State Employees Association Seeks Member Input, Meeting With Ayotte Over COGE Report

By PAULA TRACY, InDepthNH

CONCORD, NH — Leaders of the State Employees Association will be asking its 15,000 members for input on recommendations from the Commission on Government Efficiency (COGE) and plan to meet with Gov. Kelly Ayotte to discuss the report after hearing from them.

The report, released Thursday, calls for a number of changes that if implemented could impact state, county and municipal employees.

Rich Gulla, president of SEA/SEIU 1984, said "it is good to have an introspective look" at efficiencies and that he and staff are reviewing the report and will be seeking input from members.

He noted that the state is under a hiring freeze and that many state employees are not only doing their job but filling in for those positions that remain vacant.

"They are filling in the gaps," he said of the union's members.

Once they have had a chance to get input, he said he will seek a meeting with Ayotte to go over the positions.

"These are simply recommendations right now," he said.

Among the recommendations are for state employees to work in the office rather than remotely.

Co-chairs of the 15-member commission, former Governor Craig Benson and Andy Crews, submitted the COGE report of recommendations following a year of interviews, study and considerations on what could make the state work better for its citizens.

They noted that the independent, advisory document is not an audit but meant to "identify practical opportunities to improve how New Hampshire government operates and serves its people."

As for remote working, which was the case for many during COVID-19, the report said there should be a return to in-person teams as the work standard and that it leads to quicker decision making and better outcomes, though there could be exceptions.

Ayotte sat down last week with reporters before the document was released and was asked what she planned to do with the recommendations. She said she would consider them but was not wed to all recommendations, noting she might support some and not others.

In her statement Thursday when she released the report, Ayotte said the 77-page document identifies opportunities to modernize government, strengthen New Hampshire’s long-term competitiveness, and ensure taxpayers receive maximum return on their investment.

Some may require a legislative fix, while others can be handled administratively. Much of it calls for state departments to work collaboratively to improve buying power, share workers and look at underutilized buildings and properties to help deal with the state's affordable housing crisis.

“COGE dug into the day-to-day realities of how the government works, and their recommendations reflect that,” she said.

• Building a Sustainable Framework for AI Innovation in New Hampshire
• Modernizing Constituent and Case Management through Statewide CRM (customer service) Systems
• Cutting Red Tape Across State Government.

The full report is here: https://www.governor.nh.gov/sites/g/files/ehbemt971/files/inline-documents/coge-chairmens-report.pdf

In addition to addressing remote work, the report called for the following:

• More effort to recruit Department of Corrections workers and expand externship and employment opportunities for inmates.
• Reduce the number of in-house lawyers in various state departments and reduce redundancy in public information officer positions.
• Reduce administrative bureaucracy within the University System of NH to focus funds on direct student benefit.
• Relax education requirements for some jobs and include real-world experience.
• Overhaul the Office of Professional Licensure and Certification to make licensing more streamlined, quick and transparent.
• Look to increase the $10,000 threshold for contracts to be approved by the Executive Council because it takes so much state employee time to produce the contracts for the council to consider.
• Prioritize right-to-know requests from New Hampshire residents over those from out-of-state and data-mining companies.
• Establish an independent authority to administer the NHSaves, which is now administered by utilities.
• Break the Health and Human Services Department into smaller agencies and look to the Texas model for in-home care for elderly rather than nursing home care.
• Sunset the 35-year-old Pease Development Authority and give the state Department of Business and Economic Affairs the task of repurposing land under its control to uses including housing.
• Transition the Port of Portsmouth to the Department of Transportation.
• Identify and consolidate underused office space and improve energy efficiency that is cost-effective.
• Have departments share purchasing to improve economies of scale.
• Encourage municipalities to invest taxpayer funds to make interest.
• Establish a teacher bill of rights to outline expectations for effective classroom instruction.
• Create an independent audit committee for school districts to report to the school board, not the superintendent, to avoid financial crisis situations like that facing Claremont.
• Consolidate the 107 school districts, which have doubled since the 1980s.
• Embrace artificial intelligence and create small pilot programs that can be evaluated.
• Use AI to enhance fraud, waste, and abuse efforts.
• Use the state library and historic buildings for education retreats, consider sponsorship for park trails and buildings, and adjust beach sticker rates upwards for out-of-state users.
• Bill Medicaid for patient transportation to appointments.

Gulla said Friday that his organization is just beginning to analyze the report and that he would be willing to keep the public updated with the union's positions on the recommendations after meeting with Gov. Ayotte.

This article first appeared on InDepthNH.org and is republished here under a Creative Commons license.