Warrenton Organizational Assessment Report

Town of Warrenton, Virginia
Organizational Assessment
Report
March 26, 2018

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The Novak Consulting Group

Strengthening organizations from the inside out.
March 26, 2018
Mr. Brannon Godfrey

Town Manager
Town of Warrenton
18 Court Street
Warrenton, VA 20188
Dear Mr. Godfrey:
We are pleased to present this draft organizational assessment for the Town of Warrenton. This report
includes recommendations designed to improve the Town’s structure, efficiency, and effectiveness. These
recommendations are based on input and information provided by the Town’s elected officials and staff,
as well as industry standards and best practices that are appropriate for Warrenton.
The Town’s interest in improving its organizational capacity and practices is commendable. We are
confident that the recommendations in this report can serve as a framework for improving operational
performance and the Town’s strategic decision-making capabilities. Implementing these
recommendations will require consistent communication and careful coordination among the Town’s
elected officials, the Town Manager’s Office, and the departments involved in this study.
Thank you for the opportunity to work with the Town of Warrenton. We look forward to the Town’s
careful review of this report.
Sincerely,
Michelle Ferguson
Organizational Assessment Practice Leader

Table of Contents
Executive Summary............................................................................................................................1
Background and Methodology ...........................................................................................................3
Analysis and Recommendations .........................................................................................................8
Town Council............................................................................................................................................. 8
Town Manager’s Office ........................................................................................................................... 11
Finance and Human Resources Department .......................................................................................... 20
Community Development Department .................................................................................................. 22
Public Works and Utilities Department .................................................................................................. 28
Parks and Recreation Department.......................................................................................................... 33
Conclusion .......................................................................................................................................36


Town of Warrenton Page 1
Executive Summary
Following the Great Recession, the Town of Warrenton, like so many other communities across the
country, was faced with constrained resources. Since that time, some revenues have stabilized but not at
previous levels. As a result, it is important for the Town to carefully assess its organizational needs and
ensure the organization is efficiently structured to continue delivering quality services to the community.
To that end, the Town engaged The Novak Consulting Group to conduct an organizational assessment.
This assessment has identified several distinct opportunities for the organization to seize, including a
greater emphasis on strategic planning and organizational management practices, realigning capacity and
structure within several departments, and leveraging technological tools to increase staff effectiveness.
Strategic planning is an essential component of effective governance. It clarifies organizational priorities

and establishes guideposts for achieving the Town Council’s vision. A strategic plan is the framework by
which programs and outcomes can be aligned to meet goals for the community.
A strategic plan also supports more effective organizational management practices, including work
planning, prioritization, and performance measurement. The Town’s management staff must regularly
evaluate performance of its programs and services in light of the Town’s strategic plan. Developing
performance management practices, including tracking relevant performance measures and creating
ongoing management conversations throughout the organization, will improve staff’s ability to prioritize
work and focus on core functions and their outcomes.
This report also includes several recommendations designed to address structural imbalances currently
present in some departments. For example, the Finance and Human Resources Department is
overburdened with specialized functions, and there is an opportunity to transfer information technology
oversight to the Town Manager’s Office to reduce the burden and enhance capacity in the organization.
The staffing and structural changes recommended in this report represent the next step toward
streamlining the organization. These staffing adjustments must be balanced against improving the
technological resources and capabilities of existing staff. Improving the Town’s technology environment
will increase efficiency and facilitate gathering accurate data to inform staffing and workload decisions.
Effectively implementing new technology and assessing opportunities for future enhancements requires
a technology strategic plan to inventory the Town’s current assets and prioritize future deployment.
Together, these recommendations position the Town of Warrenton to more effectively identify its
strategic goals, plan and prioritize workload, evaluate results, and make informed staffing, structural, and
technology decisions. Recommendations for each department in the scope of this report are illustrated in
the following table.

Page 2 Town of Warrenton
Table 1: Report Recommendations
Number Recommendation
Town Council
1 Develop a strategic plan with priority focus areas.
Create a comprehensive financial policy document and develop additional financial
2
policies.
Town Manager’s Office
3 Develop work plans for each department based on the Town’s strategic plan.
Develop and implement a Town-wide performance management system with
4
performance measures for each department.
Reassign supervision of the IT Manager position from the Finance and Human
5
Resources Director to the Town Manager.
Prioritize the implementation of new financial and planning technology systems and
6
provide relevant training.
7 Develop an information technology strategic plan.
Create capacity for the Town’s Executive Assistant to perform additional records
8
management duties.
9 Conduct a space needs analysis to determine workspace needs for Town staff.
Finance and Human Resources
10 Create a Human Resources Manager position in the Finance Department.
11 Issue an RFP to outsource payroll processing functions.
Community Development
12 Create a Historic Preservation Planner position.
Reclassify the part-time Permit Technician position to a full-time Administrative
13
Assistant.
14 Revise the Permit Technician job description to reflect updated intake processes.
Create a Planning Division and assign supervision of the Historic Preservation Planner
15
and Planner to the Senior Planner.
Investigate opportunities to contract with other local agencies for fire inspection
16
services.
Public Works and Utilities
17 Assign supervisory responsibility for utilities staff to the Assistant Director.
Create a Stormwater Engineer position and transfer supervisory authority of the
18
Stormwater Program Coordinator position to the Stormwater Engineer.
19 Implement a stormwater utility fee.
Parks and Recreation
20 Continue utilizing cost recovery goals for Parks and Recreation programs and facilities.
21 Develop a Parks and Recreation master plan.

Background and Methodology

In January 2018, the Town of Warrenton engaged The Novak Consulting Group to conduct an
organizational assessment of the Town’s non-public safety departments, including the Town Manager’s
Office, Finance and Human Resources, Community Development, Public Works and Utilities, and Parks
and Recreation. The purpose of this assessment was to conduct a high-level evaluation of the structure
and operations of these departments and to develop recommendations designed to improve efficiency
and effectiveness.
To accomplish this assessment, The Novak Consulting Group requested and received information relevant
to the Town’s operations, including, but not limited to, budget and staffing information, job descriptions,
annual reports, audits, previous analyses conducted by outside consultants, and policies and procedures.
The Novak Consulting Group also conducted interviews with the Town’s elected officials and department
directors to better understand the organization’s current strengths, challenges, and opportunity areas.
Information and perspectives shared during this field work informed the analysis and recommendations
included in this assessment.
Additionally, The Novak Consulting Group performed benchmarking research, where appropriate,
regarding several of the Town’s peer Virginia communities. These communities included the Towns of
Culpeper, Front Royal, Herndon, Leesburg, and Vienna. Information gathered about these peer
communities is included in relevant recommendations of this report.
About the Town of Warrenton

The Town of Warrenton was incorporated in 1810 and is located approximately 45 miles southwest of the
Washington, D.C. metro area in Fauquier County, Virginia. According to the latest available Census Bureau
estimates, the Town’s population has remained stable, having increased approximately 2.6% since the
2010 Decennial Census. The following figure illustrates the Town’s population estimates over this period.
Town of Warrenton Estimated Population, 2010-2016

12,000
9,611 9,735 9,796 9,852 9,926 9,889 9,861

10,000
8,000
6,000
4,000
2,000
0
2010 Census 2011 Est. 2012 Est. 2013 Est. 2014 Est. 2015 Est. 2016 Est.
Figure 1: Town of Warrenton Estimated Population, 2010-2016

The Town is organized under a Council-Manager form of government. The Town Council consists of seven
members: five Councilmembers are elected from wards, and two are elected at-large. The Mayor is
independently elected and does not participate in Council votes, except in the case of a tie. The Town’s
elected officials serve staggered four-year terms. The Mayor and at-large Councilmembers serve during
the same term, which is offset two years from the terms for Councilmembers representing wards.
The Town Council appoints a Town Manager, Town Attorney, and a part-time Town Recorder. The Town
Manager is responsible for administering Town government and directly oversees most of the Town’s
major functions, as illustrated in the following figure.
Town Council
Town Attorney Town Manager Town Recorder
Community Economic
Development Development
Finance and
Fire
Human Resources
Parks and Public Works and

Recreation Utilities
Police
Figure 2: Town of Warrenton Functional Organization Chart, 2018
While Fire functions are represented on the figure above, it is important to note that fire and emergency
rescue services are provided by the Warrenton Volunteer Fire Company (WVFC), an independent
organization which is funded by the Town, Fauquier County, investments, and fundraising activities. Two
WVFC firefighter positions are included in the Town’s budget and payroll; however, these positions report
to the WVFC Fire Chief. The Town Manager does not directly supervise any WVFC firefighters or staff.
Budget
The Town operates on a fiscal year budget from July 1 to June 30 and utilizes a variety of funds, including
the General Fund, a Capital Improvement Program Fund, Water and Sewer Operating and Capital Funds,
and two internal services funds: Motor Pool and Information Technology. The Town’s total FY2018 budget

across all funds is $27,898,764 (not including transfers). This amount includes capital budgets which do
not substantially impact day-to-day Town operations.
The Town’s General Fund, Water and Sewer Operating Fund, Motor Pool Fund, and Information
Technology Fund serve as major operating funds. The total budget for these funds in FY2018 is
$21,232,479. Of this amount, the General Fund represents the primary operating fund for the Town’s
governmental operations. In FY2018, total estimated General Fund revenues are approximately $14.8
million, as illustrated on the following table.
Table 2: Total Estimated General Fund Revenues, FY2018

Estimated General Fund Revenues FY2018 Adopted Percent of Total
Other Local Taxes $6,882,677 46%
State Revenue $2,932,302 20%
User of Fund Balance $1,725,374 12%
Charges for Services $1,344,872 9%
General Property Taxes $1,279,339 9%
Fines and Forfeitures $210,000 1%
Permits and Fees $191,100 1%
Miscellaneous Revenue $188,400 1%
Use of Money/Property $58,500 0%
Transfers/Proffers $12,000 0%
Federal Revenue $4,500 0%
Total $14,829,064 100%
Most General Fund revenue comes from Other Local Taxes, which includes Meals Tax, Sales Tax, Business,
Professional and Occupational License (BPOL) Tax, Lodging Tax, Cigarette Tax, Bank Franchise Tax, Vehicle
License Tax and Consumer Utility Tax.
The Town’s budget groups departments with similar functions and responsibilities together into discrete
budgetary groups. In the General Fund, these groups include General Government, Public Safety, Public
Works, Parks and Recreation, and Community Development. Authorized FY2018 General Fund
expenditures for each of these budgetary groups, along with contributions, debt service, and transfers,
are illustrated in the following table.
Table 3: Total Authorized General Fund Expenditures by Budgetary Group, FY2018
Budgetary Group FY2018 Adopted Percent of Total

