Decisions, bias and wasted dollars
Cash-short Monroe City Council decided to pay a company $77,000 to find areas in city government that could be trimmed in order to save a couple million over the next couple of years.
It's good that council is thinking about this stuff, but they're selling themselves way short. Their consultant is going to talk to various city department heads and a few other employees and tell the city what it already should know about itself. How long can you be mayor of a city and not know where the waste is? How long can you serve on city council or have been a city employee and not know where efficiencies could be found? Does anyone think that Ford Motor Co. had to hire a consultant to come up with ideas that might turn the company around?
Hardly.
So what is it that the city is buying? They are buying political deniability.
But only a dose or two.
As John Martin, one member of the council correctly observed Monday, at some point the consultant's recommendations are going to come to council and the final decision on whether to put them into effect will lie with council. And the final decision-making will be made in the usual way -- dependent on which department head or employee group lobbies most effectively and where the council's bias might be.
Suppose the consultant came back and said you have too many cops for a town this size, or you don't have enough serious crime for a police force this size, you should just contract with the sheriff's department. The council would just rubber stamp that idea, right.
No way. They'll weigh their feelings about the police department, their friends on the department, the police chief and how they figure their constituents would react. After filtering the recommendation through all that, they'll act accordingly and someone else will get the shaft. Any deniability will dissolve.
Martin's right. At some point, you won't be able to blame it on the consultant any more. So what's the point. Are we actually so stupid we don't know where the waste is?
Speaking of stupid, how bullheaded does the council have to be not to reverse itself on the silly little ice arena office decision. Mark Worrell hit the nail on the head in addressing council Monday. Just say you had second thoughts, pay to have the management office at the ice arena moved downstairs and take the monkey off your back when Canlan, the arena management company, says it couldn't turn the place around financially.
If anyone doubts that's what might happen, just visit the new arena that opened up the road at Summit Academy. They're going to eat Canlan's lunch. Canlan needs all the help it can get.
It's good that council is thinking about this stuff, but they're selling themselves way short. Their consultant is going to talk to various city department heads and a few other employees and tell the city what it already should know about itself. How long can you be mayor of a city and not know where the waste is? How long can you serve on city council or have been a city employee and not know where efficiencies could be found? Does anyone think that Ford Motor Co. had to hire a consultant to come up with ideas that might turn the company around?
Hardly.
So what is it that the city is buying? They are buying political deniability.
But only a dose or two.
As John Martin, one member of the council correctly observed Monday, at some point the consultant's recommendations are going to come to council and the final decision on whether to put them into effect will lie with council. And the final decision-making will be made in the usual way -- dependent on which department head or employee group lobbies most effectively and where the council's bias might be.
Suppose the consultant came back and said you have too many cops for a town this size, or you don't have enough serious crime for a police force this size, you should just contract with the sheriff's department. The council would just rubber stamp that idea, right.
No way. They'll weigh their feelings about the police department, their friends on the department, the police chief and how they figure their constituents would react. After filtering the recommendation through all that, they'll act accordingly and someone else will get the shaft. Any deniability will dissolve.
Martin's right. At some point, you won't be able to blame it on the consultant any more. So what's the point. Are we actually so stupid we don't know where the waste is?
Speaking of stupid, how bullheaded does the council have to be not to reverse itself on the silly little ice arena office decision. Mark Worrell hit the nail on the head in addressing council Monday. Just say you had second thoughts, pay to have the management office at the ice arena moved downstairs and take the monkey off your back when Canlan, the arena management company, says it couldn't turn the place around financially.
If anyone doubts that's what might happen, just visit the new arena that opened up the road at Summit Academy. They're going to eat Canlan's lunch. Canlan needs all the help it can get.
posted by The Observer at 9/19/2006 12:13:00 PM
3 Comments:
Maybe Canlan should bite the bullet right now and leave. Maybe Council man Beneteu's idea about the recreation department running the ice rink has some merit. Why move offices if they are going to be hidden anyways? If the rec department can run this more cost effectively, why not?
It hardly seems possible that a government entity could run something more efficiently than a profit-driven company. If the city already is heavily subsidizing the ice rink, wouldn't having it be run by city staff just increase the subsidy? Could they run it without adding to city staff? If so, the rec dept. must be overstaffed as it is. I don't know.
A profit driven company is in it for themselves. They are getting paid no matter what it costs you and I. The parks and rec may have to hire the current staff and just oversee their operations. I think that should be explored. Even if they needed to add one more person to oversee, I'm sure that it would be far less than what Canlan is making, AND taking to Canada. Any idea how much Canlan is guaranteed as management fees? I don't know, but I'm sure it is quite a bit. Also, what have they done in this past year? Maybe City council should look closer at that, and then decide whether parks and rec should get a shot at management. I think that this council has a handle on this, and it will not get swept under the mat. It seems that Mr. Beneteu's at least headed in the right direction. Maybe his group will follow his lead.
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