The Observation Deck

What the hell happened to CitisStat?

We were told that this would save us money and see where ever dollar was spent, and
how it was spent. That we would be able to see it online, and all of us would know what
was going on with our tax dollars so that we could see firsthand how successful the city
and others were with the use of our tax dollars.

Many civic groups heralded this in as the dawning of a new day of transparency and accountability.
That the cost to implementation would be nothing compared to the cost
savings and oversight. I believe that LA even had a public discussion on this entire
program that was fascinating to how much oversight i provided in real time.

Haven't heard a peep since then.

I am looking through archives for some quotes.

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:What the hell happened to CitisStat?

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Oldies but goodies:

viewtopic.php?f=7&t=2955&hilit=+citistat


viewtopic.php?f=7&t=3382&hilit=+citistat

LakewoodAlivE issued this release in 2007 with a link to the city webpage that would update Citistat data:

http://lakewoodalive.blogspot.com/2007/10/citistat-update.html

The link directs you to the Citistat website but it is now "Page not Found."

Is Citistat no longer found?

From Baltimore Sun - June, 2010
CitiStat: 10 years of measuring progress
During its first decade, CitiStat has made government more accountable and effective
June 30, 2010

Everyone knows about the Inner Harbor, Fort McHenry and Camden Yards, but many may be surprised to learn that one of Baltimore's hottest tourist spots is on the sixth floor of City Hall. During the last 10 years, a small government office there has attracted thousands of elected officials, foreign dignitaries and good government aficionados from all over the country and the world. To them, Baltimore is associated with one word: CitiStat.

This week is the 10th birthday of CitiStat, the data-driven, performance-based management office located in a loft formerly occupied by the city's curator. Through over a thousand meetings, CitiStat has helped three administrations streamline bureaucracy, improve city services, reduce employee absenteeism, cut costs and provide executive direction to Baltimore's major operational agencies. In short, CitiStat is at the root of Baltimore's management strategy: performance goals are set, managers and workers are held accountable, and results are measured — not yearly, quarterly or monthly, but week-to-week.

Full article here.
http://articles.baltimoresun.com/2010-06-30/news/bs-ed-citistat-20100630_1_citistat-innovators-city-trash-and-recycling

Maybe Ed could take it to the county?

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CitiStat was Denis Dunn's baby. I supported him in the effort to see it's implementation along with strategic planning. Ed Fitz & Tom George were reluctant to embrace it, but Tom eventually did. I am not sure if Ed continued the program. The meetings were not open to the public though, not even to City Council. The last I knew Jennifer Pae had the reigns on it. Maybe she could shed some light on it. Needless to say, it was never truly implemented as it needed to be. As Jim alluded to, there is a significant link to technology required. While Ed made progress toward the functionality of our city website it still has not reached the type of capability necessary full a complete and successful implementation.

our city website it still has not reached the type of capability necessary full a complete and successful implementation

I think our city's website is just horrible--aesthetically and in function. It isn't fresh at all. It doesn't do a good job of representing Lakewood to people thinking about living here.

Anyone from the city reading this check out http://www.middleburgheights.com/. This is my hubby's (shameless plug) and I am sure he can get Lakewood on track.

Kristine Pagsuyoin wrote:

our city website it still has not reached the type of capability necessary full a complete and successful implementation

Anyone from the city reading this check out http://www.middleburgheights.com/. This is my hubby's (shameless plug) and I am sure he can get Lakewood on track.

Nice Site.

The perfect amount, very tasteful.

I am not surprised, just saying.

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Kristine,

I agree, Middleburg Heights is good. As far as Lakewood goes, if you had seen it before you would know that what we have now is leagues better. Again, we all know this isn't the best. We aren't going far enough to make city hall automated and accessible. The economy and taxpayer revolts will force it.

Ryan Patrick Demro wrote:Kristine,

I agree, Middleburg Heights is good. As far as Lakewood goes, if you had seen it before you would know that what we have now is leagues better. Again, we all know this isn't the best. We aren't going far enough to make city hall automated and accessible. The economy and taxpayer revolts will force it.

Ryan

To drag this back to the topic at hand.

Citistat backers who are on record promised us that the program would herald in a new
era of accountability and accessibility for all of City Hall and the residents.

However, it was implemented here in a sort of halfassed way, and by the time Ed was in as
mayor it was starting to be seen as more of a Tom George program that time had come
and gone. I have also been reminded that Ed was never really a big fan of the system,
as it was shuffled off to Jenn Pae to run and manage. Currently it is going under scrutiny
by the administration.

Of course some of the pluses would be that in real time we could see crime stats, over
spending, poor budgeting, and waste, waste, waste. Of course one of the bad things
from an administration point of view is that you can see crime stats, over spending,
poor budgeting, and waste, waste, waste in real time which gives way for community
oversight that is simply not the flavor of Lakewood during the last administration. It
is far better for a campaign to talk about the drop in crime, and he uptick in business,
then to allow residents to see the numbers. Hopefully Mike, who seems to be willing to
be Lakewood's Mayor for Life, can relax and trust his constituents.