Public Safety $3,692,447 25%
Public Works $3,558,619 24%
Parks and Recreation $2,189,015 15%
Transfers $1,804,785 12%
Community Development $1,538,455 10%
General Government $1,226,253 8%
Debt Service $633,598 4%
Contributions $185,892 1%
Total $14,829,064 100%

Nearly half of General Fund expenditures are budgeted for Public Safety (Police and Fire) and Public Works
operations. In the table above, the Public Works budget group does not include utilities-related
expenditures (such as meter reading, transmission and distribution, and water/wastewater treatment),
because these are supported by the Water and Sewer Operating Fund.
In addition to current General Fund information, the Town also provided historical expenditures for
departments across all operating funds, including personnel, operating, and capital expenditures in the
General Fund, Water and Sewer Operating Fund, Motor Pool Fund, and Information Technology Fund. The
following table illustrates actual expenditures by budgetary group and department across all operating
funds from FY2016 and FY2017, along with FY2018 adopted expenditures.
Table 4: Historical Expenditures Across Operating Funds, FY2015-FY2018
Budgetary
Department FY2016 Actual FY2017 Actual FY2018 Adopted
Group
Economic Development $131,881 $213,777 $159,427
Community Inspections $304,507 $305,271 $372,262
Development Planning/Zoning $451,603 $501,106 $894,351
Visitor Center $79,183 $80,145 $90,764
Finance and Human
$459,979 $458,751 $582,265
Resources
General
Legal $155,153 $146,848 $188,864
Government
Town Council $175,889 $143,046 $166,188
Town Manager $175,340 $203,585 $268,027
Information
Information Technology $313,758 $333,556 $367,970
Technology
Motor Pool Motor Pool $518,883 $590,786 $473,307
Parks and
Parks and Recreation $1,883,399 $1,986,540 $2,189,015
Recreation
Fire Department $537,981 $300,338 $313,593
Public Safety
Police Department $2,831,964 $3,030,422 $3,378,854
Public Works $3,649,140 $3,991,747 $3,558,619
Meter Reading $202,226 $223,895 $263,975
Transmission and
$633,664 $586,889 $661,972
Public Works Distribution
and Utilities Wastewater Plant $1,642,276 $1,598,537 $1,780,063
Water Plant $901,871 $981,752 $1,054,858
Water and Sewer
$703,586 $686,645 $848,784
Administration
Total $15,752,283 $16,363,636 $17,613,158
FY2018 adopted expenditures represent a 12% increase over FY2016 actuals. These increases largely
reflect additional operating costs for functions like Economic Development, capital costs associated with
street maintenance programs in Public Works, and additional staff added in various departments.

Staffing
The Town’s overall staffing levels have remained relatively consistent in recent years. The budgetary
groups and departments with the largest number of full-time equivalent (FTE) positions include Public
Works and Utilities (34% of total), Parks and Recreation (32% of total), and Public Safety (19% of total).
Parks and Recreation, in particular, relies on part-time laborers to provide services as lifeguards and class
instructors, which inflates the department’s FTE count. The following table illustrates authorized staffing
levels from FY2016 through FY2018.
Table 5: Town of Warrenton Authorized FTEs, FY2016-FY2018
Budgetary Group Department FY2016 FY2017 FY2018

Economic Development 1 1 1
Community Development Inspections, Planning/Zoning 7 7 8.5
Visitor Center 1.5 1.5 1.5
Finance and Human Resources 7.5 7.5 8.5
General Government Town Council 0.5 0.5 0.5
Town Manager 1 1 2
Information Technology Information Technology 1 1 1
Motor Pool Motor Pool 3 3 3
Parks and Recreation Parks and Recreation 52.5 52.5 55.5
Police Department 28.5 30.5 31.5
Public Safety
Fire Department 2 2 2
Public Works & Utilities Administration 1
3 3 3
Public Works 29 29 29.5
Meter Reading 2 2 2
Public Works and Utilities Transmission & Distribution 7 7 7
Wastewater Plant 9 9 9
Water Plant 6 6 6
Water and Sewer Administration 3 3 3
Total FTEs 164.5 166.5 174.5
Overall authorized staffing has increased approximately 6% since FY2016, due to additional FTE positions
in the Police Department and Parks and Recreation Department. Notably, the Town’s actual staffing levels
closely correspond with budgeted staffing, and vacancy rates in the organization are low. Of 174.5
budgeted FTEs in FY2018, the Town currently employs 171.5 FTEs.
1
The costs associated with these personnel are distributed among Public Works and Utilities departments as
identified in Table 4.

Analysis and Recommendations

The following analysis and recommendations discuss each of the major Town departments included in the
scope of this review. The proposed recommendations for each department focus on strategic, structural,
and operational improvements which are most likely to improve staff’s efficiency and effectiveness in the
context of the Town’s overall needs.
The order in which recommendations are presented is important, because without first establishing
strategic goals, the Town will be unable to properly prioritize work or engage in effective organizational
management practices. Once a formal strategic plan is in place, the Town Manager will be responsible for
developing work plans and performance expectations in conjunction with department directors.
Department directors will then be responsible for communicating and managing these efforts with their
respective staffs. Additional recommendations for each department provide strategies for improving
staffing, structure, and technology use in the organization.
Town Council
The Town Council is the Town’s legislative body and plays an instrumental role in policy formation and
adoption, establishing an annual budget, and adopting ordinances governing the Town and its residents.
The following recommendations address the need for enhanced strategic planning and policy
development.
Strategic Planning
Recommendation 1: Develop a strategic plan with priority focus areas.
In July 2016, the Town Council held a strategic planning retreat with the Town Manager, Town Attorney,
and Town Recorder. The purpose of the retreat was to discuss the roles and responsibilities of Town staff
(particularly the Town Manager and Town Attorney), as well as to review the Town’s mission statement,
goals, and objectives. Key priority areas identified by the Town Council included infrastructure, economic
development, and public services.
Since that time, the Town Council and Town management staff have not engaged in regular strategic
planning efforts. Each February, the Town Manager engages the Council in a budget retreat which
describes the Town’s budget process, provides a financial update, and includes conversations regarding
budgetary goals and objectives. This discussion frequently has linkages to the goals and objectives
described in the 2016 strategic planning retreat; however, the budget retreat is focused on the Town’s
finances. Councilmembers are comfortable sharing their own strategic priorities, goals, and initiatives with
the Town Manager, but lack consistent opportunities to collectively discuss and determine the Town’s
mission, goals, and objectives as the Town’s governing body.
This prevents Councilmembers from engaging in candid conversations about values and goals in a
collective setting and achieving consensus regarding the Town’s priority areas. Establishing a structured
environment where these decisions can be made as a governing body is critical to building a sense of trust
and understanding among the Town Council.
The lack of a formal strategic planning framework with focus areas significantly challenges staff’s ability
to effectively prioritize work. New requests, projects, and tasks cannot be prioritized according to the

Town’s strategic initiatives, which inhibits staff’s ability to focus on goals most important to the governing
body.
To address these limitations, it is recommended that the Town build upon the results of the 2016 strategic
planning retreat and develop a formal strategic plan with priority focus areas. Strategic planning is a
cornerstone of effective organizational management, and benefits both elected officials as well as the
Town’s professional staff. Effective strategic planning answers three central questions for organizations:
• Where are we? What do we know to be true?

• Where do we want to go? What do we hope will be true in the future?
• How do we get there? What must go well in order to make it so?
Answering these questions is best accomplished through regular, dedicated strategic planning sessions
where Councilmembers provide direction regarding the Town’s strategic priorities. As the Town’s
conditions and needs change, it will be important to regularly revisit and update the strategic plan to
reflect contemporary realities. As a best practice, strategic plans should be reviewed and updated
annually and revised every three years to provide relevant direction and ensure they reflect the governing
body’s present priorities.
Regular strategic planning serves as a primary form of communication between the Town’s governing
body and the Town’s staff and the community. It emphasizes the Council’s role in policy formation and
sets the tone and direction for Town staff. After the Town’s strategic plan is formalized, it can be used to
guide and inform decisions about the Town’s operations, such as the annual budget process and the
development of annual work plans. Rather than consider budgetary, operations, and other issues
independently, the Town’s elected officials and staff can evaluate whether and how various actions
reinforce the strategic plan. This enables the Town to focus on options and tasks which will have the most
impact toward achieving its strategic goals.
Policy Development
Recommendation 2: Create a comprehensive financial policy document and develop additional financial
policies.
Establishing and maintaining a comprehensive set of financial policies is a critical best practice in local
government. The process of developing financial policies creates opportunities for staff and elected
officials to engage in thoughtful discussions about the financial condition of the Town and the Town’s
financial future. Most important, financial policies guide Town staff as they budget and plan for municipal
service delivery.
The Government Finance Officers Association (GFOA) recommends that governments adopt formal
financial policies which include five key components: 2
• Scope. Scope includes subject matters and policy categories which should be addressed in any
government’s financial policy documents.
• Development. Policies should be developed using appropriate terms and definitions, written
down, formally adopted by the governing body, and implemented by the organization.
• Design. Each policy should be written in an understandable, accessible, and concise format.
2
Government Finance Officers Association: http://www.gfoa.org/adopting-financial-policies-0

