Only one of these was
allowed , however , and it was some few years before a second "research” man was added to the staff* The work of setting the "prevailing wage" has been a responsibility of the Bureau since June, 1914, until even today when it is carried out by the Bureau of Administrative Research*
It is doubtful if as much attention was given it
then as now, but since the charter required that a "prevail ing wage" be paid, someone had to help ascertain the correct amounts to be paid* During these first months several reorganization sur veys were made, such as Custodial, Probation, Juvenile Hail, Surveyor, County Clerk, etc.
All the studies were not heavy,
laborious things, for on December 29, 1914, the Bureau "recom mended that smoking by clerks or employees during working hours while on duty in county offices be prohibited* The first big project to be completed was the "First survey of all departments with special reference to classi fication of positions and the adoption of uniform graded salary schedules completed in 1915."^
® Ibid.. I, 221. ” Los Angolas County, Annual Report of the Olyll service Commission and Bureau of Efficiency. S'lsoalTear Ending June
so, m r r ’pT n : - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
14 la addition it is interesting to observe that the first study to be prepared by an outsider was completed January 9, 1915, when Mabel Weed was hired to oonduot an investigation into the organization, administration and cost of County Charities, sponsored jointly by the State Board of Charities and the County Bureau of Efficiency* Throughout the first years of the Bureau continued reference indicates that the one efficiency investigator and the Secretary (who was also Chief Examiner for the Commission) made most of the studies which were requested*
The bulk of
these stemmed from the Bureau* s interest in County personnel and in their efficiency.
Practically all departmental sur-
veys were made from a salary standardization point of view* One interesting problem, still before the Bureau of Administrative Research, is that of investigations into misuse of County automobiles, and suggestions of ways to curb this abuse*
The first reference to this problem occurred back in
October, 1916, when an investigator was ordered to see if the privilege of using County machines was being abused*8 The first joint salary survey with the Los Angeles City Bureau of Efficiency was approved early in 1918*
The first
reference to the work of the Bureau in digesting and making recommendations on legislative bills is also from this period, Q
Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," II, 538, October 27, 1916*
15 for In 1919 arguments were presented in favor of a eertain legislative measure*
Both of these items are being carried
on even today as will be noted below. Post-war developments*
From 1921 and on, a portion
of each meeting of the Bureau was given to a discussion of studies prepared by the efficiency investigators and others* The growth of governmental functions following the World War caused more and more demands to be made on the Bureau of Efficiency*
Surveys of the Probation Department, the
Horticultural Commissioner, the possibility of a County Store, etc*, appeared in rapid order* In 1923 again the Bureau adopted a resolution recom mending that some sixteen bills pending in the legislature be defeated*
This year was also a banner one from the Bureau*s
standpoint for it saw the technical staff doubled— now there were two efficiency investigators instead of one!
This
additional Efficiency Investigator was appointed November 27, 1923*
Although this was still a far cry from the later staff
of twenty to twenty-five, it was a step forward.
The Bureau
suggested the value of increased personnel in these words: It is the belief of the members of the Bureau that with an additional Efficiency Investigator, money can be saved, efficiency promoted and, further, that questions of re-classification or readjustments of the positions throughout the service may be considered promptly throughout the year as they arise and the work of the Budget Committee thereby expedited and the Board of Supervisors relieved of much last-minute
16 pressure.w By 1924* and in years to come* salary budgets were being given careful consideration by the Bureau of Efficiency* The validity of departmental recommendations was investigated and reports made thereon to the Board of Supervisors*
It can
be seen that this budget work was not a new task assumed by the Bureau without proper authority— it came as a natural offspring from the authority to recommend on salaries* effi ciency* and additional personnel*
Little mention is made
prior to 1924 regarding budget* but in 1925 and from then on* four* five* six or more meetings per year were devoted to so-called "hearings” on salaries and wages budgets of the several departments* During 1928 and subsequently* the Bureau made numerous field trips to County departments for purposes of inspection* These trips included:
El Retire* Rancho Los Amigos (then
called the County Farm)* Olive View* the Museum* Juvenile Hall* Big Pines Park* San Gabriel Dam Site* and others* The two Efficiency Investigators composed the Efficiency Division in the Civil Service Department— the Commission it self and the Bureau as set up by the Charter were merely the administrative heads of these two functions* and the work of studies* etc** after the first year or so* were conducted by the employees of the departments*
Hence the reference to this
9 Ibid.. IV, 1204, May 17, 1923.
17 Efficiency Division*
The same division is still in operation
today but is doing just what its name indicates; the other research work as done by the Division in 1925 was transferred to the Department of Budget and Research when it was created in 1956* Rank came to the Bureau in 1926 when one of the Effi ciency Investigators was designated as "Senior Efficiency Investigator."
This differentiation in title carries over
until now, but under a different job title*
In 1926 an at
tempt was made to increase the Bureau personnel still further by suggesting that a position be created for a "Junior Inves tigator*" First real expansion*
The Bureau was expanded prior
to July, 1927, to Include one Senior Efficiency Investigator, two Investigators, and a Junior Investigator*
From this
time, also, the minutes begin to record the names of the men making the reports, and more and more space is given to the reports, indicating a growth in the Bureau activities*
Still
another change occurred in 1927 when in August, the staff was expanded to include an additional Junior Investigator, bring ing the total now to five.^® Departmental surveys begin*
10
The year 1928 was an
Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, "Minutes," V, 1679, August 3, 1927.
RESEARCH IN LOS ANGELES COUNTY GOVERNMENT: DEVELOPMENT OF THE BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH
A Thesis Presented to the Faculty of the School of Government The University of Southern California
In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Master of Science in Public Administration
by Wilfred Potter Hazen June 1942
I
17
fL,^ #+*1 This thesis, w ritte n by
under the direction of
Ais__ F aculty
Committee,
and approved by a ll its members, has been presented to and accepted by the C ouncil on Graduate Study and Research in p a rtia l fu lfill ment of the requirements fo r the degree of Master of Science in Public Administration
D ean
Secretary D a le
June>..A942
F a c n d ty C o m m itte e
waif m an
TABLE OF CONTENTS CHAPTER I.
PAGE BACKGROUND The problem
............... .
. .
. . ......................
Historical approach to research
II.
1
........ . .
Research movement in American history
1
2
• • • •
3
The research movement and scientific management
7
Research movement in Los Angeles . . . . . . .
8
THE BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY.............
10
Legal b a s i s ..........................
10
Early h i s t o r y .........
11
Post-war developments............ • • • • •
15
First real expansion..................
17
Departmental surveys begin .............
17
Separation of staff; creation of staff director
19
Further steps toward separation
20
............
Expanding scope of Bureau s t u d i e s ....
24
Final separation of Research Staff from Bureau III.. THE DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND RESEARCH
. . . . .
28
Legal b a s i s ............... Reasons for establishment of the department Original organization
26
28 •
29
......................
31
Subsequent three divisional organization . . .
31
Increasing responsibilities of department
34
Abolition of d e p a r t m e n t ..............
• • 35
iii CHAPTER TV.
PAGE THE BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH . . . . .
36
Reasons for establishment of the Bureau . . .
36
Legal basis • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
37
Organization
38
••
. . . . . . . .
Policy regarding acceptance of studies
...
.38
Comparison with Bureau of Budget and Efficiency, City of Los Angeles • • • • • • • • • • • •
41
Present Bureau personnel— number and qualifi cations . . • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • V.
BUDGET RESEARCH . . . . .
........
42
. . . . . .
43
Importance of budget research . . . . . . . .
43
History of budget research in the County
43
First complete budget analysis
. .
• • • • • *
45
Appointment of budget expert to staff . . .
46
Budget Procedures Ordinances
47
. . . . . . .
Organization of bureau for budget work
...
52
Actual budget preparation . • • • • • • « • •
52
Early steps • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •
53
Working papers provided ............
...
53
• • • • • • •
55
Staff conferences Departmental contacts
..................
Departmental budget hearings Preliminary budget adopted Quarterly allotments
56
. . . . . . .
57
• • • • • • • •
57
......................
58
iv CHAPTER
PAGE Final approval......................... .. . County Budget L a w ......................
VI .
GENERAL RESEARCH
59
.............
Numbering of studies..................... Scope of studies
58
60 .
.........
60 61
Departmental studies
.
61
Studies by outside experts ................
62
Problems of mileage and County ears
....
63
Studies which used several staff
men • • • •
64
Investigation of sales proposals
. . . . . .
65
Data accumulation................. ..
65
Digests of departmental reports
66
. . . . . .
Digests of legislative bills ........
...
67
Joint s u r v e y s ...........................
67
Humorous studies .............. . . . . . .
68
Work load statistics and reasons for lack of validity..............................
69
VII.PRESENT BUREAU PROCEDURE . . . . . . . . . . . . Preliminary steps for a study— assignment
75 . .
75
Study in hands of staff man— researchtechniques Sampling.............................. Field investigation Questionnaire
•
Schedule • • • • •
. . . • • • •
......
.............
79 79 80 81
• • • • • •
82
CHAPTER
PAGE Time and motion s t u d y ......................
82
"Pick and Shovel."
83
. . . ............ . . . .
Interview . . . . . . . . .............
. .
84
Combina t i o n s.............
. .
84
Preparation of report
..................
84
Report to the D i r e c t o r ......................
86
Approval by Director
.............
87
Completion of office routine-— indexing and f i l i n g ..................... Transmittal
89
.................
91
VIII. OTHER BUREAU ACTIVITIES...................
IX.
92
Student internship p r o g r a m .................
92
Prevailing Wages-Salary Ordinance ............
97
Mileage permits • • • • • ....................
98
Legislative advice
................
99
VALUE OF BUREAU M ID ITS F U T U R E ................
100
Value of the B u r e a u .................... • • • •
100
Financial value of studies
100
........
Length of reports.............
102
The Bureau and the war ef f o r t................
103
Suggestions to improve the Bureau ............
105
The future of the Bureau
..........
107
B I B L I O G R A P H Y .....................................
109
LIST OF CHARTS CHART 1*
PAGE Organization Chart— Department of Budget and Research, After September, 1937. . . . . . .
2.
Organization Chart— Bureau of Administrative Research, After January, 1942
3.
33
...........
40
Work Load Statistics, 1926-1942, Bureau of Efficiency, Department of Budget and Research, Bureau of Administrative Research............
4.
71
Analysis of Reports Made, 1940-1941, Bureau of Administrative R e s e a r c h ......................
72
LIST OF PLATES PLATE
PAGE
1.
Study Assignment C a r d .......................
77
Z.
Annual Staff Record Card
• • • • • • • • • • •
78
3.
Intradepartmental M e m o .....................
85
4*
Bureau Stationery.........
88
5.
"Face-Sheet”
90
...............................
CHAPTER I BACKGROUND The problem. How many persons at sometime or other in their experience, have not expressed the wish that they might nbe in two places at the same time**?
To multiply
this wish five-fold or ten-fold might seem to he ashing more than the impossible, but, in effect, this is what administra tive research achieves#
Administrative research multiplies
many times over the places to which the administrator can go, and increases greatly the range of his effectiveness# It provides the extra eyes, ears, hands, and time necessary to make all sorts of investigations and to present the find ings to the administrator in order that he might deal intel ligently with the developing problems of government.
This
thesis deals with the development and present activities of one of these agencies— the Los Angeles County Bureau of Administrative Research— which has achieved national reputa tion as a leader in the field of governmental research#
The
development of this Bureau will be shown by following the history of its two predecessors; while explanation of the present operation of this Bureau In its general and budgeting research work will bring the story of this research agency up to date#
The complete budgetary program is outlined and
the progress of a study through the office is shown#
In con
clusion, certain recommendations to improve the Bureau are
noted* Before getting into the main topic it is desirable to see what lies back of the research agency of today; for in the whole scope of history9 the research movementt especially in governmentf occupies only a tiny fraction of recent times* The span of years represented in this background is quite a large one, yet the movement in the field of govern mental research is a very recent one— within the memory of many persons still active in the field*
Why did it take
such a long time to get "scientific" about government?
Be
cause it took many years to convince the public that govern mental administration was not a job that any person* regard less of training or experience, could handle adequately*
As
long as that belief prevailed, and it has by no means com pletely disappeared yet, little progress toward better admin istration which must include research could be made* Historical approach to research*
Some writers would
place the beginning of government as far back as five thousand years ago— at least the theories concerning the nature of government will date back that far.
However far into the
past one cares to carry this point* it is certain that for such a time also there has been the problem of administering these governments*
But not a great deal of attention seems
to have been given to just how these governments were being administered or how they might better be administered*
Such
3 a practice Is of very recent date indeed* This more careful consideration of governmental opera tions might be said to have its beginnings in the seventeenth century when a new teohnique was developed--the so-called
A
“scientific method.*
scientific spirit arose out of the
Italian Renaissance of the fifteenth century and the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth, and old accepted dogmas and traditions were now subjected to closer scrutiny— to testing and to analysis through all sorts of experimentation.
These
earliest of scientific research men included such individuals as Galileo, Copernicus, and Newton.
These men and others
developed the “experimental method* or “scientific method* to disprove many of the opinions of their time by experiment, observation, and induction. In spite of the comparatively early beginning of the scientific method, government did not avail itself of these same techniques until long after they had become well estab lished in the field of the natural sciences. 4
'
This eon be
*
laid to several reasons, ehief of which is that only very recently have people seen that government, as well as other social subjects, is a science, with principles and formulae, and subject to experimentation even as the natural sciences. Research movement in American history.
Governmental
research has passed through three stages, each one progres sively better, while at the same time maintaining certain
features of the earlier stages.
In the first state, there
was no research at all— governments just "ran,” but no one troubled to see why or how#
In the second stage, dating in
America from about 1850 we see government starting to look at its operations— chiefly personnel and financial problems— to see if they could not be improved in order to make the day-to-day functioning a bit smoother.
The third and final
stage is the planning for the future#
Government is at the
present time, and has been for perhaps twenty years now, examining its processes in the light of the whole problem of administering its many functions for the betterment of the entire nation.
It is projecting itself years into the future
and trying to work out newer and better ways of doing things with not only the immediate present in view but also the not too distant future, in order that government need not merely "muddle through" but might have a healthy program for the days ahead# It will be realized at once that this third stage is not carried out independently of the second, but both operate together.
Look for a moment at some of the developments in
this second stage of "self-analysis" or governmental research in our own history. In the 1850fs a governor of Massachusetts urged salary standardization; about the same time the Secretary of State provided for training of Consular pupils; there was agitation
for Civil Service reform also but the Civil War temporarily put a stop to this problem*
However, after the war, primarily
under the influence of such men as Thomas A* Jenckes and Carl Sohurz, Grant in 1670 did ask for such a law, and some few offices in New York and Washington were put under Civil Ser vice rule on January 1, 1872*
However, the project was
short-lived, since in 1873 no appropriations were forthcoming. In 1876, the reformers fought for Civil Service reform, tariff reform, abolition of campaign assessments, etc., and by 1883, after the assassination of Garfield, they did get a Civil Service Law.
Agitation was carried on by an early
private "research” group— (although hardly comparable to our present concepts of such a body) the National Civil Service Beform League. Other similar reform movements served to indicate that persons were considering government as something more than a "necessary evil" and were bending their efforts toward getting the most good out of government through careful revisions of existing practices and procedures. Luring the last quarter of the nineteenth century, our institutions of higher learning started giving courses in the study of government although the "political economy" courses of 1890 were quite different from our "governmental adminis tration" courses of today.
Still,they were all steps in the
direction of a more sincere attempt to improve on government.
