In Touch: Teamwork, Leverage, Regional Partnerships and Reaching for the Next Level

“Love Your Heart” is a campaign we hold near Valentine’s Day to improve public health by giving people free blood-pressure checkups.

The human trafficking task force we established in January will protect women, girls, children and men from being forced into prostitution and slavery.

The special procurement conference we held in October was created to make sure taxpayers get the best bang for their buck whenever local governments buy the tools, equipment or contract services they need to do the public’s business.

On the surface, these are all very different programs. But if you look deeper, they have some very important things in common.

Teamwork. Leverage. Partnerships — regional partnerships. And audaciousness.

Last February, I wrote about the importance of setting audacious goals. Not small, incremental objectives, but exciting, big-thinking challenges that can take us to the next level of excellence in how we serve the public.

One of the audacious goals we set last year was to put new emphasis on our regional partnerships with other agencies, groups and our sister cities, including the City of San Diego — to raise awareness about the partnerships we have and to build more of them.

Now, we’ve had long-standing contractual agreements with cities for many years to deliver all kinds of services. For example, the County Sheriff’s Department serves as law enforcement for nine of the county’s 18 cities, as well as our unincorporated areas. And we provide animal services, elections, vector control and beach water monitoring services countywide.

But we haven’t always immediately jumped at the chance to expand upon that teamwork. And we have often made it a point to remind people that our services are the County of San Diego’s, not the City of San Diego or other cities or groups.

It’s easy to understand. We’re rightfully proud of our work and services. Our County team does great things.

But I think it’s time to focus on building more partnerships rather than setting ourselves apart. It’s time for us to start thinking about how we can best serve the public overall, which often times means sharing initiatives with other jurisdictions, rather than drawing a line between what’s ours and what’s theirs.

Why? Because it’s become very clear to me that the public, our customers, do not know the difference between the services that the cities or the County provides. They just want the services to be there, to be excellent and effective.

Teaming up with other agencies and cities can give us the leverage to make our programs and initiatives more powerful — and available to help more people.

Just look at how we’ve improved fire protection and emergency medical services in our region, thanks to the leadership and vision of our Board, by working with rural fire agencies to create our San Diego County Fire Authority and to buy equipment and resources.

And look at how we’ve partnered with cities and agencies to help spread the message of Live Well San Diego.

So, we are expanding our regional partnerships. Here are just a few examples:

In 2013, with the support of our Board, we formed a coalition with other Southern California counties and business groups to lobby our legislative representatives to improve regional water quality through science-based, cost-effective stormwater regulations. We’ve enhanced that partnership by working with the City of San Diego to make sure we continue to protect the environment and taxpayers.

Last year, in June, we reached out to hold a historic meeting with the City of San Diego. For the first time ever, our respective executive leadership teams held a joint meeting: County leaders, myself and our executive team, and the City’s executive leaders, led by City Chief Operating Officer Scott Chadwick. We met to get to know each other, to review what we’ve worked on together in the past, what we’re doing together now and to talk about how we can expand our teamwork in the future.

In October, we convened the first regional procurement conference and brought together purchasing officials from the cities of San Diego, Chula Vista, National City, Poway, Santee and La Mesa, as well as the San Diego Association of Governments, the San Diego Unified School District, community colleges, water districts and the San Diego Regional Airport Authority. They met to find new ways to work together to benefit taxpayers when we have to buy materials and services — such as using our combined buying power to get discounts.

Last month, after the recommendation of our Board, we helped establish the San Diego Violent Human Trafficking and Child Exploitation Task Force.

Fifteen agencies — from our County’s sheriff department and district attorney’s office , to the City of San Diego’s police department, other city police departments, the California Highway Patrol, the state Attorney General’s office, the U.S. attorney and marshal’s office, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE); and the FBI — will combine forces to investigate, prosecute and protect.

And don’t forget Love Your Heart.

In 2013, we gave free blood-pressure screenings to roughly 2,000 people. Last year, after expanding our partnerships to include more than 90 organizations and businesses, we screened 17,000-plus people, more than eight times the previous year. These are free screenings that can save lives.

This month, when we hold the event on Feb. 13, we’re aiming for 25,000 checkups.

Teamwork; leverage; regional partnerships.

That’s excellence for taxpayers!