• Presentation. All policies should be made available in a single source document, such as an annual
budget. Policies should clearly indicate the date they were last reviewed and revised by the
organization.
• Review. Policies should be subject to regular review. If policies are not consistently followed, the
organization should analyze and address issues that affect compliance.
Over the last several years, the Town Council has approved several policies related to financial
management, including fund balance, cash balance, investment, capital asset reporting, and internal
controls policies. The scope of these policies aligns well with GFOA best practices; however, there are
several other important policies the Town should consider adopting.
First, the Town should adopt a debt service policy which defines the total amount of general obligation
debt and enterprise fund revenue secured debt that the Town can reasonably service on an annual basis.
According to the Virginia constitution, no city or town can issue debts which exceed 10% of the city or
town’s total assessed value. 3 This formula provides useful guidance, but does not account for each
community’s ability to service debt or the varying debt preferences of local governing bodies. An effective
debt management policy provides guidance for issuing debt and maintaining the Town’s ability to manage
this debt at favorable interest rates for capital improvements, facilities, and equipment.
The Town should also consider adopting an economic development incentive policy, particularly given the
Town’s current focus on business growth and expansion and the Town’s ongoing efforts to develop an
economic development strategic plan. As a best practice, the GFOA recommends that economic
development incentive policies describe the goals and objectives of economic development, define the
types and limitations of incentives used to attract and retain businesses, and describe the process by
which projects will be evaluated. The goal of this policy is to ensure that incentives are applied consistently
in a way that minimizes the Town’s risks. The policy should carefully balance establishing clear boundaries
for utilizing incentives, but also provide staff with some flexibility and discretion to leverage incentives as
a development tool.
Additionally, the Town should establish a formal policy regarding the preparation, coordination, and
response to comprehensive annual financial audits. This policy should define the responsibilities of Town
staff regarding the coordination and completion of audits, as well as the process by which the Town will
respond to any corrective actions outlined in the external audit upon its completion. This policy provides
a formal structure for auditing/reporting purposes and will help ensure the Town consistently performs
required audit functions.
Currently, the Town’s existing financial policies exist in a variety of formats and are not centralized in a
single document. Only the current fund balance policy is included in the Town’s FY2018 budget. The
Finance and HR Director should play a lead role in the standardization and development of financial
policies in conjunction with the Town Manager and the Town Council. These policies should be collected
in a single policy document and/or added to the Town’s annual budget document.
3
Virginia Constitution, Article 7, Section 10. https://law.lis.virginia.gov/constitution/article7/section10/

Town Manager’s Office

The Town Manager is responsible for overseeing the Town’s principal functions and administering the
Town government, including supervision of departments and divisions, developing the Town’s annual
budget, and closely coordinating with the Town Council. The following recommendations are intended to
further develop the Town’s organizational management practices, prioritize technology opportunities,
and address records management and workspace constraints.
Organizational Management
Recommendation 3: Develop work plans for each department based on the Town’s strategic plan.
Creating and regularly updating a formal strategic plan provides an effective framework for establishing
and revising the Town’s goals and objectives. To ensure implementation of the strategic plan, it is
necessary to develop formal work plans for departments which align with the Town Council’s goals and
priorities as articulated in the strategic plan. Many of the Town’s departments do not currently engage in
formal work planning; instead, they carry out priorities funded by the Town budget and balance other
day-to-day requests generated by Councilmembers, residents, customers, and other stakeholders. This
approach contributes to an overall environment focused on reactive solutions to new problems and
requests. Because staff cannot refer to a strategic plan or annual work plan for guidance, the ability to
prioritize new initiatives is constrained.
The purpose of creating formal work plans is to describe, in concrete terms, how the work of each
department will carry out and achieve the goals of the Town’s strategic plan. This emphasizes the role
staff play regarding implementation of the Council’s policy direction.
An annual work plan is a tool that departments use to focus and guide energy to successfully achieve
Town-wide goals. It is a best practice for departments to have an annual work plan that: 1) sets forth the
department’s key goals in alignment with the Town’s strategic plan; 2) outlines the projects that
contribute to the achievement of each goal; 3) includes estimated timeframes and deadlines; 4) assigns
primary responsibility for achieving each goal (or completing each project) to an individual; and
5) prioritizes activities.
Each year, departments should develop an annual work plan in consultation with the Town Manager. The
work plan should incorporate specific initiatives for staff to focus on throughout the year and describe
how these initiatives directly support the Town’s strategic goals and objectives. Where possible, work plan
initiatives should include an estimated timeframe for completion, the estimated cost of implementing the
initiative, and the estimated number of labor hours required to achieve the initiative. The resulting work
plans will allow department directors and the Town Manager to more accurately quantify existing
initiatives, visualize how initiatives overlap throughout the year, and communicate this information to the
Town Council.
Work planning practices will have several positive impacts for the Town organization. First, they allow
departments to prioritize projects and initiatives based on their relevance to the Town’s strategic goals.
The workplan also serves as an accountability tool for staff, because it describes work to be accomplished
and approximate timeframes and deadlines for completing the work. Estimating timelines and associated
labor hours allows staff to communicate the impact of each initiative on overall workload and prevents
overburdening staff with unrealistic performance expectations. This allows the Town’s management staff

to ensure that personnel stay on-task, deliver timely results, and consistently progress toward achieving
the Council’s goals.
Additionally, prioritizing new requests and initiatives that arise throughout the year is more easily
accomplished if a work plan is in place. The work plan provides a framework for determining whether a
new initiative will readily address Council’s goals and priorities. If the initiative is appropriate, staff can
illustrate the impact of adding the initiative to the department’s annual work plan and describe how other
projects and tasks will be affected. This prevents staff from becoming overburdened with tasks that do
not contribute to the strategic goals of the Town Council.
Updating and monitoring the work plan needs to become part of each department’s internal process.
Going forward, the work plan should serve as a template for performance management activities, such as
monthly progress reports between the Town Manager and department directors where the status of each
goal and project should be communicated. The following recommendation discusses performance
management in greater detail.
Recommendation 4: Develop and implement a Town-wide performance management system with

performance measures for each department.
After establishing a strategic plan and developing annual work plans designed to achieve the Town’s
strategic goals, it is necessary to develop a Town-wide performance management system. Performance
management is a process tool which allows the Town’s management staff to monitor the organization’s
progress toward achieving the goals and priorities identified in the strategic plan.
A performance management system typically consists of three core elements: 1) creating strategic plans
and establishing goals; 2) measuring performance against established performance goals; and 3)
sustaining a dialogue between management and employees to ensure that the work of the organization
is completed. The first element, creating a strategic plan, is discussed in the first recommendation of this
report.
The second element, measuring performance, requires establishing formal performance measures for the
Town’s departments and tracking data relevant to these measures. Town departments currently approach
performance measurement on an ad-hoc basis. Some departments, such as Parks and Recreation,
regularly evaluate measures, such as program attendance, to inform decisions about when to add or
eliminate recreational programs. The Community Development Department has proposed standardizing
a series of performance measures for staff, including: inspection and plan review turnaround times; the
number of re-zonings, plans, and permits processed; and the number of inspections performed.
The current lack of consistent emphasis on performance measurement points to a need to develop formal
measures and track relevant data in each department. It is important to ensure that all departments have
access to performance data which allows them to thoroughly analyze the effectiveness of their
operations. This is especially critical in the context of work planning, because it provides an objective
method for evaluating both the efficiency of staff and the effectiveness of initiatives designed to achieve
Council’s strategic goals.
There are three types of performance measures that must be considered when evaluating program
effectiveness. The first are workload measures, or inputs. These are measures that define the volume of
work managed by staff, as well as discrete work activities. The second type of workload measure is an
outcome measure. These are calculated using inputs (e.g., workload measures) to develop ratios and

indicators of a program’s success in meeting its intended outcomes. The third type of measure is an
efficiency measure. These measures indicate the relative cost, in terms of dollar value and labor hours,
required to meet workload demands.
To effectively evaluate the Town’s success toward meeting strategic goals, it is necessary to identify, track
and evaluate a “family” of workload, outcome, and efficiency measures. The following table provides
examples of measures that could be adopted by each department to evaluate performance and improve
the Town’s ability to analyze workload and staffing.
Table 6: Example Performance Measures by Major Function/Department
Workload Measure
Major Function or Outcome Measure Efficiency Measure
(e.g., Volume of
Department (e.g., Ratios of Success) (e.g., Cost of Service)
Work)
Number of business Percentage of business
Economic Labor hours per business
retention visits retention visits that lead
Development visit
conducted to a project
Community Number of plans Percentage of plans Labor hours per plan
Development reviewed reviewed on time review
Number of Percentage of
Finance and Labor hours per
recruitments recruitments leading to a
Human Resources recruitment
performed successful hire
Number of freedom Percentage of FOIA
Labor hours per FOIA
Town Manager of information (FOIA) requests completed on
request
requests received time
Number of Percentage of repairs Average cost of repair
Information
technology assets to completed within including labor, overhead,
Technology
maintain acceptable timeframe parts
Average hourly cost of
Number of fleet work Average turnaround time
Motor Pool repairs including labor,
orders processed per work order
overhead, parts
Percentage of classes
Parks and Number of classes Cost to administer class
which are less than half
Recreation conducted per attendee
full
Number of solid Percentage of solid waste
Public Works and Cost of solid waste
waste customers/ route collections
Utilities services per stop
stops completed on time
The example measures above provide some insight into how workload, outcome, and efficiency measures
can work in concert to paint a comprehensive picture of an organization’s effectiveness. Each department
should develop a list of such measures which will best help it evaluate the quantity of services provided,
as well as how well these services are performed by staff. These measures should be tailored to each
department’s annual work plan in the context of the Town’s overall strategic plan. This will help ensure
that departments are measuring appropriate and worthwhile indicators which can provide useful insights
to staff, stakeholders, and elected officials.
The final element of effective performance management is sustaining a dialogue between managers and
employees. Establishing regular performance meetings is critical to foster a sense of awareness and

accountability regarding the organization’s goals, allows managers to avoid reactive crisis management,
and creates a space for managers and employees to discuss strategic issues. While the Town Manager
regularly meets with department directors as a group, there is an opportunity to expand the use of regular
one-on-one meetings between the Town Manager and department directors, as well as between
department directors and staff under their supervision. These meetings should be utilized to review work
plans and priorities, discuss relevant performance measures, and monitor the effectiveness of service
delivery.
Structure and Staffing

Recommendation 5: Reassign supervision of the IT Manager position from the Finance and Human
Resources Director to the Town Manager.
The Town currently maintains an Information Technology (IT) Manager position in the Finance and Human
Resources (HR) Department which reports to the Finance and HR Director. According to the latest
available job description for the IT Manager, this position is responsible for a variety of technology-related
functions, including, but not limited to, administering the Town’s network infrastructure, overseeing IT-
related contracts, coordinating technology training for Town staff, and assisting with IT planning for the
Town. At the time this report was prepared, the IT Manager position was vacant.
While it is appropriate for the Town to maintain an IT Manager position for the purposes described above,
it is not advantageous to locate the position within the Finance and HR Department. Both finance and HR
functions require highly trained personnel and dedicated staff support to ensure quality service and
compliance with legal mandates and professional best practices. The Finance and HR Director currently
oversees both functions with limited staff support and must devote significant work hours to basic HR
administration. Other HR-related needs, such as regular benefits analysis and professional development
programming, are currently underdeveloped due to a lack of staff capacity. As a result, the most important
task facing the Finance and HR Department is to develop dedicated resources for HR (See
Recommendation 10). Addressing this challenge will require significant management attention, and it is
unreasonable to expect that the Finance and HR Director will be able to sufficiently supervise IT functions
alongside these other responsibilities.
There is no best practice regarding the supervision of IT personnel, but municipal organizations commonly
assign the supervision of IT to the chief executive’s office (e.g., Town Manager, City Manager). The
Warrenton Town Manager currently supervises eight positions, as illustrated on the following figure.