6 Toward the close of the last century such social problems as housing, education, and recreation were catching the public interest, and demands were made that government do something about them*
The so-called "reform movements"
had been quite unsuccessful in accomplishing desired results so another technique was tried. In New York, Mr. R. Fulton Cutting was president of the Association for Improvement of the Condition of the Poor, and Dr. William H. Allen was director of this association. They were desirous of obtaining information relating to welfare. In 1905 Mayor McClellan of New York appointed.a 'Commission on Financial Administration and Accounting; which in cluded Dr. Frank J. Goodnow of Columbia, and Dr. Frederick A. Cleveland. Out of this came the Bureau of Municipal Besearch in 1906, with which were asso ciated Dr. Allen and Dr. Cleveland as well as Mr. Henry Bruere. Mr* Cutting finally obtained the assistance of Mr. Carnegie and Mr. Rockefeller in financing the bureau for a term of years. Out of the successes of their bureau came the original im petus to direct study of administration. Thus was born the first bureau of governmental research in this country.! This first governmental research agency was a privately financed one and was not sponsored by any governmental juris diction.
The agency within the framework of a jurisdiction,
such as the one about to be studied, was a still later product. Too much credit cannot be given this particular agency as it served to start the movement toward governmental research agencies and served as the pattern for similar agencies in
! H. F. Scoville, "Research in Public Administration" (speech, July 17, 1939, from Speech File, Bureau of Adminis trative Research, 30 pp.), p. 13.
many cities*
From 1911 to 1917 the states alone appointed
a score or more “efficiency” and “economy” commissions*
The
Taft Commission of 1912 pointed out the loose budget methods in our federal government and steps were taken shortly after the World War to remedy them, culminating in what is now the Bureau of the Budget, a research, staff agency of the highest caliber* The research movement and scientific management*
The
research movement in its early days received much encourage ment from Frederick W* Taylor who published his Principles of Scientific Management in 1913*
Here again administrative
research must take a “back seat” to industry which had worked out the basic principles enumerated in “scientific management” movement*
These principles had been successfully employed
in the industrial 7work and had been tested over and over again, and were especially valuable to government because of the increasing number of technical functions administered by government. Taylor took official cognizance of the necessity for research in industry when he advocated the “planning room,” or planning phase, where certain of the workers* foremen were to work with slide rule, stop watch, and other techniques. He believed in one best way to do each job and felt this needed to be found out before the work could be efficiently done*
He stated his problem thus, “And this one best method
and best impliment can only be discovered or developed through a scientific study and analysis of all the methods and . impliments in use,' together with accurate, minute, motion and time study*
This involves the gradual substitution of science
for rule of thumb throughout the mechanical
a r t s * ,,s
However
much Taylor may have been wrong about the "one best method,” or however much others may have abused this "time and motion" technique which Taylor advocated, the fact remains that he was the first industrialist who went "all out" for research in industry*
He foresaw its value, and today industry has
at least accepted that portion of his thesis* He search movement in Los Angeles* This movement started by the New York Bureau of Municipal Besearch and aided by Taylor9s scientific management principles did not stay exclu sively in the citizen-supported field for long, but jumped quickly into the field of tax-supported bureaus— those within the structure of governmental jurisdictions*
While possibly
not the very earliest, certainly amon& the first such agencies were the Efficiency Commission of Los Angeles City and the Bureau of Efficiency of Los Angeles County, both agencies being written into their respective charters in 1912*
Out of
both have come two excellent research agencies— the Bureau of 2
Frederick W* Taylor, The Principles of Scientific Management (New York: Harper an&‘Brothers, I9IS), p* 28*
Budget and Efficiency in the City, and the Bureau of Admin istrative Beseareh in the County*
This paper will he con
cerned with the story of the latter of these*
CHAPTER II THE BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY In order to properly tell the story of the Bureau of Administrative Research, it is necessary to go back to the Bureau of Efficiency and follow its history for twenty-three years— from 1913 to 1936— as this organization was the fore runner of this present Bureau of Administrative Research* Next in point of time came the Department of Budget and Research being* as it happened, only an interim organization, for its life was not quite three years*
After its abolition
in 1939, the present organization was set up*
In order to
present this development, this chapter and the two following ones will be devoted to these three organizations, all parts of the same research movement* Legal basis*
The framers of the 1912 Los Angeles
County Charter conceived that besides preventing inefficient persons from getting on the County payroll, it was essential that only efficient employees should remain in the County service*
Therefore, in addition to setting up a Civil Service
Commission to administer the newly adopted merit system, they provided for a Bureau of Efficiency*
The Charter specifies
this in these words; Sec* 34* The Commission shall prescribe, amend and enforce rules for the classified service, which shall have the force and effect of law; shall keep minutes of
11 its proceedings and records of its examinations and shall, as a Board or through a single Commissioner make investigations concerning the enforcement and effect of this Article and of the rules and efficiency of the service. • • • The rules shall provide: (15) For the establishment of a bureau of effi*» cieney, consisting of the Commission, the Secretary thereof and the Auditor, for the purpose of deter mining the duties of each position in the classified service, fixing standards of efficiency, investigat ing the methods of operation of the various departments, and recommending to the Board of Supervisors and de partment head, measures for increasing individual, group and departmental efficiency and providing for 1 uniformity of competition and simplicity of operation* The charter went into effect June 3, 1913, but the Bureau of Efficiency did not organize immediately.
On August
26, 1913, the Civil Service Commission stated in a resolution to the Board of Supervisors: When the Efficiency Board shall have been organized it will then be within its province to investigate the various departments of the County to ascertain the necessary help for such departments, and make recom mendations to the Board of Supervisors relating there to , and will also recommend the standardization of compensat ion•2 Early history*
From the first meeting of the Bureau
of Efficiency held November 4, 1913, personnel requests were sent to the Bureau for investigation.
Probably its first
report came at the fourth meeting of the Bureau, November 14,
1 Charter of the County of Los Angeles, Annotated 1939 edition, pp."“31-34. 2 Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, "Minutes," I, 23.
12 1913, when a special committee appointed to investigate the request of a Justice Court that personnel be increased pre sented a report showing percentage increases in business and in salary and showing that the former surpassed the latter* •X
A list of recommendations was attached* Before the formation of the Bureau, Civil Service Commissioners made investigations^personally.
After ten
weeks in operation we note that the Secretary of the Commis sion was ordered to "act as a committee of one to investigate and report concerning the feasibility of consolidating the County Superintendent9s library with the County Free Library, and the establishment of library service for the benefit of County officials and employees.9,4 The bulk of the time for the first five or six years was taken up with requests for additional personnel, creation of positions, and request for salary readjustments*
However,
research problems were handled throughout this period as "Commissioners Sykes and Alexander were appointed, a Committee to examine into the conditions and management of the Juvenile Hall and Detention Home*"® s
Also the close of this fiscal
Los Angeles County Bureau of Bffieienoy, "Minutes,"
I, 41* 4
63» January 30, 1914,
5 Ibid., I, 78, March 13, 1914.
13 year saw a request for two efficiency investigators to be employed by the Civil Service Commission but to be detailed to work with the Bureau of Efficiency,
Only one of these was
allowed, however, and it was some few years beifore a second "research" man was added to the staff. The work of setting the ffprevailing wage” has been a responsibility of the Bureau since June, 1914, until even today when it is carried out by the Bureau of Administrative Research.
It is doubtful if as much attention was given it
then as now, but since the charter required that a "prevail ing wage" be paid, someone had to help ascertain the correct amounts to be paid. During these first months several reorganization sur veys were made, such as Custodial, Probation, Juvenile Hall, Surveyor, County Clerk, etc.
All the studies were not heavy,
laborious things, for on December 29, 1914, the Bureau "recom mended that smoking by clerks or employees during working hours while on duty in county offices be prohibited."** The first big project to be completed was the "First survey of all departments with special reference to classi fication of positions and the adoption of uniform graded salary schedules completed in 1915."^
6 Ibid.. I, 221. Los Angeles County, Annual Report of the Civil service Commission and Bureau of Efficiency. FisoalTear Ending June
16, i9is, p m :
-----------------------
14 In addition it is interesting to observe that the first study to be prepared by an outsider was completed January 9, 1915, when Mabel Weed was hired to conduct an investigation into the organization, administration and cost of County Charities, sponsored jointly by the State Board of Charities and the County Bureau of Efficiency• Throughout the first years of the Bureau continued reference indicates that the one efficiency investigator and the Secretary (who was also Chief Examiner for the Commission) made most of the studies which were requested*
The bulk of
these stemmed from the Bureau's interest in County personnel and in their efficiency. ♦
Practically all departmental sur-
veys were made from a salary standardization point of view. One interesting problem, still before the Bureau of Administrative Research, is that of investigations into misuse of County automobiles, and suggestions of ways to curb this abuse.
The first reference to this problem occurred back in
October, 1916, when an investigator was ordered to see if the privilege of using County machines was being abused,® The first joint salary survey with the Los Angeles City Bureau of Efficiency was approved early in 1918,
The first
reference to the work of the Bureau in digesting and making recommendations on legislative bills is also from this period,
® Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," II, 538, October 27, 1916*
15 for in 1919 arguments were presented in favor of a certain legislative measure*
Both of these items are being carried
on even today as will be noted below* Post-war developments*
From 1921 and on, a portion
of each meeting of the Bureau was given to a discussion of studies prepared by the efficiency investigators and others* The growth of governmental functions following the World War caused more and more demands to be made on the Bureau of Efficiency*
Surveys of the Probation Department, the
Horticultural Commissioner, the possibility of a County Store, etc*, appeared in rapid order* In 1925 again the Bureau adopted a resolution recom mending that some sixteen bills pending in the legislature be defeated*
This year was also a banner one from the Bureau9s
standpoint for it saw the technical staff doubled— now there were two efficiency investigators instead of one!
This
additional Efficiency Investigator was appointed November 27, 1925*
Although this was still a far cry from the later staff
of twenty to twenty-five, it was a step forward.
The Bureau
suggested the value of increased personnel in these words: It is the belief of the members of the Bureau that with an additional Efficiency Investigator, money can be saved, efficiency promoted and, further, that questions of re-classification or readjustments of the positions throughout the service may be considered promptly throughout the year as they arise and the work of the Budget Committee thereby expedited and the Board of Supervisors relieved of much last-minute
16 pressure.9 9 By 1924, and in years to come, salary budgets were being given careful consideration by the Bureau of Efficiency. The validity of departmental recommendations was investigated and reports made thereon to the Board of Supervisors.
It can
be seen that this budget work was not a new task assumed by the Bureau without proper authority— it came as a natural offspring from the authority to recommend on salaries, effi ciency, and additional personnel.
Little mention is made
prior to 1924 regarding budget, but in 1925 and from then on, four, five, six or more meetings per year were devoted to so-called "hearings'1 on salaries and wages budgets of the several departments. During 1928 and subsequently, the Bureau made numerous field trips to County departments for purposes of inspection. These trips included:
El Retiro, Rancho Los Amigos (then
called the County Farm), Olive View, the Museum, Juvenile Hall, Big Pines Park, San Gabriel Dam Site, and others. The two Efficiency Investigators composed the Efficiency Division in the Civil Service Department— the Commission it self and the Bureau as set up by the Charter were merely the administrative heads of these two functions, and the work of studies, etc., after the first year or so, were conducted by the employees of the departments.
Hence the reference to this
9 Ibid., IV, 1204, May 17, 1923
17 Efficiency Division*
The same division is still in operation
today but is doing just what its name indicates; the other research work as done by the Division in 1925 was transferred to the Department of Budget and Research when it was created in 1956* Bank came to the Bureau in 1926 when one of the Effi ciency Investigators was designated as "Senior Efficiency Investigator."
This differentiation in title carries over
until now, but under a different job title*
In 1926 an at
tempt was made to increase the Bureau personnel still further by suggesting that a position be created for a "Junior Inves tigator.” First real expansion*
The Bureau was expanded prior
to July, 1927, to include one Senior Efficiency Investigator, two Investigators, and a Junior Investigator.
From this
time, also, the minutes begin to record the names of the men making the reports, and more and more space is given to the reports, indicating a growth in the Bureau activities.
Still
another change occurred in 1927 when in August, the staff was expanded to include an additional Junior Investigator, bring ing the total now to five.^ Departmental surveys begin* 10
The year 1928 was an
Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission, "Minutes," V, 1679, August 3, 1927.
18 important one in the Bureau1s history for in that year there began to he made complete departmental surveys, looking not merely at personnel and salary standardization problems, but also at the organizational picture, the operational function ing of the department, besides ways in whieh the department could be made more efficient. Statistics show that during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1928, one hundred twenty-six separate investigations and surveys had been m ade.H
This compared with fifty such
surveys and investigations completed between November 10, 1926, “jj and June 30, 1927.12 Included in the studies worked on during the 1927-1928 fiscal year were the following departmental surveys:
Sheriff, District Attorney, Purchasing and Stores.
During 1928-1929 the Purchasing and Stores survey was completed, while the Sheriff*s survey was finished the following year. Other sueh reports later to be completed were surveys of the ia Hospital, the Recorder, the Forestry and the Assessor. A position of Efficiency Engineer was asked for in 1928 and one of. the staff men was appointed to this position.
It
was he who prepared most of these departmental surveys to which 11 Los Angeles County, Annual Report of the Civil Ser vice Commission and Bureau of Ef ficienoy for The Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1928, p. 4. 12 Ibid., Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1927, p. 3. Apparently these are the earliest recorded statis tics of reports made by this Bureau since previous annual reports carry no such data, nor do any of the Bureau*s meeting minutes.
13 IkM« * 1929 * 193°. 1931*
19 reference has just been made*
Also this same year another
important survey— the Health Department— was made by Ira I# Hiscoek, under the auspices of the American Public Health Association.
He made the investigations and the report, but
the Bureau provided research and stenographic assistance♦ Separation of staff; creation of staff director.
The
next landmark in the history of this Bureau and in the devel opment of the present organization is 1932.
On January 21,
1932, a proposed organization plan was presented and adopted as presented.
This was in the nature of setting up a separate
staff and a separate staff director to do the research and investigating work and then report to the Bureau at its regu lar meetings. basis.
This put the Bureau on an independent operating
According to the Annual Report of the Qlvil Service
Commission and Bureau of Efficiency for the fiscal year ending June 30, 1932, more fundamental changes in organization and more accomplishments were recorded than in any former twelve month period in the history of the Bureau.***4 In January of 1932, due to the serious state of County finances, a County whose revenue had been drastically curtailed through decreased assessed valuation, authorized the Bureau to assist not only in preparation of the salaries and wages budgets but also the maintenance and operation and capital outlay
14 Ibid.. Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1932.
budgets as well.
To do this work three temporary special in
vestigators were asked for and two were appointed in March when the budget began intensively.
As a result of this work
some six million dollars was cut off the previous year's budget figures. The staff of the Bureau of Efficiency was referred to as "Staff" for the first time in February of 1932, and in April of this same year the "Staff Director" is mentioned. This latter appointment was temporary but was officially ratified as of July 1* 1932. The minutes ©f the Bureau show a renewed vigor in the Bureau with this change in organization, for the Staff Director became the spokesman for the Staff and gave reports on general work of the staff at almost every meeting.
Many reports appear
and the Bureau receives reports not only of studies completed but reports of studies in progress. Further steps toward separation. A controversial sub ject of this period was that of the projected City and County separation.
A City Bureau of Budget and Efficiency Report of
April 8, 1932, was countered by a County Bureau of Efficiency study which occupied the Bureau*s discussion for about a month, ending in a report being sent to the Board of Supervisors on October 27, 1932.
One result of this controversy was the
Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," I, 20, June 23, 1932.
21 establishment of the “Committee on Governmental S implif ieat ion" whose ultimate effect on the history of the Bureau of Efficiency and on the creation of the Department of Budget and Research and finally the Bureau of Administrative“-Research itself , will be told later* By Board order several additional special investigators were added to the Bureau payroll during this period to inves tigate "noxious odors on Nigger Slough."
