UC Davis has established an interim organizational model for the Shared Services Center, following Andrew Dunn’s announcement that he will step down as the center’s director after a little more than two years on the job.

At the same time, the campus administration restated its commitment to shared services, “defined as removing repetitive transactional administrative tasks from individual units, maintaining a strong customer service focus and providing transparency in reporting operational results.”

“This service model provides greater expertise and a more consistent and efficient approach to managing these important administrative responsibilities,” Vice Chancellor John Meyer said in a message to the campus community.

Meyer thanked Dunn for his efforts in establishing the center. “This has been an extraordinary undertaking and quite an innovative approach for higher education,” Meyer said. “Andrew’s leadership over the past two years has been instrumental in establishing a shared services model that I believe is well positioned to lead us into the future.”

Dunn said he’s had a “great two-plus years” here, but decided to explore other opportunities. “I’m going to take some time off, recharge my batteries and then go to whatever’s next.”

Interim management duties, starting this week, are assigned to the chief operating officers of the campus’s two largest administrative units: Associate Vice Chancellor Emily Galindo of Student Affairs and Assistant Vice Chancellor Diane Davies-Conley of Administrative and Resource Management. Both were heavily involved in the design, implementation and governance of the Shared Services Center over the past two years.

University, city to share fire services management

UC Davis and the city of Davis have agreed to share a fire chief — the UC Davis chief, Nate Trauernicht — and other fire management services for at least a year.

Starting around Jan. 1, Trauernicht will lead a city department that has had interim chiefs since 2009. The city will pay half of Trauernicht’s compensation.

The city and the university also will share the costs of two deputy chiefs, one who is already on the UC Davis payroll and a new one. The city will pay roughly two-thirds of the compensation costs, based on staffing.

The departments also will share three division chiefs, with the city picking up at least two-thirds of the compensation costs for each of them, based on staffing and call volume.

One-year savings are estimated at $78,200 for the city and $7,717 for UC Davis. The university saves half the cost of its fire chief, while getting the added benefit of another deputy chief. One chief will be in charge of operations, the other in charge of training, via the West Valley Regional Fire Training Consortium (comprising the university, the city of Davis, Woodland and West Sacramento).

“This is the right-sized administration for the size of our combined organization,” Trauernicht said. “This is the right thing to do, to deliver the best fire service.”