Executive Assistant Town Manager Town Recorder

1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 0.5 FTE
Director of
Community Chief of Police
Development 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Director of Finance
Director of Parks
and Human
and Recreation
Resources
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Economic
Director of Public
Development
Works and Utilities
Manager
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Figure 3: Town Manager’s Office - Current Reporting Relationships, 2018
It is recommended that the Town transfer supervision of the IT Manager to the Town Manager for several
reasons. An immediate initial benefit is the elimination of the Finance and HR Director’s responsibility to
manage IT issues. Locating IT in the Town Manager’s Office also centralizes the management and
administration of IT functions in the Town organization and gives IT greater access to the Town’s elected
officials, executive staff, and other departments. Under the direction of the Town Manager, the IT
Manager will be able to better evaluate and accommodate the organization’s technology needs at a
strategic level.
Of the five peer communities analyzed for this assessment, four have adopted a reporting structure where
IT reports to the Town Manager. The only exception was the Town of Leesburg, Virginia, where the IT
Manager reports to the Finance and Administrative Services Director.
Reassigning supervision of the IT Manager to the Town Manager will increase the Town Manager’s span
of control from eight to nine staff members, as illustrated in the following figure. The IT Manager position
is highlighted in green.

Executive Assistant Town Manager Town Recorder

1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 0.5 FTE
Director of
Community Chief of Police
Development 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Director of Finance
Director of Parks
and Human
and Recreation
Resources
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Economic
Director of Public
Development
Works and Utilities
Manager
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Information
Technology
Manager
1.0 FTE
Figure 4: Proposed Reporting Relationships to Town Manager, 2018
Although this transfer will increase the Town Manager’s direct reports, this is a typical span of control for
organizations of similar size and scope to Warrenton. Among peer communities reviewed for this study,
Town Managers directly supervised between eight and 10 personnel.
Technology Planning and Development

Recommendation 6: Prioritize the implementation of new financial and planning technology systems
and provide relevant training.
Town staff currently rely on paper-based, manual processing systems and outdated software for several
core functions. The Finance and HR Department utilizes a software program designed by Bright and
Associates™ to manage accounting, budgeting, and human resources information. Bright and Associates
is a regional software solutions provider serving municipal clients in Virginia, Kentucky, and Tennessee.
According to Town staff, this software was first acquired in 1996 and requires frequent manual entry of
information. This increases the likelihood of duplicate or erroneous entries and consumes considerable
staff time. Staff are also constrained by the software’s limited reporting capability, which increases the
difficulty of analyzing financial and HR data to make informed decisions.
Other departments, such as Community Development, lack software management systems entirely. This
presents significant challenges to staff, because documentation related to permits, plans, and projects
exists only in paper form and may be filed in a variety of places depending on the content. There is no
consistent, centralized tool available to track applications, evaluate progress, consolidate comments,
analyze turnaround times, schedule and track inspections, or evaluate performance. As a result, it is very

difficult for staff to obtain a clear understanding of the amount of work involved in various processes, and
any effort to achieve this understanding requires searching and analyzing paper records.
To address these deficiencies, the Town has begun identifying and budgeting for comprehensive software
packages designed to streamline processes, increase the public’s access to information, and improve staff
effectiveness. Specifically, the Town has budgeted to acquire Munis™ financial software in FY2020 and is
currently in final negotiations with Tyler Technologies™ to meet the needs of Community Development.
These software packages will alleviate the need to maintain and file paper records. They also include
robust reporting and performance measurement capabilities which should be leveraged by the Town’s
management staff to evaluate service delivery goals and, in the case of Community Development, to allow
applicants to track the status of their submittals. This will also help Town staff respond more rapidly to
FOIA requests. 4
It will be important for the IT Manager to play a proactive role in the deployment of these systems.
Additionally, the IT Manager and Town staff must become familiar with the capabilities of new software
procured by the Town. This familiarity can only be achieved through appropriate training and consistent
engagement with the new software. The IT Manager should be responsible for identifying training
opportunities associated with new technology and ensure staff attend training sessions to understand the
tools at their disposal.
As the Town continues adopting new technologies, it will be important for the Town Manager, IT Manager,
and Department directors to regularly evaluate the effectiveness of existing work processes.
Organizations that procure new technologies but avoid changing how work is performed often
underutilize their technology investment. Maximizing the return on investment for these software
systems requires careful consideration of current work processes and a willingness to change how work
is assigned and accomplished.
Recommendation 7: Develop an information technology strategic plan.

The Town’s current effort to procure technologies for financial, human resources, and community
development functions is a first step towards creating a fully integrated technology environment for the
Town, but the Town’s need for technology is not confined to these functions. There is a need to evaluate
and balance technology demands from across the organization, including the procurement of records
management software and website management tools, expanding the use of online video streaming for
public meetings, coordinating with the Police Department’s technology efforts (such as adopting lapel
cameras and mobile data terminals), and implementing routine hardware and software updates required
as technology improves.
The Town lacks a process to systematically identify, assess, and prioritize these competing technology
needs. As a result, IT hardware and software requests are evaluated within the constraints of the budget
process without the benefit of a broader perspective to inform resource allocation priorities. This limits
the Town’s ability to centrally assess IT needs and prevents the Town from reasonably determining
whether it is able to maintain new systems.
4
While specific information regarding FOIA requests was not readily available, staff estimate approximately 70% of
requests take longer than five business days to fulfill. In many cases, this is attributable to the manual effort
involved in locating, analyzing, and duplicating relevant paper files.

It is recommended that the Town develop an IT strategic plan to better address the organization’s
technology needs. An IT strategic plan will assist staff in assessing the Town’s current technology
environment and provide a mechanism for identifying long-range software, hardware, and technology
priorities. Effective IT strategic plans include three significant components: a description or vision for how
the Town will leverage technology, an inventory of existing hardware and software assets, and a
prioritized assessment of systems, software, and services that must be implemented to achieve the
Town’s technology goals.
The IT strategic plan will allow the Town to understand its technological capabilities given current systems
and resources. The resulting plan will create a framework for making thoughtful investments to achieve
the Town’s strategic goals. As a result, the Town will more effectively consider its long-term technology
strategy and utilize the IT strategic plan as an important communications and budgeting tool.
The IT Manager should be responsible for developing the IT strategic plan in consultation with other
departments and the Town Manager. An effective way of bringing these parties together is to create a
Technology Services Steering Committee consisting of representatives from throughout the organization,
especially those areas which rely heavily on technology. The committee should be tasked with identifying
short and long-term technology-related issues, needs, and opportunities, and with developing technology
standards based on the Town’s strategic goals and operating needs.
The Steering Committee should be responsible for reviewing all technology requests and analyzing them
within the context of the Town’s strategic priorities and objectives. The Committee’s analysis and
recommendations would then be considered during the annual budget process. The use of a Steering
Committee allows the Town to anticipate technology costs for budgeting purposes and avoids haphazard
technology acquisitions which may not benefit the Town over the long term. As goals and technologies
change, the IT strategic plan should also be revised.
Records Management
Recommendation 8: Create capacity for the Town’s Executive Assistant to perform additional records
management duties.
In November 2017, the Town hired a full-time Executive Assistant to support the Town Manager’s Office.
Core functions and tasks assigned to this position include agenda development for public meetings,
minute-taking for Council committees and other public bodies, responding to FOIA requests, website
administration and public information activities, research, assisting with special projects, and records
management.
In practice, a significant portion of this position’s time is devoted to IT issues in the absence of an IT
Manager. The Executive Assistant currently provides troubleshooting and help desk support for Town
Councilmembers and staff, and manages the network infrastructure used to stream public meetings over
the internet. These responsibilities properly belong to the IT Manager. Once the IT Manager position is
filled, the responsibility for triaging help desk requests, referring staff to the Town’s third-party service
provider (Advanced Network Systems), and ensuring the full functionality of web streaming services
should be assigned to this position.
Eliminating responsibilities for IT will allow the Executive Assistant to devote greater attention to other
tasks more in line with the position’s job description. A particularly intensive need identified by Town staff
involves records management practices and storage. Although Town departments generate a significant
amount of paper records, there is little centralization or indexing of these records in keeping with state

retention policies. As a result, the Town stores many records without knowing whether it has a legal
obligation to keep them.
There are two significant drawbacks to the Town’s present records management practice. The first is that
the volume of records stored at Town Hall constrains available storage space. During field work, The Novak
Consulting Group observed boxes of records stored in a men’s restroom due to a lack of available on-site
storage. The second challenge involves responding to FOIA requests. Because records are stored in a
variety of places with no central index, the complexity of identifying documents relevant to FOIA requests
is multiplied. As a result, staff may spend significant time sorting through records storage which may or
may not be relevant to fulfilling the request. This delays fulfillment and is not an efficient use of staff time.
Records management is the first functional responsibility listed in the Executive Assistant’s job
description, and it is important for this position to devote sufficient attention to records management
issues. The Executive Assistant should develop formal records retention policies for the Town in
consultation with the Town Manager and Town Attorney, which should be reviewed and approved by the
Town Council. As the Town expands its use of technology, it will be important for the Executive Assistant
and IT Manager to identify reasonable strategies for automating the retention of digital records in
accordance with these policies.
Additionally, the Executive Assistant could play a pivotal role in inventorying existing records and
disposing of records that do not need to be maintained in accordance with applicable state law. Once this
inventory process begins, the Town may wish to secure the services of a records management agency or
software provider to assist with document identification and to create a digital repository of the Town’s
records. These practices will ensure the Town only retains documents that must be retained and will help
create a central records repository to simplify the search and FOIA process.
Space Needs
Recommendation 9: Conduct a space needs analysis to determine workspace needs for Town staff.
Warrenton Town Hall is currently located in a former bank building at 18 Court Street in downtown
Warrenton. Available space within Town Hall is constrained by a variety of factors. Town Council chambers
are co-located with Finance and HR staff workspaces on the ground floor, separated by temporary walls.
Due to the building’s vaulted ceilings, workspace on the second floor is limited to the Town Manager’s
office, the Executive Assistant’s work area, and a conference room. Community Development staff are
located in the basement of Town Hall. Other departments, including Public Works and Utilities, Police,
and Parks and Recreation, operate from dedicated facilities in other parts of the Town.
There is little, if any, available space to add staff positions at Town Hall. To accommodate the recently-
hired Economic Development Manager, the Town began leasing office space located at 19 Culpeper
Street. Hiring additional staff, including positions described in this report, will exacerbate the Town’s
already limited workspace constraints.
To address this challenge, the Town should conduct a space needs analysis designed to answer two
fundamental questions: What spaces within Town Hall are most conducive for locating staff, and how
much space does each department in Town Hall need to operate most efficiently? The latter question
should include an assessment of space currently leased by the Town, including the space occupied by the
Economic Development Manager.

