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Lake County OKs $133,640 contract with Matrix Consulting for Community Development review and fee study
Summary
The Board of Supervisors approved a contract with Matrix Consulting Group to conduct a six-month operational and fee cost-recovery study of the Community Development Department, to include stakeholder engagement, process mapping and line-item fee analysis.
The Lake County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved a not-to-exceed $133,640 agreement with Matrix Consulting Group to perform an organizational assessment and development-fee and cost-recovery analysis for the Community Development Department.
County Chief Deputy Administrative Officer Matthew Rothstein introduced the item, saying the county issued RFP 261763 and selected Matrix for its relevant experience. Aaron Bagley of Matrix said the firm will conduct a three-part engagement: current-state discovery through staff interviews and customer focus groups; a deep-dive operational and organizational analysis; and an implementation plan with prioritized recommendations. Khushbu Ingle, the firm's lead on fee and cost recovery, described a bottom-up approach that will calculate fully burdened staff rates, assemble comparative jurisdiction surveys, and produce draft and final reports for board review.
The study will analyze individual fee line items, Bagley said, so the board will be able to see cost-versus-fee at both the fee-code and aggregated program level. Supervisor questions focused on funding and oversight: county staff confirmed the item is budgeted to Special Project Fund 1781 (general fund), invoices will be monthly, and staff will ask the board for any specific comparator jurisdictions to include in the benchmarking.
Members of the public urged safeguards around consultant independence and questioned whether a fee schedule should reflect efficiency gains from recommended process improvements rather than current-state inefficiencies. Rothstein and Matrix said the study will surface efficiency opportunities and provide a recommended fee framework the board can adopt or modify for policy reasons.
The contract was approved 4-0. The consultant said the typical timeline is roughly six months to a final report, with draft materials expected around Thanksgiving and a final report later in December.
