Laura Chick, California's Inspector General for the Recovery Act has never been known for mincing words. So, it was entirely characteristic when she wrote a biting letter to Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger back in mid-August. Her concern: The fact that spending on the state's green building projects seemed to be following guidelines from the Molasses School of Management.

Case in point: While $25 million had been approved to fund energy savings in state buildings in September 2009, by the end of June, 2010, only 1 percent of the money had been spent.

As the Department of General Services pointed out in a document that accompanied Chick’s letter, there were lots of reasons for delays: Some initial decisions on how to spend the money had been altered by the state’s sale-leaseback initiative. The much-delayed California budget created roadblocks for other spending.  Time consuming requirements for preliminary work stood in the way of getting projects started.

Chick told the governor she believed the department’s excuses were unacceptable and she was unimpressed by its pledge to meet the Recovery Act deadline of June 2012.  As Chick wrote, “This is not good enough, we absolutely can do better! DGS must see this as a top ‘now’ priority, hound dog it to death, and take whatever immediate action necessary to move these projects forward as efficiently and effectively as possible.”

Fast forward a month and a half. A September 20^th letter from Chick updated the Governor, informing him that $20.2 million in contracts had now been signed and work was set to begin on 61 sites. In fairness, some of the progress might have taken place anyway in the summer months, but a key factor was that a sense of urgency had been established.

But a big push from high up doesn't automatically always yield results. As Chick told us, she felt that the lack of coordinated teamwork had been a key problem. So, she worked to make sure that a number of moving parts were synchronized more effectively. She began by convening a meeting of General Services, the California Energy Commission, the Recovery Task Force, the Department of Finance and the State Controller’s Office.

How did that help? One example: By getting people to talk to each other, General Services was able to find ways to get work started for $2-3 million in Corrections projects, despite the lack of a state budget. "Look what happened in one month," says Chick,. "They got so much done it was mind boggling. The lesson learned is that you need a sense of urgency when you are trying to help unemployed people find jobs. You need to get people to talk with eah other. I shouldn't have to do that. That should be the normal course of business."