Answering these questions will allow the Town to carefully consider the best options for expanding
available workspace. These options could include (but are not limited to): relocating Town Council
chambers to another location, possibly one shared with another government agency; relocating entire
functions/departments from Town Hall to more spacious and accessible locations in the community;
and/or renovating Town Hall to maximize available storage spaces. A space needs analysis will provide the
Town with an objective description of minimum space and accessibility requirements needed to support
Town staff and customers. These requirements can then be used to generate cost estimates for the
options above, or to identify other possibilities for maximizing space which may emerge from the analysis.
Finance and Human Resources Department

The Finance and HR Department is currently responsible for several Town functions, including accounting,
budgeting, procurement, HR administration, and overseeing IT. The recommendations in this section are
designed to expand the Department’s ability to deliver HR services through staffing changes, and to focus
more effectively on core tasks by outsourcing highly manual work.

Recommendation 10: Create a Human Resources Manager position in the Finance Department.
The Finance and HR Department is led by a Director who currently supervises two direct reports: an
Accounting Supervisor and the IT Manager. The Department’s current structure is illustrated in the
following figure.
Director of Finance
and Human
Resources
1.0 FTE
Information
Accounting
Technology
Supervisor
Manager
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting

Technician Technician Technician Technicians Technician Technician
(Part-Time) (Payroll) (Tax Administrator) (Front Counter) (Utility Billing) (Accounts Payable)
0.5 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 2.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Figure 5: Director of Finance and HR - Current Reporting Relationships, 2018
While the Department’s organizational structure does not present immediate concerns due to span of
control issues, the current allocation of functions and responsibilities is not sustainable, particularly with
respect to HR. HR duties are currently distributed among several individuals in the Department.
Recruitment opportunities are posted by the Department’s part-time Accounting Technician, while the
full-time Accounting Technician responsible for payroll also assists with generating monthly HR reports.
Open enrollment for benefits is coordinated by the Accounting Supervisor. Most other HR-related
functions, including employee relations, discipline, compensation, and professional development, are
assigned to the Finance and HR Director. The Director must balance these responsibilities with other
functions including budgeting, auditing, revenue and expenditure forecasting, procurement, and
information technology. This creates an environment where the Finance and HR Director is overtasked
and lacks sufficient staff support to delegate HR responsibilities.

Human resources is a highly specialized function with significant legal, operational, and professional
implications for the Town. It is important that these functions be administered by a position with sufficient
capacity to ensure that HR functions are carried out efficiently and effectively. In the context of the Town’s
current structure and operations, this is best accomplished by creating a dedicated Human Resources
Manager position who will report to the Finance and HR Director, as illustrated in the following figure.
Director of Finance
and Human
Resources
1.0 FTE
Accounting Human Resources

Supervisor Manager
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting

Technician Technician Technician Technicians Technician Technician
(Part-Time) (Payroll) (Tax Administrator) (Front Counter) (Utility Billing) (Accounts Payable)
0.5 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 2.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Figure 6: Proposed Finance and HR Structure, 2018
There is some precedent among peer communities for this arrangement; while most of the Town’s peers
utilize an HR Director position who reports to the Town Manager, the Town of Leesburg utilizes an HR
Manager position who reports to the Director of Finance and Administrative Services.
The HR Manager will be most effective if this position is filled with a qualified HR generalist. An HR
generalist is someone with expertise in the major functions of HR, such as recruitment, benefits
administration, employee relations and discipline, and compensation. This will allow the HR Manager to
undertake HR-related tasks currently carried out by other staff in the Department, such as recruitment.
The HR Manager should work with hiring managers to develop job descriptions and advertisements,
expand the Town’s advertising strategy, review applicants to ensure they meet minimum qualifications
for each job, provide hiring managers with a shortlist of ideal candidates for each position, and assist with
the interview process.
Additionally, the HR Manager should be responsible for benefits administration and open enrollment.
When employees have concerns about their benefits or wish to make changes, the HR Manager should
serve as their primary contact for investigating and resolving these concerns. A qualified HR generalist will
also bring expertise in compensation and classification, professional development, employee relations,
and training to the Town organization. This knowledge should be leveraged to provide Town staff with
expanded access to these services.
Assigning these functions to the HR Manager will eliminate the need for Accounting Technicians to assist
with recruitment and reporting and will relieve the Accounting Supervisor of open enrollment duties.
Additionally, the Finance and HR Director will be able to delegate tasks to the HR Manager, which will
allow the Director to more effectively manage the Department at a strategic level. The HR Manager
position was identified in the Department’s FY2019 budget request with an estimated total compensation
cost of $87,630. When filling this position, the Town should consider applicants with experience in the
core HR functions discussed above, as well as some familiarity with software systems the Town is likely to
implement (e.g., Munis).

Payroll Processing
Recommendation 11: Issue an RFP to outsource payroll processing functions.
The Town’s payroll process is largely manual. To process payroll, staff must enter information from the
Town’s time and attendance system into the Bright software system by hand, along with extra hours
worked (overtime) and leave hours used. This involves considerable staff time and introduces
opportunities for transcription errors. Organizations often outsource highly manual, rote processes such
as payroll to reduce errors and administrative overhead. To evaluate the cost effectiveness of this
solution, the Town should issue a request for proposals (RFP) regarding outsourcing payroll tasks for the
organization.
There are several advantages to outsourcing manual tasks such as payroll. First, a contractual relationship
allows the Town to capitalize on the technological capabilities of a third-party provider, particularly
regarding fully digitized time and attendance systems, direct deposit, and electronic pay stubs.
Outsourcing also allows the Town to avoid creating and maintaining complex processes designed to
ensure the accuracy of employee pay each pay period. Instead, these processes and the accuracy of pay
will become the responsibility of the Town’s payroll provider. A contractual arrangement thereby reduces
opportunities for staff error and streamlines how employees receive their pay.
Finally, delegating payroll to a third-party provider would allow the Account Technician performing payroll
duties to undertake higher-priority tasks, such as supporting the HR Manager. This would avoid the need
to hire more staff as the organization continues to grow and will result in a higher, better use of existing
positions.
Decisions to outsource tasks should not be made lightly, and the Town should carefully consider the
qualitative and quantitative costs and benefits of using a third-party provider for this service. This
comparison is most effective utilizing the RFP process. The Town should develop an RFP asking providers
to indicate how they would perform payroll processing, quantify the amount of time Town staff will need
to devote to supporting the provider, and enumerate the total cost of contracted services. This will allow
the Town to weigh the potential costs of outsourcing against the current cost of processing payroll in-
house, as well as the potential cost of hiring additional staff.
Community Development Department

The Community Development Department is responsible for administering long-range planning, historic
preservation, zoning, development review, and inspection functions for the Town. The recommendations
in this section are intended to bolster the Department’s dedicated staffing for core duties and tasks, such
as historic preservation, plan review, and customer service support. Opportunities to leverage third-party
providers for inspections services (particularly regarding fire inspections) are also discussed as a means of
addressing program needs.

Recommendation 12: Create a Historic Preservation Planner position.
Historic preservation is an important component of the Town’s identity. The Town first established a
historic district in 1982, which was listed on both the State Landmarks Register as well as the National
Register of Historic Places the following year. The district was expanded in 1990 and 1996, and currently
comprises over 180 acres of land and more than 300 contributing resources (such as buildings and

structures) in downtown Warrenton. The district’s boundaries contain Warrenton’s central business
district and five surrounding residential neighborhoods.
Development in the Town’s historic district is principally overseen by the Architectural Review Board
(ARB), a five-member volunteer panel of residents with historical and architectural knowledge and
experience. The ARB is tasked with reviewing exterior alterations to buildings which might impact the
visual character of the historic district, such as renovations using dissimilar materials, additions and
demolitions, signs and awnings, and other modifications. Proposed changes are evaluated by Community
Development staff according to the Warrenton Historic District Design Guidelines and are reviewed by the
ARB for approval.
Historic preservation planning is highly specialized and time-intensive by nature. It requires a familiarity
with local, state, and federal preservation laws, as well as a detailed understanding of and appreciation
for the unique architectural designs and elements incorporated in historic buildings. Historic preservation
planning typically involves a detailed analysis of applicant proposals to ensure the unique architecture of
existing structures is preserved, and that the use of facilities fits the character of the historic district.
Municipalities with significant historic assets commonly employ historic preservation planners dedicated
to development projects in historic districts.
As part of its FY2019 budget request, the Community Development Department included a request for a
dedicated Historic Preservation Planner position. This request is appropriate, and it is recommended that
the Town create a Historic Preservation Planner position for several reasons. First, given the importance
of historic preservation over the last several decades and the Town’s current focus on economic
development, it is important to ensure that economic activity and residential development do not disrupt
the Town’s architectural character. Second, the Community Development Department currently lacks
staff with specialized training in historic preservation and development. While the Senior Planner
currently staffs the ARB, in practice there is no real centralization of historic preservation plan review.
These reviews are often conducted by the Director, Senior Planner, and Planner as a group due to the lack
of available historic planning expertise. This consumes staff time for all three positions which could be
dedicated to other tasks, such as development review outside the historic district, comprehensive plan
administration, and planning/zoning code updates.
A dedicated Historic Preservation Planner position will allow the Town to centralize all planning-related
processes involved in the historic district area under the oversight of a single position. The Historic
Preservation Planner will serve as an important resource for Town staff, particularly in Community
Development and Economic Development, as well as for Town stakeholders and the private development
community. This position should ensure that the Town fulfills its legal obligations with respect to historic
preservation at the local, state, and federal levels. It should also be responsible for staffing the ARB and
provide assistance with general planning support if needed.
By creating and staffing a qualified, dedicated Historic Preservation Planner position, the Town can ensure
that its efforts to grow and develop economically do not destroy the architectural features that attract
residents and businesses to Warrenton. According to the Department’s FY2019 budget request, the
estimated cost of filling this position is approximately $69,147 including benefits. The actual cost of filling
this position will vary depending on interested candidates and their qualifications and experience.