At least four such
persons were employed* Another step forward occurred in December, 1932, when the Staff Director was allowed to submit reports, in an emer gency, to the Board with the approval of any two Bureau of Efficiency members.
The report then had to be submitted to
the Bureau for ratification at the next regular meeting.
Thus
the cumbersome procedure necessary to get reports approved and sent to the Board was practically changed by this provision, but the unwieldy procedure still remained in theory, and here we see one of the important reasons for the separation of the Efficiency Staff from the Bureau in 1936. One of the Junior Efficiency Investigators had been preparing charts and graphs to accompany Bureau reports ever since early in 1932*
This work was recognized as essential in
the preparation of completed reports, so in May of 1933 a full time cartographer was employed by the Bureau.
This position
remained with the Efficiency Staff, then moved with it to the
Department of Budget and Research until in 1939 as the result of a Departmental Study (#3313) this function was centralized in a cartographic unit of the Surveyors Department.
From time
to time as needed, an Assistant Cartographer was added to the Staff. The two most important happenings, of interest to this study, in 1933 were the establishment of the "Committee on Governmental Simplification" by the Board of Supervisors in January, 1933, and the employment by the Bureau of its first Student Investigators or "interns” in September. The "Committee on Governmental Simplification" was es tablished partially because of a need for economy in government and partially because of the interest in governmental operations occasioned by the proposed city-county separation of the pre vious year.
Supervisory control over the experts on the co
ordinating committees for this study was placed in the Bureau of Efficiency, and a Senior Investigator was provided in the Bureau for the exclusive use of this committee.
The Director
of the Bureau was appointed as Chairman of Budget and Efficiency, the Research Engineer of the California Taxpayers Association and the Committee*s own Coordinator (set up as noted in the Bureau) served to head up the work done. The student intern program is of sufficient importance to be dealt with in a separate section below.
Suffice it to
say here that four such students were appointed for the first
23 year, and the first big assignment for several was assisting the Governmental Simplification Committee.
Thus was launched
"an experiment in directing specially trained young college people into the public service. Statistics show one hundred eighty studies worked on during the fiscal year ending June 30, 1933, and two hundred 17 forty-one reports made during the succeeding fiscal year. Another incident in 1933 must not be overlooked.
As of July 1,
1933, the budget of the Bureau of Efficiency while still under the Civil Service Department was set up as distinct from the Civil Service Department.
The Staff Director was authorized
to sign payrolls, orders, and all papers in connection with the B u r e a u . T h i s provided practical financial autonomy for the group and represented one more step toward the complete break which was to occur in 1936.
In the budget for this
fiscal year (1933-1934) thirteen staff men were provided for as follows: 1 1 5 1 4
Secretary and Staff Director. Senior Efficiency Investigator Efficiency Investigators Cartographer Students
Los Angeles County, Bureau of Efficiency, Growth of County Functions. Los Angeles County. California. 1S52 to’ T934. June, 1936, p. 3 2 . (Bureau Report $1212.) 17 Los Angeles County, Annual Report of the Bureau of Efficiency. Fiscal Tears Ending June 30, 1933, and June 30,“T934.
3-® Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," I, 73, August 2, 1933.
24 1 Senior Efficiency Investigator assigned to Governmental Simplification Committee™ Expanding scope of Bureau studies.
The year 1934 saw
a continuation of the same sort of budget work as done the previous year*
Another Efficiency Investigator was added to
the staff, bringing the total to fourteen.
Between 1934 and
1936 the Bureau through one of its staff men made all recom mendations regarding the rental of space for various County departments and agencies throughout the County.
Prior to this
time this renting had been handled by direct negotiations of the Board of Supervisors, but from 1932 studies appeared re garding availability of space in County buildings and a study or so on outside buildings.
This function remained with the
Bureau, designated by the Board to handle all negotiations for leases, rentals as space allocations, until May 10, 1936, when the Board ordered that all requests for space, rentals, etc., be referred by departments to the Mechanical Department20 where a Property and Rental Section was created under a land-lease agent.
Q,uite a large number of Bureau studies were concerned
with this function over a period of two years. In the interests of economy the Board requested a 15 per cent reduction in departmental budgets during the latter 19
Los Angeles County, Annual Budget. Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1934, p. 73. 20 Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," I, 251, May 13, 1936.
25 part of 1934, so the Bureau eliminated a Real Estate Investi gator which it had appointed, and the Assistant Cartographer• Also the employees hired to work on the Governmental Simplifi cation Committee were ordered to cease this function as of December 31, 1934* After 1932 the Board of Supervisors reported on prac tically every study or report sent them by the Bureau, inform ing the latter what disposition had been made of the studies adopted, referred to individual members, filed, rejected, or referred to Bureau for additional data or correction.
These
letters were reported on at the Bureau*s weekly meetings. The fiscal year of 1934-1935 saw 351 assignments com pleted while in 1935-1936 the figure was 350.
The bulk of
these assignments came from the Board of Supervisors collec tively and individually.
For example, in 1934-1935 of the 351
assignments, 269 came from the Board of Supervisors, 27 from individual board members, 33 from department heads, 19 from the Bureau itself, and 3 were classed as miscellaneous. x During the first part of 1935, the Bureau of Efficiency was ordered to conduct a hearing into the operations of the Purchasing Department and on other matters relating to County departments as included in the reports of the Grand Jury of that year.
These were to be held by the Bureau staff, and
stenographic transcripts were to be made.
This became the
Los Angeles County, Annual Report of the Bureau of Efficiency. Fiscal Year Ending June 30, 1935, p. 6.
26 first order of business and two persons were added temporarily to assist in this work.
The final report was submitted May 5*
1935. The next important happening was the appointment in January, 1936, of an Efficiency Investigator to specialize in budget work.
The budget responsibility required an expert in
these matters to give it the attention it demanded, so the Board suggested this be done, and provided the necessary funds. At the same time the first County Budget Ordinance was adopted.22 Final separation of Research Staff from Bureau.
The last
important happening in the Bureau of Efficiency, so far as it effects this story, was the separation of the entire Efficiency Staff, except for two members, in July, 1936, and the estab lishment of the new Department of Budget and Research.
The
Bureau of Efficiency as set up by the charter functioned for several years after the break, but at present no longer holds any meetings.
The Efficiency Division of the Civil Service
Department does operate, as noted above, on a rather limited scale.
Consequently when the new department was established,
no old department or bureau was completely abolished.
This
separation, as seen in the development of the self regulating, self-operating Efficiency Staff, was a natural one, as the research function for several years now had been distinct from
22 Refer to Chapter V for the complete budget story.
£7 the other functions of the Civil Service Department* As suggested previously, this separation came about partially as a result of the Committee on Government Simpli fication Report and partially because the work of the Bureau was exceeding its charter limitations.
These will be dis
cussed more at length in the next chapter* The transfer in personnel was effective as of July 30, 1936, approximately three months after the Board ordinance established the Department of Budget and Research.
This period
was consumed in the necessary mechanics of the transfer, and the Bureau Minutes for a period of at least six months after this date show the discussions and correspondence necessary to effect a complete shift— transfer of records, of files, of correspondence, completion of studies started under Bureau, etc*
CHAPTER III THE DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND RESEARCH Legal basis.
The Department of Budget and Research,
second of three links in this development of research in Los Angeles County Government, was officially set up by Ordinance No. 2732 (New Series) adopted April 27, 1936, and effective as of that date.
However, the Department did not actually
start to function until July 29, 1936*
This Ordinance states,
in Section 3, the following to be the duties of the Department and of its Director: (1) To assist the board of Supervisors in preparing the annual budget and, from time to time throughout the fiscal year, make studies and investigations rela tive to future budgets; (2) To make studies and investigations relative to income, revenues, expenditures and other fiscal matters, and to the economical organization and administration or the functions of county government and of those dis^ tricts and other governmental agencies administered by county officers or by said Board of Supervisors in its official or ex-officio capacity; (3) To make studies and investigations relative to compensation of county employees and to the standardiza tion thereof commensurate with the relative duties of the respective positions, and with compensation for similar services in private employment; (4) To assist said board in the preparation of the annual salary ordinance, and of amendments thereto; (5) To make studies and investigations and to report to said board or to any department of said comity rela tive to any matter referred to it and coming within the scope of the duties of said Department of Budget and Research; (6) To participate in studies, investigations and
29 consultations in connection with the standardization of commodities and supplies purchased by said County and by the districts and other government agencies hereinbefore referred to: Provided that nothing herein contained shall be deemed or construed as granting any authority to, or imposing any duty upon said Department of Budget and Research which is granted to, or imposed upon any other officer or department by general law or by the county charter.^ . Reasons for establishment of the department* how did it happen that this department was created?
But first, Many of
the clues to this can be found in the history of the old Bureau of Efficiency itself as related in the foregoing chapter* Specifically, however, quoting from Los Angeles County government: As the County grew in size, problems confronting the Board of Supervisors and various Department Heads became so prolix and complicated that a serious ques tion was raised as to the authority of the Bureau of Efficiency to investigate them all* Clearly, the Bureau had the right to concern itself with matters of efficiency of personnel and its operation, but whether it had any power to deal with budgets, par ticularly Maintenance and Operation, and Capital Outlay Budgets, other kindred matters and general surveys of County departments, was a serious question* In order to widen the scope of research activities, the Board of Supervisors finally created in 1936, the Department of Budget and Research which agency was empowered to make any research investigations which would be of value to either the Board itself or to the department heads*2 **■ Los Angeles County, Ordinance No* 2752 (New Series)* Creation of Department of Budget and Research* Repealed. 2 Los Angeles County Government, 3 volumes (Los Angeles: County Superintendent of Schools, 1940), Part I, p* 9*
30 Another reason for the change has been hinted at sev eral times already in referring to the work of the Committee on Government Simplification.
Just what recommendations did
this committee make along research lines? They suggested that the County Charter should be amended to provide For the establishment of a Bureau of Budget and Research which shall be a direct staff agency of the manager (a proposed County Manage^ in the adminis tration of his duties; for the Bureau to have power to conduct hearings, administer oaths, subpoena witnesses, and examine books and records; for the Bureau to prepare the annual budget and to conduct studies and investigations that will assist in the preparation of the budget; and for the Bureau to perform such other duties as may be assigned by the manager.3 While this recommendation was not carried out in its entirety at the moment, still it was instrumental in getting a separate research department established in the County of Los Angeles, reporting to the Board of Supervisors directly. Subsequent changes in 1938 and 1939 will show how the rest of these suggestions were followed. Another reason for the change is to be found in the burdensome channels of authority which needed to be recognized and followed.
The staff of the Bureau had first to report all
studies to the Bureau of Efficiency for their approval before sending them to the Board. 3
All studies requested to be made
Los Angeles County, Committee on Government Simplifi cation. Report (Los Angeles: Department of Budget and Research. 1935), p. 54.
31 had to come channelized through the members of the Bureau. Since the Board gradually began ordering more and more stud ies, the Staff which did the research work found itself owing two allegiances— one to the Bureau, and another to the Board. This change removed this incongruity and eliminated a prac tically unnecessary level of authority from the picture. Thus for these several reasons, the new Department of Budget and Beseareh was created.
It was new only in a sense
of its title, however, for it assumed only the functions transferred to it from the Bureau— functions which the Bureau of Efficiency had gradually acquired over a period of some twenty odd years, and which were somewhat foreign to the original intention of this agency. Original organization.
For thirteen months after its
inception, or until September, 1937, the Department of Budget and Beseareh consisted of one main unit under the Director with all staff men reporting to him as had been the ease in the Bureau of Efficiency before the change.
In September,
1937, a reorganization of personnel and procedures was made to facilitate handling of the work of the Department. Subsequent three divisional organization.
Three divi
sions were established, each under a Chief of the Division, consisting of:
the Budget Division, the Division of Adminis
trative Beseareh, and the Division of Systems and Procedures.
32 (See Chart 1, page 33, for this organizational picture.) The Budget Division had full charge of all budget work with a personnel of four staff men.
During the so-called
"budget season" the personnel of the other two divisions aided in the budget work, by handling departmental budgets also. The Division of Administrative Beseareh had a personnel of seven staff men.
The work of this division was concerned
with administrative organization and administrative problems, with preparation of the annual salary ordinance, and with general supervision over the Student Investigators, or Student Research Technicians, as they were called after this new organization was effected. The Systems Division had a personnel of seven and in vestigated departmental organizations in order to recommend on economy in methods, practices and procedures. Over all these divisions was the Director, to whom the Division Chiefs were directly responsible.
In addition there
were reporting to him the Central Office, Records and Supplies, Library, and Cartographer. The organization existed in this same general pattern until the department was abolished in 1939, only the numbers of the personnel changing.
Prior to the establishment of this
threefold division, the personnel were classified as various grades of "Efficiency Investigators."
After this change the
classifications became similar grades of "Research Technicians."
33
DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND RESEARCH ORGANIZATION CHART
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34 Increasing responsibilities of department. The depart ment was established, and functioned, primarily as a service agency.
Acting in an advisory capacity, it made recommenda
tions to the Board of Supervisors and to department heads when ever requested to do so on matters of organization, finance, administration, etc.
The request for studies came from three
sources, as under the Bureau of Efficiency— from the Board of Supervisors, from department heads, and from the department itself. While the threefold type of organization existed in the department, it must be remembered that often the work to be done transcended those division lines, as in the case of the budget work, and the entire staff cooperated on the job. Work load statistics receive more attention later, but here it may be noted that in the first year of its operation as a department this group handled 843 reports as compared with 350 in the year just preceding.
In 1937-1938 this number
had increased to 1,180, but the bulk of these— 40 per cent in fact— were due to a new requirement in the Budget Ordinance (No. £779).that requests for budgets adjustments must clear through the department.
An additional £9 per cent were re
quests for increases or changes in personnel.4 The department was given more and more to do by the Board, 4 Los Angeles County, Department of Budget and Research, Annual Report, Fiscal Year Finding June 30, 1938, pp. 8-9.
35 now that this group was available for any research work#
The
budget shows an increase in appropriations from $48,027 in 1936-1937 to $90,640 in 1938-1939; a corresponding increase in personnel also is noted, for in 1936-1937, with students in cluded, the research staff numbered eighteen and in 1938-1939, similarly composed, it numbered twenty-seven.
The sharp rise
in appropriations came in 1937-1938 when salaries were adjusted upward. From its inception in 1936 until late in 1937 the Depart ment of Budget and Beseareh maintained its old quarters with the Civil Service Department.
In 1937, though, the department
moved downstairs to its present location on the ninth floor of the Hall of Records where it maintains a suite of some eighteen or twenty rooms. Abolition of department.
The Department of Budget and
Research, when originally conceived by the Committee on Govern ment Simplification, was Intended to report to a County Manager if one were set up.
This occurred in September, 1938, and by
the spring of 1939 conditions were ripe to incorporate this department into the staff of the newly created Chief Adminis trative Officer.
Therefore, by Ordinance No. 3361 (New Series),
adopted May 23, 1939, the Department of Budget and Research was abolished as of July 1, 1939, having existed slightly less than three years.
