Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Process Improvement topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
DeSoto rolls out Green Belt projects: succession planning, IT recovery and one‑stop permitting
Summary
HR and department leaders briefed council on Lean Six Sigma Green Belt projects including a succession‑planning pilot to increase internal hires, an IT disaster recovery plan that identified infrastructure gaps, and a newly launched one‑stop permitting model that saved about $120,000 in consultant costs.
City leaders briefed the council on a set of internal process‑improvement efforts developed through the Human Resources department’s Lean Six Sigma Green Belt program.
Shannon Hicks, the organization development manager, said a succession‑planning Green Belt project found that only 14% of open, higher‑level positions were filled by internal candidates between July 2021 and June 2025. "Our open positions were only filled by internal candidates by 14%," Hicks said, and the cohort proposed a structured career‑map pilot across select departments with the goal of increasing internal fulfillment and reducing vacancy time. Hicks said pilot launches and stakeholder approvals are planned for second and third quarter 2026.
Jerry Hicklin from IT described his Green Belt project to develop an IT disaster recovery plan. Hicklin said tabletop exercises and documentation helped identify gaps and infrastructure needs and noted the city’s backups are currently maintained as hard backups (on‑prem/hard) rather than cloud storage. "This project allowed us to formally create a document that will assist us during disruptions," Hicklin said.
Madel Casey, director of development services, described a new "one‑stop shop" permitting model where applicants meet a multidisciplinary team in a single session and can, in some cases, leave with a permit. Casey said the model was developed in‑house, launched recently and saved the city about $120,000 in consultant costs. He said some larger cities have similar concepts but that DeSoto tailored the model for small‑to‑mid sized projects and has received positive feedback from developers.
Council members asked about metrics and next steps; staff said more detailed operating procedures and performance metrics will be provided in follow‑up materials. No formal action was taken at the meeting.