Recommendation 13: Reclassify the part-time Permit Technician position to a full-time Administrative
Assistant.
The Community Development Department currently lacks dedicated administrative support, and the
Department does not currently employ an Administrative Assistant or similar position. Instead, the
Department utilizes two Permit Technicians (one full-time and one part-time) to perform a variety of
internal and external customer service duties. These duties exceed the scope of permit intake and are
much more aligned with traditional administrative responsibilities, such as answering phones, directing
customers to appropriate staff, managing calendars, as well as development-related activities of receiving
permit and plan applications from customers, and scheduling inspections.
To address the gap between current administrative needs and actual staffing, the Department should
create dedicated administrative support. This should be accomplished by reclassifying the part-time
Permit Technician to a full-time Administrative Assistant responsible for administrative support and
customer service, including answering phones, greeting visitors, managing staff calendars, and typing
reports and letters, maintaining Department files, assisting with agenda and packet creation, and
performing other administrative tasks as required by the Director.
Creating a full-time administrative support position will allow the Department’s staff to focus more
effectively on core tasks, while establishing a well-defined contact point for general customer service
needs. This position will also help the Department distinguish clerical tasks from semi-specialized work,
such as permit intake and processing, which requires more technical expertise and additional
responsibility for processing payments and collecting fees.
In its FY2019 budget request, the Community Development Department proposed reclassifying both
Permit Technicians as full-time Customer Service Representatives at the same salary grade as an
Administrative Assistant position (Grade 11). While it is appropriate to dedicate a position to customer
service and administrative support, reclassifying both positions will prevent the Department from utilizing
a Permit Technician position to provide expanded development review services. More detail on the
proposed role the Permit Technician should take in development review is provided in the following
recommendation. It should be noted that some cross-training between the proposed Administrative
Assistant and Permit Technician positions will be necessary, since both positions will principally work with
Community Development customers and field customer requests.
Based on the part-time Permit Technician’s current wages, the estimated net cost of reclassifying this
position as a full-time Administrative Assistant is approximately $13,000 including benefits.
Recommendation 14: Revise the Permit Technician job description to reflect updated intake processes.
The forthcoming acquisition of Tyler Technologies software for the Department will streamline
Community Development workload and enhance customer service through paperless plan review, digital
permit records management, simplified fee collections, electronic inspections scheduling and requests,
and performance measurement reports. These capabilities will reduce or eliminate the need for Permit
Technician positions to manually enter, file, and track permits and inspections records. Because the core
processes performed by Permit Technician positions will change so dramatically and enhance staff
capabilities, there is an opportunity to revise the full-time Permit Technician’s job description.
In high-functioning departments, Permit Technician responsibilities often exceed intake and scheduling
tasks. These staff are also frequently required to verify the accuracy and completeness of submitted
documents, engage in simple plan review tasks, route submitted plans to appropriate reviewers and

inspectors, issue over-the counter permits, and maintain a basic working knowledge of applicable codes
and the development review process. In addition, Permit Technicians are frequently responsible for
calculating and collecting applicable fees, electronically documenting and tracking applications,
scheduling inspections, and running reports. These duties require a specialization which exceeds
administrative support skills.
Once the Community Development Department has implemented Tyler Technologies and embraced
electronic permit management and inspections scheduling, the Department should amend the Permit
Technician job description to require familiarity with the software systems, codes, and development
review processes this position is likely to encounter each day. Additionally, the Department should
identify relevant specializations which will allow this position to add value to the development review
process by more thoroughly screening submittals, engaging in simple plan reviews, independently issuing
permits (where applicable) and conducting regular workload and performance reports for planning and
inspections staff. These specializations should be added to the Permit Technician job description.
The proposed changes to the Permit Technician job description will have two immediate effects on the
Town. First, Permit Technicians will likely need to undergo some formal training in development review
to provide more advanced services to customers. A certification program, such as the Permit Tech
Institute offered by the International Code Council (ICC), can be a cost-effective method of increasing staff
capabilities. 5 Other organizations, such as the Virginia Department of Housing and Community
Development, also offer training and certification programs designed to ensure staff obtain relevant
knowledge of codes and development review. The Town should consider providing similar training to
Permit Technicians as a way of expanding the capacity of existing staff.
Second, requiring Permit Technicians to achieve a higher degree of specialization is likely to prompt a
review of this position’s classification and compensation. According to the Town’s FY2018 classification
and compensation schedule, Permit Technicians are classified as Grade 9 positions with a median salary
of $37,409 per year. This is lower than Administrative Assistants, which are classified as Grade 11 positions
earning a median salary of $41,243 per year. The Community Development Director should work with the
HR Manager and the Finance and HR Director to determine the appropriate salary grade for Permit
Technician positions after additional knowledge, skills, and abilities are added to the job description.
Recommendation 15: Create a Planning Division and assign supervision of the Historic Preservation
Planner and Planner to the Senior Planner.
The Community Development Director is involved in much of the Department’s day-to-day work, including
plan review and staffing the Planning Commission. Additionally, nearly all staff in the Community
Development Department report to the Director, as illustrated in the following figure.
5
At the time of this writing, the current cost of this training is $470 for ICC members:
https://www.iccsafe.org/education-certification/education/permit-tech-institute/

Director of
Community
Development
1.0 FTE
Lead Building Permit Technician Permit Technician Zoning

Senior Planner Planner
Official (Full-Time) (Part-Time) Administrator
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 0.5 FTE 1.0 FTE
Senior Inspector/
Fire Official
1.0 FTE
Inspector/Building
Official
1.0 FTE
Figure 7: Director of Community Development - Current Reporting Relationships, 2018
The Director’s current responsibilities and supervisory workload limit this position’s ability to proactively
and strategically manage the Department and its staff. The proposed staffing adjustments in this section
are likely to exacerbate this problem if unaddressed. The addition of a Historic Preservation Planner will
increase this span of control to seven staff, and reclassifying the part-time Permit Technician to a full-time
Administrative Assistant will result in modest additional oversight for the Director.
To prevent further dividing the Director’s attention and create more streamlined reporting relationships
among staff, it is recommended that the Department transfer supervision of the Historic Preservation
Planner and the Planner positions to the Senior Planner as part of a formal Planning Division. The proposed
staffing structure for the Department is illustrated in the following figure; new positions are highlighted
in green.
Director of
Community
Development
1.0 FTE
Lead Building Administrative Zoning

Permit Technician Senior Planner
Official Assistant Administrator
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Senior Inspector/
Planner
Fire Official
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Historic
Inspector/Building
Preservation
Official
Planner
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Figure 8: Proposed Community Development Structure, 2018

Assigning supervisory responsibility to the Senior Planner will result in several benefits for the
Department. It will reduce the Director’s span of control to five personnel, which will allow the Director
to achieve some distance from tactical, day-to-day workload decisions. Instead, the Director will be able
to focus on the Department’s strategic priorities and long-range projects.
Additionally, making the Senior Planner a supervisory position will establish a cohesive unit of three
planning staff in the Department. As a working supervisor, the Senior Planner will be able to monitor and
delegate projects and tasks among the Department’s Planners and serve as a contact point for planning-
related questions and concerns. This further reduces the need for the Director to become involved in day-
to-day decision-making and creates a more structured planning organization for the Town.
Fire Inspection
Recommendation 16: Investigate opportunities to contract with other local agencies for fire inspection
services.
Building and codes inspections are currently performed by three inspectors in Community Development,
headed by the Lead Building Official. These staff are responsible for a wide variety of inspections across
construction disciplines, and are expected to enforce relevant building, trades, fire, and environmental
codes. For the FY2019 budget, the Department requested an additional Fire Inspection Officer position to
conduct fire code inspections at construction sites and existing properties within the Town. According to
staff, a primary responsibility of this proposed position would involve the creation, implementation, and
oversight of a fire safety inspection program for commercial and other high-risk facilities. Such a program
would increase the Town’s ability to perform proactive fire inspections in order to prevent structure fires
and potential loss of life and property.
While adding a Fire Inspection Officer position to the Community Development Department would
undoubtedly create capacity to administer such a program, as an alternative, the Town should investigate
potential opportunities to engage in intergovernmental service sharing. This would allow the Town to
utilize another agency’s qualified personnel to conduct fire inspections in exchange for a fee, potentially
reducing costs while improving inspections services. The two agencies most likely to possess sufficient
technical expertise needed by the Town are the Warrenton Volunteer Fire Company (WVFC) and Fauquier
County.
The WVFC is primarily staffed by volunteer firefighters and provides response services in a 90-square mile
area in and around the Town. The organization is funded through contributions from the Town, Fauquier
County, fundraising events, and investments. In FY2018, the Town budgeted $313,593 to support staffing
and operations for the WVFC, including two full-time firefighter positions. This existing relationship and
annual financial support presents an excellent opportunity for the Town to engage the WVFC regarding
fire inspection services. Specifically, the Town Manager and Community Development Director should
meet with the WVFC Fire Chief to discuss whether the organization would be willing, capable, and
available to perform commercial and residential fire inspections for the Town. If so, the costs of these
services should be negotiated and reflected in the Town’s annual support for the WVFC.
Alternatively, the Town may choose to engage Fauquier County to determine whether any staff in its Fire
Rescue and Emergency Management Department or Community Development Department possess the
relevant skills and abilities to perform fire inspections for the Town. If so, the Town may choose to
establish an intergovernmental service sharing agreement with the County which specifies when and how
the Town and County will coordinate to conduct fire inspections.