CHAPTER IV THE BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH Reasons for establishment of the Bureau,
The Report of
the Committee on Government Simplification contained the follow ing recommendations: The manager must have adequate and intelligent infor mation and advice regarding administrative organization, operation and procedure. Short-time and long-time research on the present and future problems of the County must be performed for him by a trained technical staff of administrative, financial and engineering experts, selected under the merit system. The accumu lated knowledge and experience of such a staff with regard to administrative policies, processes and pro cedures would be invaluable to each succeeding county administration, and would provide some degree of con tinuity in the business policies and operating program of the County*1 As was seen above, part of this recommendation was carried out in 1936 when a separate department for research was created* However, it was not until 1933 and 1939 that the other suggested arrangement could be perfected,
Los Angeles County set up its
Chief Administrative Officer on September 8, 1938,2 and the scene was set for the change which took place eight months later. Created primarily as a research agency, , * • [the Department] was unable to satisfy the need for a single headed administrative authority whose purpose it would be to correlate all the activities of the County govern ment • • • In 1938, with the creation of the Chief ^ Los Angeles County, Committee on Government Simplifi cation, Report (Los Angeles: Department of Budget and Research* 1935), p* 38, 2 Los Angeles County, Ordinance No, 3175 (New Series), adopted August 9, 1938, effective September 8, 1938,
37 Administrative Officer and his staff, this need was satisfied and it became apparent that research activ ities in the County Government should be more closely associated with that office . From the first, the Department of Budget and Beseareh worked through the Chief Administrative Officer.
When the
Assistant Administrative Officers were set up, the assistant in charge of budgets came from the Department of Budget and Research where he had headed the Budget Division.
The three
staff men reporting to him and working on budget adjustments, etc., continued in the Department, and later with the Bureau of Administrative Research, working almost exclusively on budget assignments until December, 1941, when they, too, were trans ferred out of the Bureau and attached to the staff of the Assist ant Administrative Officer in charge of budgets. An Assistant Administrative Officer in charge of per sonnel was also created and this relieved the Department, and later the Bureau, of a large amount of work, for all personnel requests were then channelized through him.
He referred to
the Department only the requests which he felt needed further inve st igat ion. Legal basis.
These arrangements existed with a separate
autonomous Department of Budget and Research still in operation, although for all practical purposes it was reporting not to the 3
Los Angeles County Government. Part I, pp. 9-10.
38 Board but to the Chief Administrative Officer*
Again the
situation developed wherein the Department was owing a "double allegiance."
Therefore, it was logical in May, 1939, that the
Chief Administrative Officer asked the Board to allow a new Bureau of Administrative Research to be set up as part of his staff and responsible directly to him.
This resolution, on
the following page, was adopted on May £2, 1939, and the Ordinance abolishing the old Department was passed the following ^ day.
Both these became effective on July 1, 1939. Organization. The first change to be observed was the
abolition of the three-division setup as existed in the Depart ment, for the Bureau was set up as a single unit again with all authority resting in the Director and all staff men reporting to him.
(See Chart 2, page 40.) Policy regarding acceptance of studies.
The procedure
of having the old Department accept studies both from department heads and from the Board, was clarified by the Board in November 15, 1938, when it adopted a policy that surveys of County Depart ments would be made only at the express order of the Board or of the Chief Administrative Officer.^
This soon became the
established policy with regard to all studies, and now practi cally no studies come directly from the Board, for these are 4
Los Angeles County, Board of Supervisors, "Minutes," Item No. 32, November 15, 1938.
39 May 15, 1939 Honorable Board of Supervisors, County of Los Angeles. Gentlemen:
Subject: Reorganization of Department of Budget and Research - Creation of Bureau of Administrative Research.
Respectively request approval of a plan for the reorganiza tion of the Department of Budget and Research by creating in its place a Bureau of Administrative Research, reporting to the Chief Administrative Officer: Such a plan, as developed for the operation of the Federal Government, would provide an Administrative Research Bureau, as one of the important arms of the Administrative Officer’s opera tions for the Board of Supervisors. The Committee appointed by the President of the United States to recommend a system providing for administrative assistance to the Executive, concluded that the Director of the Budget (sim ilar to the position of Administrative Officer of the County) should "be relieved from the routine duties and thus enabled to devote himself to problems of fiscal policy and planning." Further quoting from this report "The administrative function • . • should be adequately developed to aid the . . . head of the executive establishment." The present Department as such is reduced by approximately 25 per cent in costs, title of the Director changed to "Director, Bureau of Administrative Research," rules ordinance changed to route striotly Budget requests and adjustments to the Chief Ad ministrative Officer, requiring report by the Director to the Chief Administrative Officer, as the agent of the Board, rather than by the direct line of the Bureau to the Board. In effect, such has been the scheme of operation since establishment of the office of Chief Administrative Officer. This change would make regular under rules ordinance the actual practise of the past eight months, clarifying the position of the Department by eliminating it as such and establishing it as a Bureau, and will eliminate certain unnecessary overhead and adjust certain salaries in line with new responsibilities and duties, such adjustments being downward. No increase in salaries is suggested in this reorganization. Request Board to make this change effective with the new Salary Ordinance, and adopt attached changes in the rules ordinance to establish as rules the procedure which has been found satisfac tory during the operation of the Board’s Administrative Agent plan. -----------Ibid.. Vol. 250, p. 355.
Yours very truly, WAYNE ALLEN (signed) Chief Administrative Officer
BUREAU
OF A D M I N I S T R A T I V E R E S E A R C H ORGANIZATION CHART (AFTER
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41 channelized through the Chief Administrative Officer.
Numerous
requests for studies come from his four assistants, but these are all in the name of the Chief Administrative Officer, so this channel of transmission is not short-circuited.
Department
heads desiring a study to be made must transmit this request to the Chief Administrative Officer and he will refer it to the Bureau for action. Comparison with Bureau of Budget and Efficiency. City of Los Angeles.
The Bureau of Budget and Efficiency of the City
of Los Angeles has been established on a different basis but with similar responsibilities.
The City Bureau rests on a sec-
tion of the City Charter of 1925,
which was amended in 1927
to provide for this agency a budget of not less than 1/4# per 0100 assessed valuation.
The Bureau reports both to the Mayor
and to Council directly.
If a certain study is questioned by
members of the Council the staff man who prepared the report is called to defend his report or to give additional data.
In the
County, the Chief Administrative Officer receives all reports and then he presents them to the Board of Supervisors and answers questions on them.
If he needs more data, he will refer
the study back to the staff man who will do what is required and return it to him, not to the Board directly.
The budget
6 Los Angeles City, Charter. Article XXIX. Annotated 1939 Edition. Adopted 1925, amended to 1937 (Los Angeles: Parker and Baird, 1939), 345 pp.
42 procedure as outlined below corresponds closely to that of the City and the function of both research bureaus is similar, except that in one case the Mayor is the Administrative head and in the other it is the Chief Administrative Offieer.
Thus
the main difference appears in the basis for each agency— the County Bureau could be abolished immediately and therefore exists at the pleasure of the Board of Supervisors, while the City Bureau could only be abolished by amendment to the City Charter. Present Bureau personnel— number and qualifications»
The
personnel of the Bureau has been decreasing since its origin, due partially to the transfer of some staff men to the immedi ate staff of the Assistant Administrative Officer in charge of budgets, partially to a curtailment of funds, and partially to the inability of the Bureau at present to fill and maintain its quota of students.
At the present time the staff personnel
working for the Bureau numbers thirteen— the Director, a Chief Research Technician, two Senior Research Technicians, five Research Technicians, three Research Assistants, and one Student Research Technician— besides the stenographic group. In spite of reduced personnel the number of reports made remains quite high and appears to be increasing.
This speaks
well for the work load of the personnel for the past year has seen the greatest drop in personnel, but the number of reports show a decided increase.
The files of the Bureau indicate that
43 224 reports were finished in 1939-1940, and 276 in 1940-1941*? It should be remembered that the removal of the personnel re quests and budget adjustment responsibilities from the Bureau accounted for a decrease of 70 per cent or so in the work load over the peak years of 1936-1930* The present staff of the Bureau of Administrative Research represents quite a change over the original staff of the Bureau of Efficiency which consisted of one.
At present, the following
colleges and universities are represented on the staff of the Bureau:
Stanford, California, Loyola, Duke, Southern California,
Chicago, De Fauw, Northwestern, the University of Oregon, and the University of South Dakota, bringing together highly trained personnel from all parts of the country, each with his own background and experience differing from the other.
Among the
present staff members the following skills may be found:
law,
business administration, accounting, journalism, public admin istration, office machine installation, diplomatic training, and auditing— not only academic training in these fields but practical, operating experience from other agencies as well. All of this makes for a well-rounded bureau since individual opinions and attitudes under the influence of this organization seem to complement one another. 7
Of. infra, p. 72, for a statistical summary of reports made, with a further analysis of the composition of these fig ures and others cited in previous chapters.
CHAPTER V BUDGET RESEARCH Importance of budget research.
The most important func
tion now undertaken each year by the Bureau of Administrative Research is the work connected with preparation of the Annual County Budget.
This responsibility now consumes approximately
four months of the time of the Bureau; all staff men and stu dents give almost full time to this job during the period from February through May#
Some idea of the magnitude of this task
may be gathered from the fact that for the fiscal year of 19411942 the County Budget amounted to slightly over #100,000,000. As will be recalled, the Bureau through its two prede cessors dates back to 1913.
However, the budget function is
of much more recent origin.
A brief history of the development
of this duty will be followed by a complete but short analysis of the preparation of the budget showing especially the role of the Bureau of Administrative Research. History of budget research in the County. Almost from its inception, the Bureau of Efficiency prepared the Salary Ordinances for the County personnel, and this became, therefore, the first step toward the present budget responsibilities of the Bureau of Administrative Research.
Early departmental sur
veys which were made were for the purpose, primarily, of estab lishing proper salaries.
Quite a bit of time the first few
years was consumed in these salary investigations— providing for
44 increased pay, or for equalizing similar positions as regards salary. As noted above, the Bureau of Efficiency received its first Efficiency Investigator in 1914, and this was supplemented by another in 1923, when the Bureau of Efficiency stated* "It is the belief of the members of the Bureau that with an addi tional Efficiency Investigator, money can be saved, efficiency promoted, and, further, . . .
the work of the Budget Committee
£will bej thereby expedited. • . Gradually the Bureau of Efficiency came to occupy a more prominent place in the budget picture and on May 1, 1924, we read, "The Bureau during the remainder of the session considered the recommendations as presented by department heads in connec tion with the salary budget for the year 1924-1925. In 1925, at least four meetings were devoted to budgets for 1925-1926.
The departments presented them and the Bureau
approved, revised or suggested further study.
The records show
that fifty such budgets were passed upon,® but it must be remem bered that these were still only the salary budgets.
All of
this time, however, the Bureau was preparing the annual Salary Ordinance. **■ Los Angeles County Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes," IV, 1204,. May 17, 1923. 2 Ibid.. IV, 1301. 3 Ibia.• IV, 1400, 1401, 1403, 1406, April 9, 16, 23, May 7, 1925.
45 Becords for succeeding years show that a similar procedure was undertaken over about a one-month period in April or May for each fiscal budget.
The work of the Bureau was growing larger
as evidenced by increased personnel, and each year saw more attention and time devoted to study of these salary budgets.
In
1930, seven weeks were devoted to these hearings and discussions were had on some forty-six budgets.4 i* FiPsb complete budget analysis.
The first indication
of a change in the amount of work to be done on the budgets came in January, 1932, when discussions were had concerning the maintenance and operations budgets of various county departments for the coming fiscal year.
About this time, County assessed
valuation dropped considerably, and the Board of Supervisors became concerned over the ability of the County to raise suffi cient funds to meet its obligations and to perform its functions. This necessitated discussions with the Bureau in order to have check-ups made on other phases of the budget than merely sal aries and wages, looking toward economies in government. Five years previously, in 1927, California had adopted a uniform County"Budget Law, prescribing in some detail the content and organization of County budgets and providing deadlines for submitting estimates, getting preliminary approval from the Board, hearings, final approval, etc.5 4 Ibid., VI, 190, 191, 194, 198, 199, 201, 202, April 17, 22, 24, May 1, 5, 8, 13, 1930. 5 Political Code of California. Section 3714.
46 Since this required a more integrated budget system, (al though this state law embodied many of Los Angeles County1s practices) more and more work fell to the Board of Supervisors in checking over the departmental estimates and investigating the reasons for any changes over the previous year’s figures* The Board, therefore, turned to the Bureau of Efficiency, as it saw itself unable to do justice to the budget function* From 1932 on to the present time, the county research bureau (under three different designations) has analyzed depart mental budgets from a standpoint not only of salaries and wages but also maintenance and operations and capital outlay, thus completing its budget study "growth** Appointment of budget expert to staff*
From the time
the Bureau began making more or less complete recommendations to the Board-of Supervisors on departmental budgets, the staff man who handled the particular budget was detailed to present the recommendations to the Board.
This lead, naturally, to a
lack of uniformity ,in manner of presentation and in the amount of material included and the reasons therefor*
All in all the
Board began to recognize that the situation needed clarification — some system needed to be developed for getting these budgets analyzed and presented to the Board in a uniform manner*
In
Mareh of 1936, the Board requested that a budget expert be added to the Bureau staff, this being the first official recognition by the Board of the need for such an individual.
47 3 * Budget Procedures Ordinances. At the same time a Budget Procedure Ordinance was adopted.^
This ordinance pro
vided that salaries and wages estimates were to he furnished by departments on or before March first; the Auditor was to file them with the Board by April first, and the Bureau of Efficiency* s recommendations were due by April thirtieth in order to hold departmental hearings, to be concluded by May fifteenth.
The Bureau was charged also with compiling the
Salary Ordinance to be presented to the Board by May thirtyfirst for adoption then. Maintenance and operations estimates were due April fifteenth, filed with the Board by May fifteenth, studied by the Bureau of Efficiency until May thirty-first.
Hearings
with departments lasted until June fifteenth and the preliminary budget was to be adopted by June thirtieth.
Public hearings
were to be held in August with final adoption scheduled for August twentieth or earlier. The Bureau was also specifically (Rule 19} charged with making studies and investigations throughout the year which would assist in the preparation of the budget.
The Auditor was
also required to submit all changes requested in budget appro priations to the Bureau.
They were to make an investigation
and submit a report to the Board.
These budget adjustments soon
® Eos Angeles County, Ordinance No. 2707 (New Series), March 17, 1936.
48 accounted for quite a number of the Bureau1s investigations, as noted previously# This ordinance had been in operation only a few months when in July, 1936, the Department of Budget and Research was established with practically the same functions formerly car ried on by the Bureau of Efficiency.
The entire staff of the
Bureau, excepting two, was transferred to the new department so the work on budgets as well as on other studies continued uninterrupted by this transition.
A new ordinance, No. 2779
(New Series), was adopted July 28, 1936, transferring to the new Department the budget responsibilities previously assigned to the Bureau of Efficiency by Ordinance No. 2707 (New Series), just outlined above. During the three-year life of the Department of Budget and Research, foundations were laid for a sound budgetary pro gram in order that the independent investigations conducted by staff men could be made with some degree of uniformity, all the men following the same instructions, and preparing reports com parable in appearance and similar in manner of presentation of data. During this period the Senior Budget Investigator had direct charge not only of the Budget Division established in September, 1937, but also during the budget season, he gave orders directly to all staff men on budget matters.
In the
Budget Division alone, and specializing on budget problems
49 throughout the year, were the Chief of the Budget Division (the former position of Senior Budget Investigator), aided by one Senior Research Technician, and two Research Technicians*
This
Chief of the Budget Division represented the Department in the budget hearings before the Board of Supervisors instead of each staff man as formerly, making for greater continuity regarding Board recommendations and suggestions* On January 11, 1938, further revisions were made in the budget rules, with the following deadlines being specified: Budget forms to departments by January 15# Budget estimates from departments by February 15. Budget figures submitted to Board of Supervisors and to Department of Budget and Research by April 15. Budget investigations completed by Department of Budget and Research by April 30, and sent to Board. Departmental hearings before Board completed by May 15. Salary Ordinance prepared by Budget and Research and Auditor and drafted by County Council after May 16 for adoption by Board by May 30. Auditor to prepare preliminary budget to Board for adoption by June 30. Preliminary budget to be printed by August 1. Public hearings on budget to start by August 10 for period not to exceed ten days. Final budget to be adopted by Board on or before August £0. 7 Tax rate to be set by September 1. 7 Los Angeles County, Ordinance No. 3050 (New Series).
