Tacoma and Pierce County each recently announced openings for a “director of social services.” While precise functions differ a bit, these are essentially the same jobs, except one works in Tacoma and the other works outside; and some revenue sources are different.

Would it be hard to combine departments or simply share a director, and segregate revenue and services as needed?

How about libraries? Pierce County and Tacoma libraries now share access, so a card-holder in one system can also use the other system.

From a patron’s perspective, these function as one library. So why have two directors, two acquisition departments, two information technology groups?

Ken Miller’s article in the TNT poses some good examples of the benefits of consolidation.

Long time readers know I’ve been a fan of this kind of approach for a long time. The benefits to the community could be big.