Summary of August 25th Meeting

Post date: Sep 02, 2010 7:19:19 PM

Alliance for Regulatory Coordination

Summary of Member Meeting

Meeting Date: August 25, 2010

Location: Town of Madison Town Hall

The meeting was convened at 9:05 a.m. by Bob DuPont, of Regulatory Guidance and Design, LLC. Attendees introduced themselves and identified the organization they were representing.

Mr. DuPont reviewed the recommended priorities for the Alliance from the May 17th organizational meeting. He noted that additional comments collected during the May 17th meeting may have new significance in light of the recent articles in the press about reorganizing the Department of Commerce. Those comments related to the need for more coordination and consolidation among state agencies that regulate buildings, establishing the Safety and Buildings Division by statute, and locating it in an appropriate agency.

Mr. DuPont reviewed the current Alliance membership roster, the schedule of Program Team meetings and the open records request that he submitted to the Department of Commerce on August 12, 2010. The Department had not yet responded to the records request. Bob said that he will share the Commerce records response with all ARC members as soon as he receives it.

The Alliance Commitments were reviewed by the attendees. No changes to the commitments were recommended, although there was discussion about how Alliance recommendations might be communicated to state agencies and the legislature. Regarding such communications, there was consensus that Mr. DuPont should register as a lobbyist for the Alliance for Regulatory Coordination in January 2011.

The law change project was discussed briefly. There was consensus that the issues of Safety and Buildings Division leadership and location are now high priorities. It was decided that the entire Alliance membership will meet again during the first half of September to further address the possible reorganization of the Department of Commerce.

Note: Reorganization of the Department is recommended in the recently published report entitled “Be Bold Wisconsin”, which was commissioned by Competitive Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Counties Association, and the Wisconsin Economic Development Association. In addition, proposals by gubernatorial candidate Tom Barrett indicate his intention move the Safety and Buildings Division to the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP) as part of his plan to have the economic development portion of Commerce moved to the Governor’s Office.

Various communication strategies and procedures were discussed pertaining to: postings on the Alliance web site; meeting reports and summaries; email updates; press releases; and use of the Alliance logo.

Attendees reviewed two documents prepared by Mr. DuPont that will be used at the first Alliance Program Team meetings in late September; a listing of Safety and Buildings Division programs and services, and a Program Evaluation Form to be filled out by team members at each quarterly meeting of Alliance Program Teams. The evaluation form is designed to help identify those program and service areas within the Division that need the most improvement. At the initial team meetings, attendees will be asked “What information and insight would you need to be confident in your evaluation for each of the ten aspects of the program evaluation?”

Mr. DuPont introduced attendees to a two page outline entitled “Optimal Resource Allocation for the Commerce Safety and Buildings Division”. Resource allocation will be discussed at the first meetings of each Alliance Program Team.

The meeting was adjourned at Noon.

This summary was prepared by Bob DuPont, Regulatory Guidance and Design, LLC.

It was issued on September 2, 2010.