50 With the coming of the Chief Administrative Officer in September, 1938, the budget procedure underwent still further revisions.
These were embodied in Ordinance No. 3177 (New
Series) adopted September 14, 1939, and the following changes were made in the previous ordinance: By this ordinance the Chief Administrative Officer and the Department of Budget and Research both received copies of the estimates; the Budget investigations when completed were submitted to the Chief Administrative Officer; department hear-* ings now were to be held before the Chief Administrative Officer; any department heads not satisfied with this hearing could re quest another before the Board after the Chief Administrations Officer had submitted his recommendations.
He must have checked
over and approved the Salary Ordinance before it was submitted to the County Counsel for drafting into legal form and subse quently presented to the Board.
Budget studies throughout the
year were to be made both by the Department of Budget and Research and by the Chief Administrative Officer.
Budget adjustments were
to be handled as before except that the Department*s recommenda tions were to be submitted to the Chief Administrative Officer first instead of going directly to-the Board of Supervisors. Quarterly allotments also had to be cleared through the Chief Administrative Officer.
All deadlines, however, as outlined
above in Ordinance No. 3050, were to be maintained. With the subsequent abolition of the Department of Budget
51 and Research and the setting up its functions into a Bureau responsible directly to the Chief Administrative Officer, a fifth and final Budget Ordinance, No# 3490 (New Series), was adopted November 28, 1939. This provides primarily for the complete elimination of any reference to the function of a County research body as they might affect the budget investigations.
All authority for such
investigations is now vested in the Chief Administrative Officer. He in turn refers it to his budget research division which now is the Bureau of Administrative Research. were also changed.
Several deadlines
The date for completion of departmental
hearings has been moved up two-weeks to May 1; the date for the approval of the preliminary budget has been advanced to May 5; the printing of the preliminary budget must be done by May 31; budget hearings commence June 10 for not over ten days, with the final adoption scheduled for June 30. The Chief Administrative Officer also has been charged with responsibility for compilation of the Salary Ordinance and for consideration of budget adjustments, but these also are referred to the Bureau of Administrative Research for preparation and investigation. These ordinances relieved the Board of a great amount of work it formerly did, but did not cut down on the duties of the Department of Budget and Research and its successor, the Bureau of Administrative Research, for this change meant merely a
52 redirecting of former responsibilities and duties* Organization of bureau for budget work, . A change in organization was effected in the Department with the coming of the Chief Administrative Officer, for the former Chief of the Budget Division was reassigned as an Assistant Administrative Officer in charge of Budgets and no longer was affiliated with the Department staff*
Three staff men who had been working in
the Budget Division remained with the Department, later the Bureau, until December, 1941, although they were doing budget work almost exclusively.
This most recent change took away from
the Bureau practically all the "budget adjustment" assignments which the Ordinances of 1936 and 1938 had required to be handled there.
Now, they are handled by the budget staff attached di
rectly to the office of the Chief Administrative Officer.
In
spite of this change, though, during the budget "season," the entire staff of the Bureau of Administrative Research take orders from the Assistant Administrative Officer in charge of Budgets, on all budget matters.
For that period, the entire
personnel of the Bureau becomes part of the budget staff of the Chief Administrative Officer.
This is but a carry-over of the
procedure when the Chief of the Budget Division in the Department of Budget and Research gave orders to the entire staff on budget problems* Actual budget preparation. Now that the development of
53 the budget work as carried on by the Bureau of Administrative Research has been shown from 1913 to the present, it should prove of value to follow through briefly the activities of a budget "season" paying particular attention to the work to be performed by the staff men of the Bureau.
The dates mentioned
below insofar as they do not correspond with these of Ordinance No* 3490 are to be considered as approximations of those used at present, for this is intended to be a summary of the present procedure* 1* Early steps*
As early as October preceding the new
fiscal year, budget assignments are made by the Assistant Admin istrative Officer giving to each staff man four or five budgets which become his responsibility for the next fiscal year*
This
distribution is made with two ideas in mind— first, to give each man approximately an equal volume of work, and second, to allow-the same budget to be-handled by the same man for three successive years generally.
This latter rule is useful because
it permits the man to gain familiarity with the department whose problems he must study and appreciate, but it does not allow him to become too "department minded" as regards his find ings, for he does not have the same budget long enough* 2.
Working papers provided*
By December 15, the auditor
sends out to each department a Salaries and Wages form for that departments proposed expenditures for the next fiscal year.
54 This form asks for the following information: 1* £. 3. 4* 5.
Ordinance number Class number Title of position Present budget as of July 1 Five Step plan (money needed) Increase Decrease 6* Additions of personnel 7* Flimations of personnel Number and amount 8. Bequest for personnel Number and amount This report is due January 15, at which time Maintenance and Operations and Capital Outlay estimates are asked for on similar forms requesting the following data: 1* Classification of items £* Expenditures a. Actual last completed year b. Actual current year accrued to January 1 c. Total actual and estimate current year ending June 30 3. Appropriations, final for budget year ending June 30 4. Requirements a. Bequest for year ending June 30 b. Increase c* Decrease The auditor supplies the expenditures of the last completed year and current year to January 1, as well as amounts appropriated in current budget not including any supplementary appropriations* This form is due February 15. Along with the Salaries and Wages Budget Form a supple mentary form is required listing the December payroll, and various data relative to the next salary Increase, for departmental per sonnel rates per month at present and during the next fiscal year, and total amounts needed for the next fiscal year.
By February
55 15, also, the estimated departmental revenue exclusive of taxation is due* Along with the"proposed departmental budgets, there is sent a Statement of Justification of whatever length or nature the department may wish, to explain any budgetary changes, es pecially increases over the previous year.
The information in
this statement is supposed to present the departments* reasons for the inclusion of the various budget items.
Some of these
statements are only two or three pages long while others are quite a bit longer. Several supplementary schedules are also submitted: (1) explaining what amount of services other departments will render for this particular department (excluding the Stores and Mechan ical), (2) what amount of services this department expects to render to other departments, (3) requests for motor vehicles, {4} equipment needed, and (5) auto service requirements. The auditor prepares the preliminary estimates on white forms similar to the yellow ones prepared by the departments, and sends the yellow and white copies to the Bureau along with the Statement of Justification and any supplementary schedules. Especially does he include the one on the December salaries, as this gives the only complete detail on salaries, person by person, so the staff man can see what composes the lump figures which appear on the estimate sheets. Staff conferences.
Usually some time before these
estimate sheets are sent to the Bureau, staff conferences have been held at which time special instructions which may he neces sary are given out, matters of policy are decided, and any ques tions in the minds of the staff men are "ironed out" as well as possible.
After these meetings the staff man should be able to
tackle his budgets with an understanding of what is expected of him. These budget sheets arrive in the Bureau about the first of March or a little earlier.
As soon as they arrive, the
staff man is ready to start, although he may have already estab lished contacts with his departments since he has known his assignments since October. 4.
Departmental contacts.
To explain a very difficult
task quite briefly, it is the responsibility of the staff man to take all these forms prepared by the several departments and by the Auditor and to familiarize himself with them.
Then he
goes to the department and must become as thoroughly familiar with all of its operations as he can in a short period of time. This may mean spending quite a few hours or days inspecting all phases of the departments activities, for it is the duty of the staff man to recommend for or against the requests of the department--he must prepare his own "statement of justification. He must decide whether or not he feels some undertaking of a department, like repairing or painting one of their office build ings, seems wise and he must give his reasons.
He must also
submit his estimates on the possible departmental revenues, exclusive of taxation. Whenever this analysis and study of a department is fin ished, a report on the Bureau*s findings is sent to the Assistant Administrative Officer.
If he feels more information is neces
sary, or something should have been expressed differently, he returns it for revision by the staff man who wrote it* 5* Departmental budget hearings*
Deadlines are set on
each of these Bureau reports in order that the Chief Administra tive Officer may schedule the departmental budget hearings. 1941, these hearings were held from April 2 to April 30.
In
At
these hearings the staff man whose budget is being considered is present, as well as the Chief Administrative Officer, his Budget Assistant, his Personnel Assistant, and the department head concerned.
They go over the different recommendations and
may arrive at conclusions entirely different from either the department or the Bureau findings. 6.
Preliminary budget adopted.
If an agreement is reach
the Chief Administrative Officer will recommend the adoption by the Board of the budget as approved in this hearing.
If not,
the department head has the right to a hearing before the Board. In 1941 only two such hearings were requested. After all the departmental budgets have had a hearing before the Chief Administrative Officer, he shortly after May 1
58 submits his budget message to the Board of Supervisors explain ing what changes are recommended and why.
The preliminary
budget is then adopted on or before May 5. By May 15, all changes and corrections in the Salary Ordinance are to be made by the Bureau, and it is approved by the Board. 7. Quarterly allotments.
The next deadline which appears
in the budget cycle is the request that departments make quar terly allotments of their proposed appropriations for the next year for Salaries and Wages and Maintenance and Operations. Generally this means a division of anticipated appropriations into four equal quantities, except where certain expenses are planned to fall heavily in one or more quarters.
In these cases,
proper provisions are to be made in the allotments.
The purpose
of these allotments is to prevent the departments from spending all or a great portion of their appropriation in the early quarters and then have little or nothing left on which to finish out the year, thus requiring supplementary appropriations.
This
deadline is approximately June BO. 8. Final approval. After the preliminary adoption of the budget it is then printed and available for distribution.
Public
hearings, which are required by law, are held starting approxi mately June 10 and lasting not over ten days.
Before the first
of July (the new fiscal year) the new budget has been adopted
59 with all revisions and corrections and the "budget season" is over for another year. County Budget Law. Note:
The County Budget Law, No. 3714
of the
California
Political Code, lists the following deadlines, but states they are "on or before . . .
at a time the Board of Supervisors shall
direct," so Los Angeles County using the dates referred to above, still is following the state law: Departments to submit estimates
July 10
Tabulation of estimates by auditor sent to Board of Supervisors
July 30
Board Revisions (none without departmental hearings first)
August 10
Preliminary Budget ready
August 10
Public hearings to start
August 20
Budget must be adopted
August 30
CHAPTER VI GENERAL RESEARCH While the budget work, just discussed, is the largest single study of any year in the Bureau, it is by no means all that the Bureau does— studies continually reach the Bureau, even during the so-called "budget season*"
A short discussion
of this side of the activities of both the Department of Budget and Research and the Bureau of Administrative Research has been reserved for this point instead of receiving any attention under the respective histories, since during the period from July, 1936, to the present these agencies have been established as definite "research bodies*" Numbering of studies*
The original studies of the old
Bureau of Efficiency received no identifying number but were filed according to the department affected.
One of the other
accomplishments of 1932 was the introduction in August of the numbering and titling of these reports.
The first number was
101,^ and the numbers were used consecutively until the break in 1936 which resulted in the establishment of the Department. At this time the total had reached approximately 1,277.
With
the beginning of the new Department of Budget and Research, the numbering started with 2,00G2 and has run consecutively ever ^ Recommendation that County employees be permitted to retain compensation from other governmental agencies while at military training camps. 2 A study entitled "Elevator Service, Hall of Justice."
ax since, there being no break in numbers between the Department and its successor, the Bureau of Administrative Research.
The
last study assigned the Department was No. 3422 on June 27, 1939, while as of March 1, 1942, the last assigned study number in the Bureau was No. 3902.3 Scope of studies.
Studies have been completed for every
department in the County and for the Sanitation Districts, Fire Protection Districts, Flood Control Districts.
In at least
one instance the study resulted in the abolition of a County department.^
Numerous divisions or special units have had work
done for them, as the Psychopathic Court Wards, the newly created County Defense Council, and the Grand Jury.
In addition,
also, there are many miscellaneous studies that affect all departments. 1.
Departmental studies.
Several departmental consolida
tions have been considered by the Bureau— Coroner and Public Administrator,® Road Department and Sheriff’s Sub-Station,® 3 This would indicate for the last four years of the Bureau of Efficiency there were 1,177 studies assigned; during the three years of the Department of Budget and Research there were 1,422, while during two and two-thirds years of the Bureau of Administrative Research there have been 490. 4 study No. 3300, "Survey on Functions of the Department. IjLabor Coordinating Bureau] and its Possible Abolishment ® Study No. 3322, "Feasibility of Consolidating Coroner and Public Defender." ® Study No. 3445, "Proposed Merger of Road Department and Sheriff’s Castaic Sub-Station."
68 City and County Health Departments,7 and Farm Advisor and S Agricultural Department* The functions of various departments have heen shifted about as in the centralization of the carto9 graphic.service in the Surveyors Department, in the reorgan ization of the County Museum, Department of History, Science and A r t , a n d in the abolition of the Departments of Becreation Camps and Playgrounds and the creation of a new Department of Parks and Becreation with a shuffling of activities between it and the Forester and Fire Warden*^ Studies by outside experts*
During the existence of
the Department of Budget and Besearch, a number of studies were conducted by outside experts, being a continuation of an activity started early in the history of the Bureau of Efficiency*
In
practically all cases, the Department provided a eentral operat ing location, stenographic assistance, and research assistance, 7
Study No. 3255, "Proposed Consolidation of Los Angeles City and County Health Departments." Study No* 3406, "Merger of Los Angeles City and County Health Departments." 8 Study No. 1940, "Consolidation of Farm Advisor and Agricultural Department." 9 Study No. 3313, "Centralized Cartographic Service Becommended." Study No. 3690, "Beorganization of Los Angeles County Museum Department of History, Science and Art." Study No. 2450, "Proposal for Clarification of Authority between Department of Becreation Camps and Playgrounds and the Parks Division of the Forestry Department."
63 especially in the form of the students working in the office* The reports were written by the outside experts but they often took suggestions from the Department to the content of the reports*
In some cases the County provided for the hiring of
the experts, but in most cases they were financed by outside agencies* Two examples of these studies by outsiders, completed in 1937, were the Survey of Los Angeles County Health Department. 1937, by Dr. Carl E. Buck, Field Director of the American Public Health Association,-1*2 and the Survey of Tuberculosis Control Program in Los Angeles County, State of California, 1 9 3 7 by Dr. Robert E. Plunkett, General Superintendent of Tuberculosis Hospitals, State Department of Health, Albany, New York.^*®
Both
studies were conducted under the auspices of the United States Public Health Service and the Department of Public Health, State of California.
Since the establishment of the Bureau of Admin
istrative Research ho such studies have been made by outsiders for the Bureau as was done formerly* 3.
Problems of mileage and County cars*
The one problem
which seems to come up for attention more often than any other, ip
Dr* Carl E. Buck, Survey of Los Angeles County Health Department. 1937 (prepared in collaBoration with Los Angeles County Department of Budget and Research, 80 pp.), Department Study No. 2323*
^ Dr. Robert E. Plunkett, Survey of Tuberculosis Control Program in Los Angeles County, State of California, 1937 (Los Angeles: Department of Budget and Research, 24 pp.), Department Study No. 2325.
64 outside of salary and budget work, is that of the use of County automotive equipment and the problem of mileage rate for private cars.
It will be recalled that this problem was studied very
early in the history of the Bureau of Efficiency and it continues to recur at intervals of several years.