The Town’s ability to contract for these services with another government agency is dependent on a
variety of factors, including the skills and capacity of peer staff as well as billing and operational
constraints. However, if a cost-effective partnership to share resources can be formed, the Town will avoid
the need to create another staff position and build closer relationships with peer organizations. These
relationships can be leveraged in the future to investigate additional resource-sharing and cost-saving
measures as the region grows and develops.
Public Works and Utilities Department

The Public Works and Utilities Department oversees a wide array of activities involving the Town’s physical
infrastructure. These activities are principally divided into two categories: traditional public works
activities including street maintenance, refuse collection, and building maintenance; and public utilities
activities including meter reading, water and wastewater treatment, and transmission and distribution
maintenance. This Department also oversees the Town’s motor pool and fleet maintenance operations.
Recommendations for this Department are intended to preserve the Department’s collaborative structure
while streamlining reporting relationships and creating additional, dedicated support for stormwater
management functions. Additionally, these recommendations are intended to emphasize the importance
of the Town’s stormwater management programs and identify dedicated staffing and funding resources
to support stormwater management in the future.

Recommendation 17: Assign supervisory responsibility for utilities staff to the Assistant Director.
The Public Works and Utilities Department is the largest department in the Town organization, with over
62 full-time positions budgeted in FY2018. In some organizations, public works and utilities functions are
separated into their own departments with distinct funding sources, managers, and department directors.
While there is no single best structure for public works and utilities departments, there is little to suggest
that the current Public Works and Utilities Department should be split into separate departments. Despite
the size of Public Works and Utilities, there are significant advantages to retaining the current combined
structure. First and foremost, a combined department reduces overhead because it requires a single
Director-level position. This reduces the Town’s personnel costs, creates a single point of contact for
leadership decisions, and avoids unnecessarily increasing the Town Manager’s span of control.
Because combined public works and utilities departments unite leadership under a single structure, it is
frequently easier to realize additional operational efficiencies. Although public works and utilities are both
specialized, they are highly interrelated and involve managing similar assets and using similar resources.
Utility staff regularly interact with streets, sidewalks, and other infrastructure managed by public works
staff, and public works staff regularly encounter water, wastewater, and stormwater infrastructure
managed by utilities staff. This creates opportunities to share equipment and funding streams. For
example, if a utility crew must excavate a street to repair a broken water main, the streets maintenance
crew can repair the pavement and assess the costs of the repair to the relevant utility fund.
Resource sharing is accomplished more readily under a combined department structure where staff are
ultimately accountable to a single leader. It prevents the need to acquire duplicative equipment, increases
the Town’s ability to leverage enterprise funds for operations, and allows the Department to more
effectively reallocate staff and equipment among functions where necessary. These advantages are
favorable for the Town under the current combined department structure, and will help the Public Works

and Utilities Department more effectively absorb additional functions and tasks related to stormwater
management as described in Recommendation 18.
While the overall structure of the Public Works and Utilities Department is sound, there is an opportunity
to create more formal reporting relationships among the Department’s management staff. Currently, the
Public Works and Utilities Director is responsible for seven direct reports, as illustrated in the following
figure.
Assistant Director
Director of Public
of Public Works &
Works & Utilities
Utilities
1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Superintendent –
Public Works Superintendent – Superintendent –
Supervisor - Meter Transmission & Utility Technician
Superintendent Water Wastewater
1.0 FTE Distribution 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Figure 9: Director of Public Works and Utilities - Current Reporting Relationships, 2018
The Assistant Director does not formally supervise any staff as indicated in the Department’s
organizational chart. However, in practice, this position provides some management and supervisory
support to the Director, along with plan review, engineering design, and stormwater support. Because the
Assistant Director’s supervisory responsibilities are not formalized, the Director must continue to invest
significant time in the day-to-day oversight of middle management staff, particularly with respect to
utilities. This limits the Director’s ability to engage in strategic decision-making.
There is an opportunity to create a more formal chain of command in the Public Works and Utilities
Department designed to consolidate and streamline reporting relationships, particularly regarding utilities
functions. To accomplish this, the Department should transfer supervisory authority for the Meter
Supervisor, Transmission and Distribution Superintendent, Water Superintendent, Wastewater
Superintendent, and Utility Technician to the Assistant Director position. This will allow the Director to
devote more time to current Town-wide needs, such as addressing the Town’s stormwater management
challenges.
It must be noted that assigning supervision of utilities managers to the Assistant Director creates a degree
of formal separation between public works and utilities staff. This separation is unlikely to impair working
relationships because staff will still operate under a combined Public Works and Utilities Department with
a single Director. The advantage of establishing unique supervisors for public works (the Public Works
Superintendent) and utilities (the Assistant Director) is that it allows each supervisor to focus on each
function’s unique specializations and tasks. This arrangement also potentially simplifies the process of
finding suitable replacement supervisors as management positions in the Department turn over. It is
frequently difficult for organizations to find qualified candidates who are well-versed in all aspects of both
public works and utilities. More often, candidates develop a specialization in one function and work their
way up to a senior management-level position. Creating some distinction between public works and
utilities functions at the upper management level will allow the Town to recruit candidates with significant
relevant experience when supervisory positions turn over.

Recommendation 18: Create a Stormwater Engineer position and transfer supervisory authority of the
Stormwater Program Coordinator position to the Stormwater Engineer.
The Town of Warrenton is a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) community as classified by
the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ). The MS4 program is designed to ensure
communities comply with stormwater discharge and management practices as required by the federal
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
Stormwater functions are primarily administered by the Public Works and Utilities Department with
support from Community Development. Public Works and Utilities assists with stormwater site plan
review, facilitates the Town’s illicit discharge detection program, and maintains and repairs the Town’s
stormwater infrastructure. Public Works and Utilities also employs the Town’s Stormwater Program
Coordinator position, which is responsible for community outreach and education, compiling regular
reports, and updating the Town’s stormwater programs. Community Development primarily provides
support for geographic information systems (GIS) components related to stormwater management,
including floodplain management and maintaining GIS records of stormwater assets. This department also
assists with erosion and sediment (E&S) control and inspections at active construction sites to ensure
compliance with stormwater runoff regulations.
One of the largest challenges associated with the Town’s current approach involves a lack of specialized,
certified staff to perform required stormwater management functions. In August 2017, the DEQ audited
the Town’s current MS4 program and found that Town staff lack appropriate stormwater certifications in
several key areas, including E&S control, E&S inspections, and stormwater plan review. While Community
Development currently performs most site plan reviews, staff lack sufficient engineering familiarity with
stormwater infrastructure and refer these reviews to the Public Works and Utilities Department. These
reviews are currently performed by the Public Works and Utilities Director and Assistant Director, which
does not represent the highest and best use of these positions.
In summary, there is a need to secure a highly qualified stormwater management professional to assist
with plan review, administration, and oversight of key stormwater functions. This need will become more
critical in future years as the Town’s MS4 requirements increase; by 2023, the Town is expected to reduce
stormwater pollution by 40%, with increasingly stringent reductions in following years. To achieve these
reductions and increase the Town’s stormwater review and administration capabilities, it is recommended
that the Town create a Stormwater Engineer position and seek certified public engineers with stormwater
management experience to fill this position.
The Community Development Department included an FY2019 budget request for a similar
Planner/Engineer position to be tasked with environmental plan review, oversight of E&S control
programs, and ensuring compliance with the Town’s MS4 permit. While the proposed Stormwater
Engineer position would perform many of these same duties, it is recommended that the Stormwater
Engineer position be created in the Public Works and Utilities Department and report to the Public Works
and Utilities Director.
There are several reasons for creating a Stormwater Engineer position in Public Works and Utilities. First,
the Public Works and Utilities Department is currently responsible for a significant portion of the Town’s
stormwater management program and oversees program implementation, permitting, and plan review
functions. Second, the Town’s Stormwater Program Coordinator is currently located in this Department
and reports to the Public Works Superintendent. Once the Stormwater Engineer position is created and

filled, the Town should reassign supervisory authority over the Town’s Stormwater Program Coordinator
to the Stormwater Engineer position. This will align these staff members in a formal stormwater structure.
Additionally, the Stormwater Engineer will be responsible for reviewing and approving public stormwater
infrastructure which will be maintained by peer staff in Public Works and Utilities. This increases the
Stormwater Engineer’s access to maintenance crews and managers who possess in-depth knowledge of
maintenance challenges associated with stormwater infrastructure. As a result, the Stormwater Engineer
will be able to leverage this maintenance expertise in the plan review process, reducing the likelihood that
the Town will accept stormwater infrastructure which is difficult to maintain or that does not comply with
other public infrastructure standards.
Although stormwater management functions are likely to consume much of the Stormwater Engineer’s
time, creating an additional professional engineer position in Public Works and Utilities will allow the
Director to utilize this position for design work on special projects if workload capacity permits.
According to the FY2019 budget request, the estimated cost of creating a Planner/Engineer position is
$87,630 including benefits. Due to the similar responsibilities assigned to the proposed Stormwater
Engineer position, this estimated cost is reasonable. The Town’s actual costs will vary depending on
interested candidates and their qualifications and experience.
Implementing these staffing recommendations will result in streamlined reporting relationships and
increase opportunities for the Public Works and Utilities Director and Assistant Director to delegate tasks
(particularly related to stormwater). The following figure illustrates the Department’s proposed structure;
new positions are highlighted in green.
Director of Public
Works & Utilities
1.0 FTE
Assistant Director
of Public Works &
Utilities
1.0 FTE
Superintendent –
Public Works Stormwater
Supervisor - Meter Transmission &
Superintendent Engineer
1.0 FTE Distribution
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
1.0 FTE
Stormwater Project Superintendent – Superintendent –

Coordinator Wastewater Water
1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE 1.0 FTE
Utility Technician
1.0 FTE
Figure 10: Proposed Public Works and Utilities Structure, 2018

