Maroney: Restructured DNR moves from advocacy to information agency

When Matt Maroney became deputy secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources in January of 2011, he received an unpleasant surprise.

"Secretary Cathy Stepp and I were surprised by the management system that was in place at the agency," he told attendees during a general session of the recent Wisconsin Potato and Vegetable Growers Association Annual Grower Education Conference.

"Last February I asked how many people at the DNR could retire today if they wanted to do so, and that number was 48.9 percent," he related. "We had a lot of knowledge and expertise ready to go out the door and we had no succession plan."

A fishing enthusiast, Maroney is a native of Masonville, Iowa. Prior to accepting the leadership position at DNR, he was an attorney with a Milwaukee area law firm.

Maroney noted that he, Stepp and Executive Assistant Scott Gunderson began by traveling around the state seeking feedback from citizens about what they could do to improve the DNR.

"We're still doing that," he affirmed. "So, if you have ideas on how to improve the DNR or if you've had some bad experiences, we want to know about it and work together to fix it."

The two biggest complaints Maroney received were unresponsiveness and inconsistent decision making by DNR. "In different areas of the state there would be difference decisions with the same fact patterns," he stated.



Restructuring DNR

Addressing those complaints led to significant changes in the agency's organizational structure.

"We basically had six different DNRs in Wisconsin," Maroney said. "We had five different regional offices with different staffs and directors looking at the same rule and interpreting it differently. We also had the central office that might also have a different interpretation. Discussions with the outgoing administration supported the need for this reform."

Another reason for structural reform, according to Maroney, was a substantial decrease in employee numbers. "We dropped from 3,100 employees in 1999 to 2,100, and that meant we had more work to do with fewer employees. The structure was very heavy in middle management with not enough boots on the ground," he stated.

"We have now moved to a line organization and reshaped how decisions will be made with checks and balances along the way," he emphasized.

He added, "We believe that is going to lead to a big improvement in consistency of our decision making and also increase our efficiency and be able to provide better customer service by having more boots on the ground."

Over the past few months Maroney says he's received positive feedback from people throughout the state to indicate these reforms are working. "We're a big organization, a big ship, and we're not going to be able to change everything overnight but we're definitely making progress and want to work with your organization and others to streamline our efforts," he assured.



Streamlining The Permitting Process

One key area of streamlining involves the permitting process.

"We're going to lay out our permitting processes for selected areas go through and figure out time blocks, the areas where things are sitting and what are the areas where no value is added to the process, and we need to eliminate them," Maroney emphasized.

"This will reduce the workload for staff and will produce quicker answers for people who a waiting to make business decisions based on a permit that's been languishing at the DNR," he added.

DNR is also striving to provide applicants with more current information on the progress of their application.

"We want to create a tracking system on the Web that will let people know when they can expect an answer - yes or no - from the DNR," he explained. "It's important to note that we are not changing standards, we're only looking at changing processes."



From Advocacy to Information

Maroney also noted that over the past year, DNR has moved from an advocacy agency to a resource agency.

"We were very quick to officer our opinions on matters even when we weren't asked, and quick to take positions on issues in the legislature, even when not asked. We will not do that any more," he promised. "We are a resource; we have the scientists and experts and we're there to provide answers and be helpful."

As part of DNR restructuring, a new office of Business Support and Sustainability is being created.

"We want specific business sector specialists who understand those businesses and can identify right away what the specific issues are and then help people navigate what can often be a very complex and cumbersome permitting process," Maroney said.

"We think this office is going to be a very important advantage for Wisconsin when we're competing with other states for jobs and helping Wisconsin employers expand their current workforce."

Maroney also found some basic misunderstandings among DNR staff members about the industries they're charged with regulating, including agriculture.

"We're encouraging groups and organizations to hold field days so we can have the key people who are working with those industries get some firsthand knowledge about how it operates, and about how a delay in the permitting process can really impact somebody's operation," he stressed.

"Secretary Stepp and I both come from the private sector, and we know the private sector believes in win-wins," he asserted. "Everybody wants to have a healthy environment and a strong economy, and we want to work together to help create that in Wisconsin."