To mention only a few
of these many studies, note these more recent ones: "Cost of Automotive Service"
No. 3272
"Mileage Hate Paid Employees"
No* 2432
"Reimbursement of Parking Expense"
No. 3211
"Special Use of County Owned Equipment"
No. 3752
"County Automotive Equipment Replacement"
No. 3798
4*
The usual pro
Studies which used several staff men.
cedure in the office is to assign a study to but one staff man. Certain lengthy ones are conducted by two men— this is often true in the case of a departmental survey, as the current ones on Probation and the Sheriff. recently this was not followed.
However, in at least two cases In a survey on County Automotive
equipment, four staff men and one student gave it their attention in order to complete the lengthy report as soon as possible.14 The most unusual case occurred in July, 1941, when a study of great length and detail was completed in a single day with the cooperation of the entire staff, including the stenographic force and all the students, who made this the first and only order of Study No.* 3752, "Special Use of County-Owned Equipment."
65 business of that day*
The study was supervised by one staff
man but all of the others assisted*
Every man but one was in
the field collecting data while the one man in the office com pleted the data and saw that it was properly prepared.15 5. Investigation of sales proposals*
Another service
rendered by the Bureau consists of investigation and report on various sales ideas and "crackpot” ideas presented to the Board of Supervisors*
Lacking the time to investigate the worthiness
or value of the many schemes they are asked to adopt or endorse, they refer the matter to the Chief Administrative Officer for report, and he turns it over to the Bureau*
Such a recent in
vestigation was the new method of precincting which it was sug gested the County should purchase and install*1®
All sorts of
individuals try to get the attention of the members of the Board of Supervisors or the Chief Administrative Officer and his staff and thus the Bureau renders a real service in prevent ing snap judgments on the part of these men* 5*
accumulation*
Often the members of the Board or
the Chief Administrative Officer are in need of some data to clarify some issue, and here again the Bureau is useful*
Such a
15 Study No* 3625 (Report 3), "Charges to &lood Control Employees for Houses Furnished by the County*"
^ Study No. 3705, "New Method of Preoincting for Regis trar of Voters*"
case was the one when total costs of the State Relief Administra17 tion to July 1, 1941, was requested and obtained. Another request illustrates one type of report prepared,by the Bureau— that of the obtaining and analysing of data comparing some County function with a similar one elsewhere as to functions, cost, etc.— entitled "Comparison of Election Costs— San Francisco and Los Angeles Counties"^-8 or similarly, "Bata Relative to Various Types of Property Owned by Indigents"*^ which was a study at tempting to compare Los Angeles County with all the counties in the State in this one respeet. 7♦ digests of departmental reports.
Still a further type
of study undertaken by the Bureau is that of the preparation of digests of various departmental annual reports.
Each department
is required to submit to the Board of Supervisors an annual report of its operations for the past fiscal year.
A one-page
summary of pertinent data must be prepared for the use of the Supervisors and the Chief Administrative Offieer.
This has from
time to time been assigned to the research agency, but in 1941 about twenty-nine separate departmental reports were so analyzed
17 Study No. 3726, "Total Costs of S. R. A. to July 1, 1941* " Study No. 2155, "Comparison of Election Costs— San Francisco and Los Angeles Counties." IQ Study No. 3734, "Bata Relative to Various Types of Property Owned by Indigents."
67 and summaries prepared,
20
Digests of legislative bills,
The function of "digest
ing" suggests a similar duty which the Bureau is rendering. From the early days of the Bureau of Efficiency, reports have been made on the contents of certain state legislative bills. This work has increased year by year, especially since the County has had a Legislative Counsel at Sacramento during the legislative season.
In 1941 copies of all matter introduced
Into the Legislature were sent to the Bureau for analysis.
Of
these proposals, 561 were found to
be ofinterest
to the County,
so between February 3 and March 6,
these 561 digestswere pre
pared and submitted in five groups to the County1s Legislative Counsel.2^
Each digest consisted of a brief description of the
changes or the provisions of the bill, its effect on Los Angeles County, and the findings, if any. This same analyzing function is called upon at times to report upon bills pending before the National Congress when it is thought Los Angeles County would be affected by their passage. surveys.
A unique type of research involves the
cooperation of local outside agencies in a joint study.
This was
noted earlier when city and county cooperated on salary surveys. Study No. 3757, "Digests of Various Annual Reports." 21 Study No. 3630, "1941 Legislation— Analysis of Bills Introduced."
Perhaps the best illustration of this technique is the Co operative Salary Survey prepared in April, 1941, through the joint efforts of the Los Angeles City Bureau of Budget and Efficiency, the City Board of Education and the Los Angeles . County Bureau of Administrative Research.22
Data were
gathered on salaries from about three hundred and fifty dif ferent organizations in order to arrive more equitably at prevailing rates of pay for this area.
A recent order by the
Board of Supervisors states that in the future only such data may be used as is provided by firms and organizations whose names may be made public.
Since it was by promising anonymity
to these firms that so many of them readily made the figures available for the studies in the past, it is to be assumed that no future studies can approach in scope this one of 1941. In fact, the 1942 survey just completed contains data from only about fifty firms, seeming to bear out this contention. These data are not forthcoming from firms who fear it might be used against them by someone who has no right to the in formation. 10. Humorous studies. Not all of the studies of the Department or the Bureau are of the "heavy,” "intense” nature. 22
Los Angeles County, Bureau of Administrative Research (and Los Angeles City Bureau of Budget and Efficiency and Los Angeles City Board of Education), Cooperative Salary Survey (Los Angeles: Los Angeles City, 1941), Bureau Study No. 3643.
69 At certain times it seems that the requests for studies have a "relaxing” influence.
Take two studies, for example.
While
they are connected indirectly with county government, a cursory glance would seem to show that they had little if anything to do with the day-to-day operations of county gov ernment.
These are Study No. 3596, "Characteristics and
Habits of Sharks in California Waters," and No. 2089, "Creat ing a Legion of Honor for Distinguished Service and Starting a-Daily Deed Movement in the Schools."
These are not mentioned
to belittle either the Bureau and Department which worked on them nor the motive behind the requests, but they do illus trate the unusual nature of some studies requested. Work load statistics and reasons for lack of validity. The presentation of statistical data on the studies prepared by the Bureau of Efficiency, the Department of Budget and Research, and the Bureau of Administrative Research is singu larly unfortunate and entirely unsatisfactory. place, the data are nowhere complete.
In the first
Some figures have been
cited earlier in the history of those groups, and these, along with whatever other data could be obtained are listed below. In the second place, the figures mean very little as they stand.
This is due to several reasons.
First of all,
the figures are not comparable since they are all composed differently.
Take for example the great increase in reports
70 made during the term of the Department of Budget and Be search. This was principally because the Department had been given the job of analyzing each budget adjustment and each personnel request, six hundred and ninty-seven of the 1937-38 figure being so constituted.
With the abolition of the Department
and the establishment of the Chief Administrative Officer, with assistants in charge of budgets and personnel, these two functions were removed from the new Bureau except in cases where the assistants desired a more thorough investigation into a particular request. A second reason lies in the fact that no established practice determines whether related subjects will be carried under one number orunder many different ones. ample the matter of
Take for ex
appeals to the Prevailing Wage Committee.
In 1941, these appeals were lumped under one, or at most six numbers, while in 1942, approximately the same number of appeals was handled by assigning to about eighty different numbers.
These were subsequently cut down to about sixty-five.
Thus looking at the number of studies assigned gives no clue to the numbers of different reports included under it or to the numbers of reports made.
Probably the most extreme example
of this is in a study on "Licenses and Fees" in which one hundred and thirty-three different reports were made between August 1, 1939, and December 22, 1941.23
This
23 Study No. 3218, "Licenses and Fees."
study is still
71 CHART 3 WORK LOAD STATISTICS, 1926-1942 BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY, DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND RESEARCH, BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH
Bureau of Efficiency
Number of Reports Made
1926-27 ................ ..............
50*
1927-28 ........ ............ 1932-33 .................... 1933-34 . . . . . . .
.
........
1934-35 ...................... 1935-36 ...................... Department of Budget and Research 1936-37 ...................... 1937-38 ............
........
1938-39 ...................... Bureau of Administrative Research 1939-40 ...................... 1940-41 ............ ..
. . . . 276**
1941-42 . . .......... ..
. . . . 301***
* Last seven months of 1926-27 fiscal year. ** See Chart 4 for analysis of this figure. *** As of March 1, 1942. Source: Los Angeles County, Annual Reports, Bureau of Efficiency and Department of Budget and feesearch;Office files of Bureau of Administrative Research.
CHART 4 ANALYSIS OF REPORTS MADE, 1940-41, BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH
Months (19401941)
Studies Received 1940-1941 Com On Com pleted pleted hand Total 1940-41 1941-42 3-1-42 Received
Disposition of Work in 1940-1941 Supple Total Prog ress Final Closing Final mental Reports Reports Memos Reports and Closing
Total Reports Made
July
18
1
-
19
2
17
-
17
2
21
August
10
2
-
12
9
6
21
27
4
40
7
1
-
8
6
9
1
10
m
16
October
10
2
-
12
4
10
-
10
-
14
November
16
3
-
19
9
9
8
17
-
26
December
11
3
-
14
7
12
3
15
2
24
January
18
1
3
21
10
24
-
24
tat
34
February
12
4
2
17
12
12
2
14
-
26
March
10
4
1
16
10
17
1
18
2
30
April
2
3
-
5
10
1
-
1
-
11
May
3
2
-
6
13
5
-
5
-
18
June
2
4
1
7
7
7
-
7
2
16
119
30
7
156
99
129
165
12
276
September
Totals •
.
36
Studies completed in 1940-1941, but ordered in prior years: * 1937 2 1938 11 Source: Office Records, Bureau of Adminis1939 15 trative Research. 1940 (to July) 18 Total 46
73
considered "open” and no doubt additional reports will be forthcoming in the future. Still a third reason to explain the lack of meaning in these figures is in the nature of what has gone into a report— in time and effort.
At this point a distinction must
be made between "study"and "report."
A "study" is the request
for an investigation of some sort and it is given a number, which carries through on it until completed and is then used for filing and for reference.
Gn this study there may be one
or more "reports"— the possible types are:
(1) a progress
report*being any report made prior to closing the study; (2) a final report being a report which provides some or possibly all the information and concludes the study; (3) a closing memo. which merely states that such and such a numbered study is now closed, used (a) when nothing was done on the study, {b } when the request for it was cancelled, or (c) when a study was left open after one or more progress reports had been made and it develops that no more research work need be done on the study; and (4) a supplementary report» made to a study after it has been officially closed.
How the statistical
data or chart are composed practically entirely of the sum total of reports made during fiscal years.
Reference to the
definitions above show the varying importance of these reports and the time which would be necessary, say, to prepare six "closing memos" as against six final reports.
Inspection of
74 Chart 4 above, will show the distribution of these various kinds of "reports" for the 1940-41 total figure as shown on Chart 3.
This gives a clue to the difficulty of analyzing
and comparing yearly data*
The number of studies received
and assigned in any one year bears no relationship to the total reports made during that year, for as seen on Chart 4, some studies carry over two, three, or four years before being finally closed; others may be completed the same day they are assigned. For these reasons, therefore, it seems invalid to draw much in the nature of specific conclusions from such work load data as are available.
In general one would be safe in
assuming that the Bureau is doing more work per year now (after correcting earlier figures for services no longer rendered by the office), especially in view of decreased office personnel.24
24 The budgets for the respective years indicate the numbered positions which were available and the assumption is that they were practically always filled, except for the "student" item of recent years. The total positions per fiscal year, from the first year the Bureau of Efficiency was set up separately in the budget are: 1933-34 (Bureau of Efficiency) 1934-35 " " " 1935-36 " " " 1936-37 (Dept, of Budget -and Research) 1937-38 " " " " " 1938-39 " " " " " 1939-40 (Bureau of Administrative Research) 1940-41 " " " " 1941-42 " " " " * Actually averaged ** Actually averaged
12 13 14
IB 28 27 23 25* 22** 20 15
CHAPTER VII PRESENT BUREAU PROCEDURE In order to gain a clear picture of the present office procedure of the Bureau of Administrative Research, let us follow a study through the various stages from its receipt until its conclusion* Preliminary steps for a study— assignment*
Prior to
the coming of the Chief Administrative Officer, it will he recalled that studies originated with the Board of Supervisors$ the various department heads, the Department of Bureau and Research, and even from private citizens*
This divided author
ity for commencing studies led to difficulties, as might he expected under conditions of management when orders come from several tthosses.w
In order to clarify this situation and to
make the procedure more consistent with the plan of the County Manager as set up in August, 1938, as noted ahove, the Board of Supervisors in November, 1938, adopted a motion providing that in the future all studies would clear through the Chief Administrative Officer*
As a result of this move, the Board,
as in the past, requests many studies hut these requests now come from the Chief Administrative Officer or his immediate staff of assistants* The request for a study is made in letter form which goes to the Director of the Bureau.
He in turn decides whether
76 a study will be made,.what the title of the study will be (a brief title is developed to give a clue to the content of the report for filing and for record purposes), and to whom the study is to be given.
The staff men either come to the
Bureau with specialized training or develop certain special ties after working with the Bureau.
An attempt is therefore
made to distribute the studies in line with these specialties, such as now exist in the fields of salary surveys, charities, work flow studies, machine installations, etc. The next step through which the study passes is the registration, where the Bureau number is added to the report. The study is listed by name and number and to whom assigned in an Assignment Register maintained in the office.
At the
same time a work-folder is prepared for the study, bearing name and number of the study, and an Assignment Card (Plate 1) is prepared, indicating title of study, number, from whom received, to whom assigned, and dates received, and assigned* This card remains in an "active file" as long as the study remains open. years.
This period may be for a day or so up to several
When the study is completed, the completion date is
filled in and a brief summary of the report is typed on the card.
The work-file folder stays with the study until it is
completed, in order to keep all the data for the study in one place. An Annual Staff Record Card (see Plate 2) is kept for
Form 160 500 12-3U
Assign. Number
-r----------------Date received by Dept. Date assigned by Director Date report sent to Chief Administrative Officer
Departments involved:
Brief Statement re report:
: --- a—
Origin To Nature of Report
78
P f | d O S 'e S 5 |
i t±
Cl 0 QC 0 DUl 3
a CL
*C
BUREAU
F ilM A t-
Si
c ^ ® s iN < i|
ADMINISTRATIVE
RESEARCH
jSJ
ti
§
a
}J IU
< ° £ a
CAft[)
t
Ul _J
•STAFF
RECORD
f
~ul 5 F* X ? *
.... *:__ ____ ____ ___ _______
'
f
________ - '^-V
SUBJECT:—
-
D a te
— — I..................................... ..........—v..----- ------ -— - — r- ............. —
PLATE 3 INTRADEPARTMENTAL MEMO
will receive a yellow half-sheet similar in size and contain ing duplicate information to that on the Assignment Card.
This,
then is filed, in order to show a completion of that portion of the study, while the original Assignment Card is still con sidered "active,*1 until the study is officially closed.
Certain
studies are kept open since it seems that more time need be given the study— if subsequent study shows this is not true, the study is ended by the "closing memo" addressed to the Director stating why the study should be closed.
This memo is
usually prepared by the man handling the original report or reports.
If the study is not closed merely by a closing memo,
there will be a closing report which winds up the particular investigation.
This information is also noted on the assignment
cards before the card is filed.
If a further report is found
necessary after the closing of a particular study, the "supple mentary report" is prepared and a slip is prepared for it, ex actly like that for the "Progress report," noting the fact that this particular report is "supplementary” and this, too, is filed with other completed assignment and progress report cards for a fiscal year.
