Common Council Aims to Set More 'Measurable' Goals for 2014

Members of Summit's Common Council as well as Council members-elect Mike McTernan and Sandra Lizza agreed they would like to see the council's 2014 goals be more specific and measurable. 

Councilman Thomas Getzendanner said the goals, as currently written by City Administrator Christopher Cotter, "lack specificity." He also noted that the single biggest takeway from the council's October goal-setting meeting was the need for austerity in light of Merck's impending departure. 

Councilman Patrick Hurley agreed with Getzendanner and said, as written, the goals appear more like "a hopeful to-do list." As an example, Hurley said he would like to see the goal for the joint dispatch center to be "up and running" rewritten to read "joint dispatch operational by Q1 2014." Hurley said the council needs to be more "disciplined and professional" in its goals. More specific goals would allow for the measurement of the performance of City Hall, he said. 

Council President Richard Madden invited McTernan and Lizza, who voluntarily worked on the 2014 council goals, to present their findings.

McTernan said while the goals are "somewhat more specific than the first go around," they are still not specific enough to be really measurable by the end of 2014. He suggested the following changes to the goals, which appear in bold below:

"Work with county to limit tax increase. I think this should say something like “Get the county to stick to a 2% cap.” That should be the goal. If we don’t attain it, then we don’t attain it, but it has to be the goal when we think about engaging with the county.

Limit Board of Ed tax increase. With the Merck uncertainty ahead of us, I think this goal should be the same as the municipal tax goal of no increase.  If that is too stringent, I’d be happy to hear arguments as to why, but “limit” doesn’t mean anything as far as an objective, measurable goal goes. 

Continued development of alternative revenue sources.  How about “Raise alternative revenue sources by X%?"  Again, that is measurable; the first wording really is not.

Pedestrian safety. I am sure Councilman Hurley and Chief Weck have statistics that look at accidents, etc. How about a goal that decreases the number of pedestrian accidents in 2014 as opposed to 2013? 

Consider recommendations from Downtown Planning Study.  This shouldn’t be a goal, it should be a given. If you wanted to say something like “Implement X number of recommendations from planning study in 2014,” that’s a goal.  Otherwise, I’d leave it out. 

Evaluate standardized parking fee systems. Again, how? Something like “Craft a recommendation on how to standardize parking systems in an efficient and cost effective way across Summit's parking assets” is a goal. 

Leverage Transit Oriented and Historic Designations.  Again, same question, how? Something like “Attain x amount of grants capitalizing on our Transit and Historic designations” is much more specific and measurable.

Finally, on the Joint Dispatch goal, I see that as now written, there is no specific time in 2014 on the goal. I think it has to say “during Q1” as that is the deadline to get pension costs off our books for the year for the transferred dispatch workers.  This is a critical part of the goal and should be included. Having it done after that is laudable, but not optimal for the city.

"The public deserves to have a government accountable for what it says it will do.  While we may not attain every goal, it is better to have an honest conversation as to why not than not to be able to effectively measure success one way or another."

• For example, what is the deliverable for “Pedestrian Safety?” As Mike McTernan suggests, a specific decrease in incidents is measurable, but also implementing programs, such as identifying the most dangerous crosswalks in downtown, neighborhoods and a plan to review and improve each one, or  implementing a “pedestrian safety” campaign in Summit would be specific as to how a decrease can be accomplished.
• What is “Maintain investment in roadway, facilities....”?  
• What is “Develop metrics for measuring outcomes”?
• Getting the  “Joint Dispatch” up and running is a goal (should be identified as 1Q 2014 deliverable), but the goal should go further:  what about the impact of this transition and the effect on the services vs. how operations are done now?

• • What is “Maintain investment in roadway, facilities....”?  
  • What is “Develop metrics for measuring outcomes”?
  • Getting the  “Joint Dispatch” up and running is a goal (should be identified as 1Q 2014 deliverable), but the goal should go further:  what about the impact of this transition and the effect on the services vs. how operations are done now?
    
• The headings as shown can be improved to clearly state what the goal is. For example, “Technology” is not a goal, but “implementing improved technology to reduce costs and improve processes” would be. 

• Quarterly progress should be prepared by the City Administrator and reviewed by Council.
• These goals should also serve as the basis for the goals for 2014 for the City Administrator, each Department Head, and further, for each employee.  
• Ownership and accountability should be clear.  
• The City budget should align with the approved goals.
• The goals should be published on the City website, along with progress.