Bucks County Transition Team Report

The Bucks County Commissioners in June, 2020, released a sweeping, comprehensive transition team report that assesses county government functions and recommends improvements, efficiencies and best practices to be considered both immediately and in the years to come.

The 153-page Bucks County Transition Team Final Report recommends actions ranging from cutting costs to overhauling the county website, converting to clean energy and other green practices, enhancing workforce development efforts, refurbishing county parks, selling unnecessary properties and aggressively pursuing affordable housing, to name a few.

The document is a compilation of seven subcommittee reports addressing budget and finance, communications and information technology, economic development, environment and energy, health and human services, and facilities, parks and infrastructure.

The subcommittees and a seven-member executive committee comprised more than 65 citizen volunteers under the oversight of attorney Thomas J. Jennings, who served as chair of the transition team. Assembled shortly after the November 2019 elections, the subcommittees worked to research county government operations, interview key personnel and meet with citizens for information and insights.

Transition Team Final Report

Recommendations:

  • Across the board budget cuts of 2%
  • Live-Streaming Commissioners' Meetings
  • Testing security of county computer systems by simulating a cyberattack to identify weaknesses
  • Improving the county website to make it more navigable, mobile-friendly and informative, and building a county social media strategy
  • Creating a director of economic development position to oversee all economic development departments, and creating an economic advisory committee to spearhead economic recovery in Bucks
  • Supporting new, entrepreneurial companies with venture capital support, investing in the county’s start-up community, creating a message and brand for Bucks County economic development, creating a new business portal pointing businesses to essential services and tools, starting a modern jobs board and making tourism a center of the county’s recovery strategy
  • In cooperation with Bucks County Community College, creating a coordinated workforce development training system geared to the needs of Bucks County employers and residents
  • Pledging 100 percent clean energy use by the county within 10 years, and Net-zero carbon emissions county-wide by 2045
  • Using LED lighting in county buildings and conducting a building audit of county facilities to identify energy efficiency and cost-saving opportunities
  • Purchasing electric county vehicles and charging stations
  • Helping area farmers market their goods and supplement their incomes
  • Restoring Stover Myers Mill and Peace Valley Park, and improving trail signage at all county parks
  • Initiating a county-wide annual strategic planning process to identify and implement objectives that cut across county divisions
  • Digitizing the signature process for contracts and resolutions to save on paper and ink, and to expedite the contract and resolution process
  • Taking actions to maximize current revenue streams
  • Assessing the practicality of more telecommuting, and codifying plans for telecommuting in the event of an emergency
  • Applying lessons learned from COVID-19 to improve pandemic emergency plans
  • Moving the Workforce Development Board into county offices
  • Consolidating Mental Health and Behavioral Health departments for efficiencies
  • Studying the sell-off of “non-core” county assets and properties
  • Reducing or eliminating the use of part-time solicitors for county legal work.
  • Hiring a full-time grant writer or hiring an outside firm to secure more grants
  • Promoting development of attainable and affordable housing in the county
  • Pilot-testing a rent subsidy program
  • Better addressing the needs of homeless people, including establishing year-round, temporary drop-in shelters
  • Promoting better public awareness of the functions of county departments