Active study cards remain in visible index
folders while completed study cards are filed in a suitable box. Report to the Director. When a report is prepared in such a manner as to be satisfactory to the staff man, it is pre sented in draft form to the Director for comment and criticism. The draft contains not only a complete account of the study with
conclusions and various appendices in support of the conclusions, but also a summary section in the form of a letter which gives very briefly (usually in a page or so) all the pertinent con clusions and the chief reasons for these conclusions leaving the bulk of the information for the body of the report.. While, in the past, staff conferences were held regularly to hear and dis cuss the reports of the various staff men, the present practice calls for a presentation of the study to the Director alone. If the Director approves the rough draft, the final report is ordered prepared; if he disagrees on findings or conclusions, the staff man with his data before him will be called upon to answer, if he can, any questions raised by the Director. must be prepared to defend his study if need be.
He
The study may
need to be revised, in which ease it goes back to the staff man for the necessary revisions after which it goes through sub stantially the same procedure for approval. Approval by Director.
When approved the study is written
up in final form and the letter of transmittal on Bureau sta tionery (see Plate 4), which contains the brief statement of conclusions and reasons therefor, is signed by the Bureau Director.
By this act, he assumes full responsibility for all
studies set out by the Bureau.
Hence, he must exercise great
care in order that the studies do not "backfire."
However, such
backfiring is not unknown or peculiar to this work and the Bureau undoubtedly has had its share.
This signature is important as
BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH COUNTY OF LOS ANGELES 900 HALL OF RECORDS
PLATE 4 BUREAU STATIONERY
89 the Director signs for work of his staff— he must assume all responsibility for the inaccuracies in computations and conclu sions prepared by the staff men who have no responsibility after preparing the final draft of the report.
Formerly, the
Director and the author of the report both signed it, but this is not true today. Completion of office routine— indexing and filing.
After
preparation of the final draft, a "face sheet" (see Plate 5), is filled out containing title, number, date, summary of report by the staff man— purely for identification purposes.
In addi
tion the staff man indicates on this "face sheet" the various departments concerned with the study, for an index is kept by departments showing date, name, number, and author, of all studies relating to each department.
One study may directly
affect five or six departments, it may affect the whole County, when it is listed under "All Departments" or it may not be easily classified, so it is listed under "Miscellaneous."
These
index file cards have no special mimeographed form so no sample is included.
Every County department is represented, in addi
tion to a large "Miscellaneous" section and a smaller "All Departments" one. After preparation as indicated above is completed, this face sheet is fastened to the file copy of the report and the finished report is checked off against the Progress Card and index cards, then placed in a new file folder.
If the supporting
90
COUPLETION AEifORANDUA
Date _ ____ ____
B.'A. R.No. _
Title
Report No.
Report Prepvtred b y _____ _ iThis section to be filled in by Staf f ^ M e n b e r ) NATURE OF R E PORT:
DEPARTMENTS INVOLVED:
Cl o s in £• liemo Pr o ar ess ___ ___ Final _ __________
____
Suppl em e.ntal _________ Recoi:;;end.atory
In f o .Pin'p..tive _
___
_
Brief Summary of Report
REPOHT Delivered to Date POSTED: Progress Card
;
Assignment :Card
Staff Record Card
"TAttacb to File Form b.A.R.
3
"FACE-SHEET"
Dept, Index
File (Order) Received
91 data are not very bulky, they accompany the file copies of the report in the file folder.
If the quantity is such that it
would clutter up the report file, then the supporting data are filed under a corresponding number in another filing case especially designated for such material* Since the index cards are kept in a visible file binder, a person wishing to look up either a particular study or all studies for one department can easily locate that department’s card*
The studies are entered according to fiscal year periods,
these records dating from the beginning of the Department of Budget and Research in July, 1936.
After the study has been
located by title under the department concerned, the number of the study gives also the location of that report in the Gentral files as the reports are filed numerically according to the Bureau report numbers* Transmittal.
This, then, represents the steps through
which a study goes when presented to the Bureau*
In conclusion
there remains merely the transmittal of the completed report to the Chief Administrative Officer or to one of his assistants for such disposition as he may see fit.
CHAPTER VIII OTHER BUREAU ACTIVITIES We come now to a short analysis of activities of the Bureau of Administrative Research in addition to those already discussed*
Without doubt, the most important job of the
Bureau outside of its research work is the conducting of its student internship program*
This program has already been
referred to, and the students have been mentioned several times above• Student internship program.
This program originated in
1933 when the Staff Director of the Bureau of Efficiency, hav ing had discussions with various college students desirous of getting into the public service but who lacked the experience which was generally required, conceived the idea of an intern ship program.
The students were to come to work in the Bureau
much the same as a medical student interns in a hospital— it was to be considered as a training period and the pay was to be correspondingly low*
The plan met with the approval of the
Civil Service Commission and the Board of Supervisors and in 1933 the first class of four students was appointed, the first one on September, 1933, at a salary of $50 per month*
This
salary was subsequently increased to $65 per month in 1940, at which figure it now stands. The original plan called for one student from each of the
93 four universities in California which gave intensive training in public administration— University of California, University of California at Los Angeles, University of Southern California and Stanford University.
Later these restrictions were removed
and students have come from Pomona, Redlands, Occidental, Loyola and other schools of the State. The first year proved so successful that the future of the plan was assured.
In 1936, after its third year with
classes of only four students each, the number was raised to eight; this was subsequently reduced to six students per class, being the present figure which the Bureau is desirous of ob taining.
However, due to possibilities of employment in other
jurisdictions or elsewhere in County service the total class of six or eight rarely stays the entire year.
Leaving before
the close of the program is discouraged by the Bureau inasmuch as the plan as conceived contemplates a one-year training program and the benefits to be obtained from such a program are achieved only in ratio to the time spent on this assignment. Due to conditions beyond the control of the Bureau— namely, the war and the consequent economic upheaval which has resulted, providing a large number of employment possibilities at salaries considerably higher than that paid to an "intern”— recent years have.seen fewer and fewer students willing to make the financial sacrifice to avail themselves of the oppor tunity to undertake this program.
If they do, the usual
94 procedure has been to leave in a short while* most
Consequently
of the informationregarding what is done in this year’s
program must he written
in the past tense, hut this does not
at all-mean that the program is on the decline.
At the moment
it is in a slump, hut upon completion of the war and the post war adjustments, the program should see a new era, for the philosophy hack of it is sound, and even today the personnel are willing to he the "teachers” if only the "pupils” will respond. The training program consists of four parts or activi ties:'** a ) Supervised work assignments with men.
the various staff
Approximately twomonths were set as the maximum on any
one project, with the usual time much less.
This was to allow
the student to work with as many different staff men as possible during his year.
In this way he becomes familiar with their
different approaches to studies and with the techniques used /
in developing the necessary data. ^ ) Hesearch papers were required. the student how to write reports properly.
This was to teach About six to eight
hours per week was supposed to he spent on this phase of the program.
Not only did the students get practice in gathering
data and preparing the report hut also the Bureau often
■** Taken from Study No. 3436, "Intern Training Program for 1939-40 and Prior Years.”
95 benefited from the material developed. °) ments.
trips were taken, to the various County depart
Especially were the more distant units visited, as
Olive View, Rancho Los Amigos, and the Hospital, in order that a rounded picture of County operations might be had, be cause the closer departments were contacted in regular studies. This phase was questioned because it was not certain that the short visit each student got at any one place gave him a clear picture of what is going on there.
^
Conferences and instructional program. At these meet
ings the student-prepared research papers were presented, crit icized, and revised.
General discussions was had among the
students .themselves on their work and problems which were con fronting them.
Some conferences were lead by the staff man
who acted as supervisor for these students, and others were lead by outsiders who presented lectures to the students, as for example, several lectures were usually given on the problems of budget preparation. The prospective student is required to qualify in an examination based on his training and on the recommendations of his college instructor, plus an oral interview.
Then he is
selected by the Bureau from an eligible list, following regular Civil Service procedures.
The appointment is for a maximum of
twelve months at the $65 level.
An additional six-month ap
pointment at $75 per month may be made at the close of the
96 regular yearfs time at the discretion of the Bureau.
While
the Bureau makes no promises of further employment either with the Bureau staff or elsewhere, it does all in its power to place its trainees.
However, in the past, the students
have found little or no difficulty in getting placed in responsible positions.
The Director of the Bureau of Admin
istrative Research, as proof of this, claims fifty-five trainees to date with fifty-four of them successfully placed and doing a good job. The student intern is in an enviable position, if he wishes to familiarize himself with the County government in particular or with just a public jurisdiction in general.
He
works for a Bureau which, because of its very nature, has an over-all point of view— its men are never confined to one department but work in, and become acquainted with, all depart ments sooner or later. The mutual benefits of such a program as this are all summarized in the Annual Report of the Bureau of Efficiency for the Fiscal Year 1932-53, as follows: • . . first, it enables the Bureau to secure the services of men who have received special educational training for the Bureau*s work upon an economical basis; second, it enables the students themselves to secure a preliminary training and a practical appreciation of the actual work ings of government at the beginning of their professional careers; third, it brings to the Bureau the latest thoughts and viewpoints in government as developed at these institutions; and last, it establishes a close relationship between the work of the Bureau and the institutions which are teaching government to the
97 general public.2 Prevailing Wages-Salary Ordinance. Another service of the Bureau, which is rendered along with the budget is the work on prevailing wages and the preparation of the Salary Ordinance.
This has been mentioned above and will receive
only a short treatment here. The Bureau, generally in January or February, is con cerned with a study on the prevailing wages paid in this vicinity in private employment.
At the same time this work
is going forward, appeals are sent in by County employees to the Prevailing Wage Committee which sits about this time to hear these appeals.
The main purpose of this Committee is to
recommend to the Board of Supervisors any changes which should be made in the rate of pay currently in effect in the County. These appeals go to the Bureau for analysis and report, and the data gathered by the Bureau become at the Prevailing Wage Committee hearings, the basis upon which the Committee hears the appeal, taking this information into consideration in their decision. After these appeals are heard, the rates of pay for those classes of positions (no appeal applies to only one position but to a whole "class” of positions, unless there were only one
Los Angeles County, Bureau of Efficiency, Annual Report, Fiscal Year Ending 1932-33, pp. 4-5.
98 position in that "class") are recommended to the Board.
Addi
tional hearings may be had here and the Bureau must again present its data to substantiate the findings of the prevailing Wage Committee.
Then knowing the changed rates of pay and
those unchanged, the preliminary budget figures are gone over, in the Salaries and Wages section, in order to prepare the new Salary Ordinance. The preparation of the body of the Salary Ordinance is done by the Bureau, as it has all necessary data, and the County Counsel drafts the ordinance in proper legal form in time for its adoption by July 1, as explained in the chapter on Budget Research. Mileage permits.
Another Bureau service, purely a
clerical one, is that of approving mileage permits for County employees authorized to drive personal cars on County mileage. This function is mis-named, as the word "approve" is very misleading.
The Bureau does not investigate the validity or
necessary of the permit— the department head, or his representa tive who signed the permit, is presumed to have done the neces sary checking.
The Bureau renders merely a clerical service
since it checks for errors or ommissions in the five copies required to be submitted.
When all reports are in proper form
they are submitted to the Board for action.
One copy of the
approved permit comes back for the Bureau files.
However, any
mileage claims submitted after the permit has been approved are
99 sent directly to the Auditor who maintains a file which dupli cates that of the Bureau,
Periodically the Auditor asks the
Bureau to check each department for permits which can he can celled because of non-use, in order that the County might reduce the insurance premium it must carry on each permitee.
Any
cancellations of permits clears through the Bureau which sub mits it to .the Board of Supervisors.
As of March 1, 1942, there
were 2,575 active mileage permits on file. Legislative advice.
The Bureau has rendered an addi
tional service once in the past, and possibly might be called on to do it again.
This was in 1939 when the Chief Research
Technician was sent to Sacramento for a ten-week period, during which time the Legislature was in session, in order to work closely with the County*s legislative counsel on analyses and digests of bills affecting the County.
Out of this incident
came the bill-digesting work engaged in by the entire Bureau staff during the next Legislature, as mentioned above.
Because
of this handling of the problem in 1941, it is hardly likely that the 1939 assignment will be repeated. One more service to the County rendered by the Bureau will be considered in the last chapter, relating to the war effort and the Bureau’s place in this program.
In conclusion
it should be noted that these chapters on the activities of the three agencies which at one time or other were the research body of the County by no means cover all of their activities, but are intended only to highlight some of the more noteworthy ones.
CHAPTER IX VALUE OF BUREAU AND ITS FUTURE Value of the Bureau* ?Jithout doubt the Bureau of Administrative Research has a very definite place in Los Angeles County government and its role as an fradministrative tool,” to assist the Chief Administrative Officer, is one which will be come increasingly important as time progresses. As outlined in the previous chapter, the training pro gram of the Bureau as it has worked, and will function again, makes an important and a valuable contribution to better government and more intelligent leadership not only in County government but in administration generally.
The day when any
person could hold down any governmental job is gone— this is the beginning of the age of trained personnel in government, and the Bureau, which pioneered in this internship program, will remain in the forefront of this movement. Financial value of studies.
It is at times necessary to
speak in financial terms, and certain persons would rate the effectiveness or failure of the Bureau in terms of dollars and cents savings on recommendations made and followed.
This would
be a definite way of convincing a skeptical public of the use~ fulness of an organization, but it does not seem tenable, because of the many possibilities which would enter into the picture. Yes, it could be shown, for example, that a large sum of money
101 was saved the County by having one-man patrol cars instead of two-man cars in the Sheriffs department, but can this proof be depended upon?
Who could say whether or not some crime
which occurred after this change might have been prevented with two-man patrol cars? In some instances, the recommendation as made by the Bureau and as adopted by the Board might require an additional expenditure of several thousands of dollars per year for a . department.
Suppose, because of a change in the department
and with this additional expenditure a poorly functioning de partment is turned into an efficient one--did the Bureau spend County money or save County money? The point is this— the Bureau is established to serve the County as best it can, saving actual dollars wherever it is possible, but in every case trying to make the operations more efficient and more effective to the end that the citizen will get more out of his government since his government will be better able to serve him.
No penalty or stigma should be at
tached to a failure to show dollars and cents savings, for in some cases it could not be shown and in others it would be difficult to prove. Yes, every time a Bureau staff man completely removes some item of expenditure from a proposed budget and every time a recommendation to substitute a less expensive item which will do the same, or a better job, is accepted, the Bureau has saved
102 the County actual cash, hut this cannot always he shown. Length of reports.
Since the coming of the Chief Admin
istrative Officer in 1938, first the Department of Budget and Research, and now the Bureau, has developed a recognition of the proper function for such an agency— as an administrative research body operating in an advisory, staff capacity to the Chief Administrative Officer.
The Bureau still prepares
reports ranging all the way from a one-page report approving an increase in personnel to a complete departmental survey, investigating every phase and operation in the department. Eowever, the day of the lengthy literary research report, which too often was "filed” hy the very person for whom it was intended, mainly in self-protection, is over.
Now the reports assume the
role of "action" studies, and are brief and to the point.
A
busy administrator has time to glance at a short report and make a decision on it, where he will studiously avoid one which requires a long time to assimilate.
The typical present report
of the Bureau is a brief statement of the request, followed by the recommendations and supported by a certain amount of perti nent data.
The bulk of the data on the other hand, remains in
the working-paper files, readily accessible if needed, but not confusing the issues of the study.
Compare the four hundred
eight page "Procedural Study on the Library," finished just after the Chief Administrative Officer was set up-** with the 1 Study No. 3264, "Procedural Study on the Library," October 11, 1938.
103 six to eight page report of 1941-42.
Thus has the Bureau
achieved much that was intended for it by the Committee on Governmental Simplification.2 The Bureau and the war effort.
Now that our nation is
in a war period, can the Bureau be utilized in this war effort? It not only can, but is being so used.
