COMM. 061 - Laserfiche WebLink

Home

• FINANCIER: Case Study it took many more weeks to assemble annual spending to the long-term ser- • the two teams, each comprised of more vice objectives and the need to develop than 40 volunteers; two full-time pro- • , a stronger commercial- and industrial fessionals and one paid consultant with tax revenue base for.planned expan- : public service management experi- : sion. We found that communities had -. , ence. The work itself took over another no means forfinancial planning to 1 eight months. - ' , meet changes in the economic base and ' The.pilot cities were Montebello, a , in the mix and level of services they - .. largely blue-collar, ethnically-mixed, ` needed. . industrial community in Southern Cal- , ifornia, and Saratoga, a bedroom corn- Sensitivity and Understanding munity just outside of San Jose. It is all too easy, and convenient, to ' describe an effort such as this in sim- , - Focus On Three Areas plistic terms of problem definition and - The urban task force 'expertise was then•steps.one, 'two and three toward initially focused on three areas: Finan- , the solution. The importance of this ' cial . management, effective planning , program, and the efforts of the public . practice and work productivity' im- and private , sector people involved, provement. The major stages of the would- be unfairly diminished if this program were research to identify the 'effort were reduced to terms of a simple problems and opportunities, develop- -business task. Let no one be deluded _ ment of near and long-term solutions, into thinking that the bringing to- - and preparation of extensivespecific gether of public and private sector ex- ' • programs'in which the city executives " pertise is simply a matter of physically weretold just what needed to be done, - planting business experts in the city and work productivity programs were administrative offices. These programs • set up for city employees on all levels, require sensitivity and understanding teaching them how to.identifyineffi from people in both sectors. ciencies and correct them. - . The private sector teams let it be - In ,1978, based on our :success_in known explicitly that they were not ' Montebello and Saratoga, the program- some all-knowing auditing power corn- was repeated in Montclair in Southern ing in to open the closet door in search California and Union .City 'in the of skeletons. Atthe same time, the - North: The difference in 1978, how- teams asserted their independence ever, was that we did not have to seek from any constraints in coming up out candidates — -as 'the word spread,_ with what they thought-were-the best - . cities throughout the state began ask- solutions to city problems. ing to join in. That erased any linger- There was no evidence that any of - ing doubt in my mind about commu- the people with whom the urban teams nity response to private-sector worked felt threatened' by their pres- involvement. , ' ence. This'was due in part to the quail- ' 'At year-end '1978, we completed im- ty of the urban team members-as well plementation..of the 'Montclair and • as to the quality and self confidence of 'Union City programs. • the. city executives and staff. The ur- Although each of the four cities'had ban teams went in with'an attitude of distinct needs, the teams- uncovered trust in the capabilities of the public - common threads: Difficulties in tying sector workers who, in fact, showed a • FINANCIER February 1979 39 • r