Stormwater Funding
Recommendation 19: Implement a stormwater utility fee.
In light of the Town’s increasing focus on stormwater management, it is important to identify a reliable
funding source which can help the Town recover the costs of complying with stormwater regulations. In
addition to $87,630 for an additional stormwater position, the Town’s preliminary budget forecast for
FY2019 includes an estimated $100,000 for professional services to help inventory stormwater assets and
achieve compliance with the Virginia Stormwater Management Program (VSMP) and the Virginia DEQ. It
is reasonable to expect additional stormwater expenditures in future years, both for the upkeep and
maintenance of current infrastructure as well as the replacement of aging or noncompliant infrastructure.
There are many ways of securing dedicated revenues for stormwater management, including tax increases
and/or flat fees assessed to property owners. Another widely-used approach involves establishing a
stormwater utility fee. These fees are structured similarly to other utility fees, such as water, sewer,
electricity, and natural gas fees, because they are based on usage. Property owners pay the fee based on
the volume of stormwater runoff their properties contribute to the stormwater system.
Stormwater runoff is primarily generated by impervious surface areas, such as driveways, structures, or
parking lots, which prevent water from being absorbed into the ground. These areas increase the amount
of water the stormwater system must convey away from the community. Parcels with large impervious
surface areas generate more runoff, and thus pay a higher amount in stormwater utility fees.
To determine an appropriate fee structure, the average impervious surface area on a typical residential
lot is calculated. This value is otherwise known as an Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) or Impervious Area
Unit (IAU). The amount of impervious area on each parcel in the community is then computed and
converted to an ERU value. These measurements are generally taken using GIS programs to evaluate
rooftops, pavement, and other areas that cause runoff.
Once each property’s ERU value has been established, the property owner is assessed a fee per ERU on
an annual or monthly basis. Because the Town already bills customers for water and sewer services, it
could leverage this billing process to collect revenues for stormwater fees as well. Revenues generated
from the fee are typically deposited into an enterprise fund (such as a Stormwater Fund) and can be
utilized for operations and capital improvements related to stormwater.
Implementing a stormwater utility fee is a complex, time-intensive process. It is important to obtain

accurate measurements and to set a fee which covers the expense of regular stormwater maintenance
and capital replacement. To maximize success, municipalities frequently commission rate studies, engage
in community outreach, and conduct public information campaigns about stormwater management and
how the stormwater utility fees will be utilized. Once adopted and implemented, the stormwater utility
fee will provide the Town with a transparent, reliable revenue stream for stormwater-related activities.
These fees play a critical role in annual budgeting and will help the Town to maintain compliance with
VSMP and DEQ requirements in the coming years.
None of the Town’s peer communities currently collect their own stormwater utility fee; however, there
is precedent for towns in Virginia to establish these fees, and the Towns of Blacksburg and Bridgewater in
Virginia currently assess them. Additionally, the Town of Vienna receives proceeds from a stormwater tax
levied by Fairfax County to pay for stormwater maintenance and infrastructure. As an alternative to
levying its own stormwater utility fee, the Town could explore the feasibility of a similar tax sharing
agreement with Fauquier County.

Parks and Recreation Department

The Warrenton Parks and Recreation Department is responsible for maintaining the Town’s parks and the
Warrenton Aquatic and Recreation Facility (WARF). Parks and Recreation also develops and hosts summer
events and recreational programs which attract Warrenton residents as well as patrons from beyond the
Town community.
The recommendations included in this section are intended to help the Department align its operations
with the Town’s strategic goals using best practices for cost recovery and master planning. Implementing
these recommendations will not materially affect the Department’s organizational structure, but will
position the Department to better understand how its structure and staffing may need to change in the
future to adapt to the Town’s priorities.
Cost Recovery
Recommendation 20: Continue utilizing cost recovery goals for Parks and Recreation programs and
facilities.
The Department regularly evaluates programs and activities offered through its venues and determines
whether to continue offering programs based on customer attendance and cost recovery. This practice is
commendable and provides the Department with valuable information about how its services are utilized
by the public. However, while the Department strives to ensure that programs are as cost-effective as
possible, cost recovery goals are not currently formalized in a written policy.
There is an opportunity to build upon existing efforts to measure program performance and define formal
cost recovery targets. This should be accomplished through the adoption of a formal cost recovery policy
in consultation with the Town Council and in alignment with the Town’s strategic plan. The advantage of
formalizing cost recovery policies is that it allows the Department to operate with known, acceptable
limits for subsidizing programs. As a best practice, communities that formalize their cost recovery goals
typically create subsidy categories, and assign each program a category based on its perceived value to
the community. For example, the City of Boise, Idaho breaks cost recovery goals into the following tiers:
Full Direct Cost Recovery = 90-100%

• Adult classes
• Adult team sports
• Indoor facility rentals
• Idaho IceWorld
• Warm Springs Golf Course
• Adult sports field rental and preparation
Mid-Range Direct Cost Recovery = 40-89%

• Cemetery
• Day care services
• Junior golf
• Learn-to-skate
• Outdoor facility reservations
• Swim team
• Youth classes and camps
• Zoo Boise

• Youth sports field rental and preparation
Low-Range Direct Cost Recovery = 0-39%

• Youth outreach
• Youth sports and fitness
• Teen services
• Senior services
• Community forestry education and reforestation
• Accessibility and recreation adaptive services
• Outdoor pool admissions
• Environmental education classes
• Directive programs from the Mayor and City Council, the Mayor’s Council on Children and
Youth, and the City Strategic Plan objectives (i.e., serving youth and youth in need, addressing
community gaps in service in geographic areas of need)
Utilizing a tiered approach allows the Department to price and assess programs based on the expectations
of the Town Council and the Council’s willingness to subsidize programs and activities. A tiered subsidy
model is most effective when paired with a strategic planning strategy. The Town should expect to
subsidize programs and initiatives that align closely with the Town’s strategic goals, but which cannot
achieve cost recovery.
Parks Master Planning

Recommendation 21: Develop a Parks and Recreation master plan.
The Parks and Recreation Department does not currently utilize a master plan to guide decision-making
regarding programs, services, and infrastructure investments which should be made in the Town’s parks
and at the WARF. A Parks and Recreation master plan will provide the Town with a framework for making
decisions about new or expanded programs or facilities. Currently, new programs or events are added
based on resource availability. As the Town continues to grow and develop, a Parks and Recreation master
plan will help the Town prioritize these investments in concert with its strategic goals and community
interests.
According to the National Recreation and Parks Association (NRPA), an effective Parks and Recreation
master plan consists of several key elements, including a description of the agency’s mission and
objectives, an analysis of recreation trends, a needs assessment, a community inventory, and level of
service standards designed to quantify how parks and recreation assets will be maintained. 6 The Town
has made significant progress in several of these areas. Previous strategic planning processes have
established a foundational framework regarding the Town’s mission and objectives, as discussed
elsewhere in this report. Additionally, the Parks and Recreation Department currently collects a significant
amount of data related to recreation trends, including monthly reports regarding memberships, rentals,
attendance, and classes. This data can be utilized to describe recreation patterns over the last several
years.
The Department’s most critical need with respect to creating a master plan involves an inventory
assessment and a needs analysis. An inventory assessment is an itemized list of facilities, programs, and
services offered by the Department and in the wider community. The purpose of the inventory is to
6
https://www.nrpa.org/siteassets/capra-standards-5th-edition-2014.pdf

describe recreational opportunities currently available to community residents, and to clearly delineate
which opportunities are provided by the Town and which opportunities are provided by other agencies
and providers.
Once the inventory is complete, the Department should conduct a needs assessment as part of the master
planning process. The needs assessment should identify recreational opportunities the community is
interested in pursuing, but which are not readily available to residents. For example, if residents desire
increased accessibility to trail systems or the expansion of trail facilities, the master plan should identify
this as a need and prioritize it in the context of the Town’s overall strategic goals. To more effectively
gather input on perceived needs, organizations may use a variety of tools such as community surveys,
neighborhood meetings, town halls, or other outreach opportunities. Input gathered from these
processes should be shared with the community and incorporated into the master plan.
Finally, the master plan should include a discussion of service levels associated with parks and recreation
opportunities. This discussion should describe the Department’s goals for equitably providing and
maintaining assets, such as establishing a ratio of park acreage per 1,000 Town residents, ensuring
residents have access to assets within reasonable travel times, and quantifying services and labor to be
performed on assets each day, week, month, and year. The service level discussions included in the
Department’s master plan will directly inform annual work planning performed by the Department, and
help the Department quantify the number of staff needed to maintain current and future assets.
These elements of the Parks and Recreation master plan will serve as a blueprint for identifying and
pursuing future recreation opportunities and will enable the Department to adopt a forward-thinking
approach to service delivery. Like the IT master plan discussed in this report, the Parks and Recreation
master plan will help the Town identify its present circumstances, articulate its future goals, and create a
framework for achieving those goals in a reasonable timeframe.

Conclusion
The recommendations included in this report discuss adjustments to several Town practices, department
structures, and staffing arrangements. While these adjustments are significant, they must be supported
by clear strategic planning tools designed to communicate the Town Council’s priorities, inform work
planning tools, and quantify service delivery. Without this overall strategic framework, the Town will face
a continued inability to cohesively prioritize work, which will complicate future operations and staffing
decisions.
It is not easy to effect long-standing organizational change. Successfully implementing these

recommendations will require clear policy direction from the Town Council, committed leadership from
the Town Manager and Department Directors, and a willingness on the part of staff to change long-
standing structures and processes. Together, these factors will enable the Town to grow beyond its
current practices and address future challenges in an efficient and effective manner.


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Town of Warrenton, Virginia

March 26, 2018

The Novak Consulting Group

Mr. Brannon Godfrey

Dear Mr. Godfrey:

The Novak Consulting Group

The Novak Consulting Group

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Strategic planning is an essential component of effective governance. It clarifies organizational priorities

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Table 1: Report Recommendations

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Background and Methodology

About the Town of Warrenton

Town of Warrenton Estimated Population, 2010-2016

9,611 9,735 9,796 9,852 9,926 9,889 9,861

Figure 1: Town of Warrenton Estimated Population, 2010-2016

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Town Attorney Town Manager Town Recorder

Parks and Public Works and

Figure 2: Town of Warrenton Functional Organization Chart, 2018

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Table 2: Total Estimated General Fund Revenues, FY2018

Table 3: Total Authorized General Fund Expenditures by Budgetary Group, FY2018

Budgetary Group FY2018 Adopted Percent of Total

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Table 4: Historical Expenditures Across Operating Funds, FY2015-FY2018

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Table 5: Town of Warrenton Authorized FTEs, FY2016-FY2018

Budgetary Group Department FY2016 FY2017 FY2018

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Analysis and Recommendations

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• Where are we? What do we know to be true?

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Town Manager’s Office

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Recommendation 4: Develop and implement a Town-wide performance management system with

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Table 6: Example Performance Measures by Major Function/Department

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Structure and Staffing

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Executive Assistant Town Manager Town Recorder

Figure 3: Town Manager’s Office - Current Reporting Relationships, 2018

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Executive Assistant Town Manager Town Recorder

Figure 4: Proposed Reporting Relationships to Town Manager, 2018

Technology Planning and Development

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Recommendation 7: Develop an information technology strategic plan.

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Finance and Human Resources Department

Structure and Staffing

Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting

Figure 5: Director of Finance and HR - Current Reporting Relationships, 2018

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Accounting Human Resources

Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting Accounting

Figure 6: Proposed Finance and HR Structure, 2018

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