Its first assignment
occurred in connection with the initial registration of men on October 16f 1940, under the Selective Service Act.
Draft
boards had not been set up in sufficient quantities to handle the details necessary to install and equip the five thousand registration boards necessary for the County of Los Angeles. The Bureau worked approximately eight weeks before and two weeks after the registration date on this assignment.
Two
staff men made most of the arrangements to have the registration boards chosen, necessary supplies purchased and a skeleton pro cedure of operations worked out.
The Bureau had the assistance
of the Registrar of Voters1 staff as well as other voluntary help as registration approached. Supplies were allocated to each board and dispatched by mail or messenger.
On the day of registration the entire office
force— staff, clerical help and all— acted as a clearing house for questions of the sort which this type of undertaking always 2 Los Angeles, Committee on Government Simplification, Report (Los Angeles: Department of Budget and Research, 1935).
104 brings, and requests for additional supplies were taken and filled* After the close of the registration, all the cards and supplies were forwarded through district receiving centers -to the central sorting room where several of the Bureau staff, assisted by volunteers, sorted all the cards and checked to see that all cards which should be distributed were properly handled.
When the sorting was finished, each draft board
called for its cards and the registration procedure was com pleted.
All that remained for the Bureau was a sorting and
storing of unused supplies and an accounting to the Government for monies expended on the program, in order that the County could be reimbursed for its expenditures. This is an example of how the Bureau can handle an administrative problem not directly in the line of research. Now that war has come, the Bureau is rendering additional ser vice.
This time, the newly created Los Angeles County Defense
Council is receiving the benefits, since from the staff of the Bureau four persons, including one clerk, have been loaned to the Council to act in administrative capacities to assist in starting operations there.
It is not certain, though, if these
staff personnel will remain in these positions or return to the Bureau after a while.
The former course seems the wiser, allow
ing the loan to remain 'Tor the duration" in order that the Council benefit to the fullest from having these men in the
105 organizat ion• The Defense Council as well as the Chief Administrative Officer are using the Bureau in a research capacity* by asking for studies to be made which have direct applications to the County’s part in the war effort• A few such studies— for example, a study relative to guards on a County powder maga zine3— have already been completed and no doubt there will be many more like them* Suggestions to improve the Bureau*
What is to be ex
pected from the Bureau has been indicated throughout this final chapter.
There only remains the making of a few suggestions
which could help the Bureau become still more valuable* (1)
In the list of qualifications and skills already
possessed by staff men no mention was made of fTengineering ability.”
This need has been felt for some time by the Bureau
and it seems advisable to recommend the addition to the staff of a man,.skilled in some phase of engineering work, probably a civil engineer*
He could handle studies, not now sent to the
Bureau because of the absence of this skill; certain types of studies already being handled by the Bureau might receive a more complete analysis were an engineer to offer his suggestions also.
The Bureau of Efficiency at one time did have two engin
eers on its staff, but there are none at present*
The Los Angeles
3 Study No. 3793, rtCivilian Defense— Road Department, Guards for Pacoima Powder Magazine.”
106 City Bureau of Budget and Efficiency find that their staff men with engineering "background— and they have several— render a very useful service to their Bureau. (2) Referring again to this list of skills, it.has been suggested by others, and is advocated here because of its merit, that the various staff men should develop skills, compatible with their abilities, and kept "abreast of the times" on these skills.
For instance, there should be one individual who could
be called an "expert" in statistical methods, another in report writing, another in accounting, another in office layout, etc. The purpose behind this is apparent for it allows the office to develop a group of varied skills, all necessary in good research work; then, as problems arise in those fields, the specialist would be asked for advice.
It is merely a carrying into the
research staff of the specialist in a trade or profession. (3) There is still need for staff men to appreciate more fully the operating problems of the line departments.
Too often
research people try to work out all the problems on paper with no reference to the department or unit which will be called upon to make the suggested change— there is a possibility of becoming "arm-chair research men," as it were.
To avoid this, the Bureau
at present is encouraging its students to get out and work in other departments for a while before returning to be research men, if such are their wishes.
This policy needs to be further
extended to allow six or twelve-month leaves of absence from the
107 Bureau for various staff men to permit their working for this time in some County operating department where they may actually observe what happens there.
Under this plan they would return
to the Bureau with a better appreciation of the difficulties and problems which the line departments have to face, and would be better able to make recommendations affecting these opera tions. (4) It has been urged for some time now that the Chief Administrative Officer be set up not by Ordinance as at present, but by Charter Amendment.
This move is recommended here, with
the further stipulation that the Bureau be provided for, spec ifically, in such an amendment, to be the research agency for the County Manager.
This would give more permanence to the
Bureau than is afforded by its authorization merely by Resolution as at present. (5) Finally, the Bureau should continue to make its reports as brief as possible without losing any of the "punch" necessary to put them across.
The data should be carefully
chosen, clearly arranged, and the argument should be as logical ” as possible.
The other extreme, of too many small reports, must
also be guarded against. The future of the Bureau.
With the fine heritage behind
so young an agency and with the prospects of a future full of opportunities to serve the County, the Bureau of Administrative Research will still justify Br. Pfiffner*s compliment to it,
108 when he stated, "This bureau continues to carry on one of the largest programs of administrative research and management planning of any official agency in the country*"4
4
John M. Pfiffner, Research Methods in Public Admin istration (New York: Ronald Press, 1941), P» 30.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
BIBLIOGRAPHY A.
BOOKS
Buck, Carl E . , Doctor, Survey of Los Angeles County Health Department— 1957. Prepared in collaboration with Los Angeles County Department of Budget and Research, 1937. 80 pp. (Department Study No. 2323.) Gaus, John M . , A Study of Research in Public Admini strat ion♦ New York: Social Science Research Council, 1930. 143 pp. Los Angeles City, Charter. Annotated 1939 Edition. Adopted 1925, amended to 1937. Los Angeles, California: Parker and Baird, 1939. 345 pp. Los Angeles County, Annual Budget. Piscal Years Ending June 30. 1933, 1934, 1935, 1936, 193?, 1938, 1939, 1940, 1941, 1942. Los Angeles, Calif ornia-,— 1934-1942. Variously paged. _______ , Charter. Annotated 1939 edition. Adopted 1913, amended to 1939, Los Angeles, California, 1939, 81 pp. , Bureau of Administrative Research (and Los Angeles City Sureau of Budget and Efficiency and Los Angeles City Board of Education), Cooperative Salary Survey. Los Angeles: Los Angeles City, 1941. CBureau Study No. 3643.) ______, Bureau of Efficiency, Annual Report. Fiscal Years Ending June 30, 1933, 1934, 1935, Los Angeles, California, 1933-1935. Variously paged. _______ , Bureau of Efficiency, Growth of County Functions, Los Angeles County, 1852-1934. Los Angeles, California: Bureau of Efficiency, 1936. 136 pp. , Bureau of Efficiency, Presentation of Problems Involved fhe Proposal that Los Angeles City Separate from the County of Los Angeles and Form a City and County Government within the Present City Limits'. Eos Angeles, California, 1932. 65' ’pp . _______, Civil Service Commission, Annual Report of the Civil Service Commission and Bureau of Efficiency. Fiscal Years Ending June 30, 1914 to 1932 inclusive. Los Angeles, California, 1914 to 1932, Variously paged. _______ , Committee on Government Simplification, Report. Los Angeles, California: Department of Budget and Research, 1935. 216 pp.
Ill Los Angeles County, Department of Budget and Research, Annual Report. Fiscal Year Finding June 30, 1938. Los Angeles, California, 1938. 24 pp. Los Angeles County Government (Part I of three volumes). Los Angeles: County Superintendent of Schools, 1940. 57 pp. Pfiffner, John M. , Research Methods in Public Admini strat ion. New York: Ronald Press, 1941. 447 pp. Plunkett, Robert E . , Doctor, Survey of Tuberculosis Control Program in Los Angeles County, State of California— 1937. Los Angeles: Department of Budget and”~Research, 1937. 24 pp. (Departmental Study No.' 2325.) Schluter, W. C., How to do Research Work; a Manual of Research Procedure Presenting a Simple Explanation of the Principles Underlying Researoh Methods. New York: Prentice-Hall, 1926. 137 pp. Symposium. "Governmental Research and Citizen Control of Govern ment.M Proceedings of the Twenty-Eighth Conference of the Governmental Research Association .““Princeton. New Jersey. . September. 1959. Detroit: Governmental Research Association, 1940. 168 pp. Taylor, Frederick ?/., The Principles of Scientific Management. New York: Harper and Brothers, 1913. 144 pp. B. PERIODICALS Cunningham, J. Lyle, "Los Angeles County Adopts a Modified Form of the Manager Plan,” Civic Affairs, 6:1-8, December, 1938. Donner, John W. , "Los Angeles City Bureau of Budget and Effi ciency,” Civic Affairs, 4:3-4, November, 1936. Fishack, H. G . , "The Future of the Municipal Research Bureau,” National Municipal Review, 25:714-718, December, 1936. "Governmental Research Agencies,” National Municipal Review. 26:47-48, January, 1937. Gulick, Luther, "Research in Public Administration," Public Administration. 9:388-392, October, 1931. Harvey. L. G . . "Research in Government," Social Service, 15:284286, July, 1940.
112 r,Los Angeles County Career Service Training, Student Investigator Plan— Its Objectives--History— Results/* Career Service Bulletin« 1:1, November, 1937. Mosher, William S., "Reflections on Governmental Research,** National Municipal Review. 28:725-727, October, 1939. Scoville, H. F . , "Department of Budget and Research, County of Los Angeles,** Civil Affairs. 5:1-8, December, 1937. C. STATUTES AND ORDINANCES Los Angeles County, Ordinance No. 2707 (New Series.) Budget Procedure— adds new section 2j to Rules Ordinance No. 929 (New Series). Repealed. _______ , Ordinance No. 2732 (New Series). of Budget and Research. Repealed.
Creation of Department
, Ordinance No. 2779 (New Series). Budget Procedure— replaced No. 2707. Repealed. , Ordinance No. 3050 (New Series)• replaced No. 2779. Repealed.
Budget Procedure—
- , Ordinance No. 3175 (New Series). Chief Administrative Officer.
Set up office of the
, Ordinance No. 3177 (New Series). Budget Procedure— replaced No. 3050. Repealed, , Ordinance No. 3361 (New Series)• Abolished the Department of Budget and Research. Ordinance No. 3490 (New Series). Budget Procedure— replaced No. 3177. In effect at present. Political Code of California. Requirements •**
Section 3714, "County Budgets—
D. UNPUBLISHED MATERIAL RECORDS Los Angeles County, Board of Supervisors, "Minutes," 250:355, May 22, 1939. "Creation of Bureau of Administrative Research," from files of the Board of Supervisors.
113 Los Angeles County, Board of Supervisors, "Minutes," November 15, 1938. "Board Order Forbidding Department of Budget and Research from Accepting Requests for Departmental Studies from Departments Directly." From files of the Board of Supervisors. Bureau of Efficiency, "Minutes, Bureau of Efficiency," 870 pp. From files in office of Secretary and Chief Examiner, Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission.
Vol. I— -January 7, 1938 to July 87, 1938.
. Civil Service Commission and Bureau of Efficiency. "Minutes, Civil Service Commission and Bureau of Efficiency." Vol. I— June 4, 1913 to December 88, 1915, pp. 1-414. Vol. II— January 6, 1916 to December 87, 1918, pp. 415-798. V o l . H I — January 3, 1919 to December 82, 1922, pp. 799-1172. Vol. IV— January 5, 1923 to May 13, 1926, pp. 1173-1522. Vol. V— May 19, 1926 to December 26, 1928, pp. 1525-1868. Vol. VI— January 2, 1929 to December 30, 1930. 309 pp. Vol.VII— January 2, 1931 to December 31, 1931. 175 pp. From files in office of Secretary and Chief Examiner, Los Angeles County Civil Service Commission. SPEECHES Alexander, Fred,"Interns in Government." KNX Radio Show, December 21, 1938, 6 pp. From Speech File, Bureau of Administrative Research. Campion, A. H . , "Department of Budget and Research of Los Angeles County." Radio Speech, KHJ, July 7, 1936, 9 pp. From Speech File, Bureau of Administrative Research. Scoville, H. F . , "Administrative Research— Its Application to Organization, Control and Operation," Speech delivered June, 1941, Sacramento Institute of Government, 24 pp. From Speech File, Bureau of Administrative Research. "A Challenge to Research, Making Research Usable," Speech, June, 1941. 17 pp. From Speech File, Bureau of Administrative Research. _______ , "General Outline for Departmental Investigations," no date. 3 pp. . "Qualifications for Staff Members," March 18, 1936. £ pp.
. "Research in Public Administration," July 17, 1939, 30 pp. From Speech File, Bureau of Administrative Research.
114 STUDIES MADE BY THE BUREAU OF EFFICIENCY, THE DEPARTMENT OF BUDGET AND RESEARCH, AND THE BUREAU OF ADMINISTRATIVE RESEARCH* No. 101, "Recommendations that County Employees he Permitted to Retain Compensation from Other Governmental Agencies while at Military Camp." No. 1940, "Consolidation of Farm Advisor and Agricultural Department." No. No.
2000, "Elevator
Service, Hall of Justice."
2089, "Creating a Legion of Honor for DistinguishedService and Starting a Daily Good Deed Movement in the Schools."
No. 2155, "Comparison of Election Costs— San Francisco and Los Angeles Counties." No. No.
2432, "Mileage Rate Paid
Employees."
2450, "Proposal for Clarification of Authority Between Department of Recreation Camps and Playgrounds and the Parks Division of the Forestry Department."
No. 3211, "Reimhursement of Parking Expense." No. 3218, "Licenses and Fees." No. 3255, "Proposed Consolidation of Los Angeles City and County Health Departments." No. 3264, "Procedural Study in the Library." No. 3272, "Cost of Automotive Service." No. 3300, "Survey on Functions of the Department [Labor Coordin ating Bureau] and its Possible Abolishment." No. 3313, "Centralized Cartographic Service Recommended." No. 3322, "Feasibility of Consolidating Coroner and Public Defender." No. 3406, "Merger of Los Angeles City and County Health Departments." No. 3422, "Economies in Operation of Health Centers." No. 3436, "Intern Training Program for 1939-40 and Prior Years."
115 No* 3445, "Proposed Merger of Road Department and Sheriffs Castaic Sub-Station." No. 3596, "Characteristics and Habits of Sharks in California Waters." No. 3625— Report 3, "Charges to (Flood Control! Employees for Houses Furnished by the County." J No. 3630, "1941 Legislation— Analysis of Bills Introduced." No. 3690, "Reorganization of Los Angeles County Museum Department of History, Science and Art." No. 3704, "Various Cost Data— Courts and Charities." No. 3705, "New Method of Precincting
for Registrar of Voters."
No. 3726, "Total Costs of S. R. A. to July 1, 1941." No. 3728, "Telecord— Use in Courts." No. 3734, "Data Relative to Various Types of Property Owned by Indigents." No. 3752, "Special Use of County-Owned Equipment." No. 3757, "Digests of Various Annual Reports." No. 3793, "Civilian Defense— Road Department, Guards for Pacoima Powder Magazine." No. 3798, "County Automotive Equipment Replacement." No. 3902, "Consolidation of Test Laboratories of Flood Control and Road Department, Under Supervision of Stores Department." *These are only the Studies actually cited in this paper and are from the files in the Bureau of Administrative Research, where altogether some 3,200 studies may be found. The bulk of the Bureau of Efficiency Studies remain in the files of the Bureau of Efficiency, now in the custody of the Civil Service Commission. All studies are the property of the Bureau and may only be made available to outside use upon the authorization of the Chief Administrative Officer.