As for the website, The governmental agencies went through a period of coveting instead
of management. So they wanted a website that would compete with others so that
ultimately they could control the message. This is true with City Hall, The Schools, and
many civic groups that prefer to broadcast and not answer questions and spoon feed their
drivel and hype than actually trust others to "talk" and ask questions.

I am hoping with the subtle changes in City Hall and the Schools that a new era of trust
and accountability is at hand so that we can see first hand things like; Are we actually
saving money through garbage collection or not? Is Lakewood safer or not? re the
residents of Lakewood being served or not? Are the business of Lakewood helped or
hampered? Etc.

What Middleburg Hts. has in a nice functional website that serves many of the needs that
a city needs to address, in a very clean an functional way. To me that is refreshing.

However, looking at Baltimore, Citistat would be perfect here because we could finally see
if our tax dollars and investments in civic groups is actually paying off, or if the awards
are merely bling to blind and confuse. It is funny that while talking with some at City Hall
it would seem that some groups and media outlets care more about what Malley's,
Bonnie Bell, The Melt, the Lakewood Observer is taking in, than what the city does with
that funding when it gets it. As I said on the phone, "Lakewood is a city that cares more
about private enterprise that does not use public funding, than those that get and use
our tax dollars." Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm!

FWIW


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Still have not heard back from the City about the current status of CitiStat.

However in the conversation it did go from "A great tool for all of us to judge how well
a city and its departments are doing" as it was sold to us by the mayor, the planning director and many civic leaders, to "It is one of many tools an Administration could use to help
evaluate..."

I am starting to think it might be the Medical Mart of Lakewood.

FWIW


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Clarification -

CitiStat is alive and well in Lakewood.

It is up to each administration to decide how to use it.

Jenn Pae when I spoke with her said, she would get back to me after our new mayor, and
her have talked to see how it could be used and/or if it could be used. This is the choice
of the administration.

With that said, it was I who compared it to Medical Mart.

That is that this county has a tendency to overstate what can be accomplished or done.
The Rock Hall will change this city, the new Browns Stadium will change this city, Jacobs
Field will change this city making life more affordable and better for all.

The truth is, simply another tool, that could add, or not to the overall dimensions of a
community and nothing more.

It was not Jenn Pae, Mike Summers, Ed FitzGerald, etc. That over promised anything with
CitiStat it was the civic leaders that beat the drum, as well as the old planning director that
said, This would give us real time access to the numbers, that will make this city better
to reevaluate what is working and not working.

So with all of that said, it could be months before we hear how or if it is still in use.

I would also like to mentioned that it was a system that to my knowledge was never rolled
out for every department.

I hope this clears up any miss-understanding.


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From City Hall

It is a leadership strategy for the mayor / city manager to:
1) Meet on a scheduled, regular basis with department heads to discuss departmental issues using data provided that is maintained and tracked.
2) Making department heads accountable to the leader's goals and initiatives
3) Having the appropriate decision makers at the table to solve issues and to help avoid the "blame game."
4) Track results

This has been accomplished.

Departments reporting within the CitiStat program under Mayor Tom George: Winterhurst, Fleet, Aging, WWTP, Building & Housing (first five). Expanded to include Information Systems, Parks, Human Resources and other Human Services Divisions.

All Departments reporting under Mayor Ed FitzGerald. He talked about his in his State of City speeches.



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I'm not a fan of gimmicks and Citistat seems like a gimmick. All Citistat is, is tighter management. Government should be run like a for-profit company with the citizens as the shareholders and customers. I guarantee that if governments were run like successful businesses there would be fewer taxes, more efficiency and more satisfaction from citizens. The problem with government is there is no competition to weed out inefficiencies. They are the sole provider which breeds complacency.

The objectives of Citistat could be achieved in other ways: meticulous budgeting, detailed reporting, careful evaluation of programs, strategic investments in technology, smart financing, etc. In other words, tighter management. I think many of these have been done over the last few years to help reduce the cost to run the City which lessens the need for Citistat.

FWIW...

Charlie Page wrote:The objectives of Citistat could be achieved in other ways: meticulous budgeting, detailed reporting, careful evaluation of programs, strategic investments in technology, smart financing, etc. In other words, tighter management. I think many of these have been done over the last few years to help reduce the cost to run the City which lessens the need for Citistat.

FWIW...

Charlie

I agree it could be, but when I ask City Hall for numbers it becomes hard and I have heard
back well those our numbers we could not get together because it involves different
departments frustrates the hell out of me, and makes me wonder if anyone knows or are
they just afraid to speak up? Example, how much does it cost the city to put on a street
event? Could the cost of city services be recouped someway in the cost of joining in? Or
do we collectively eat one for the team? Or are the simply transfers of wealth from the
taxpayers to the group getting paid to stage the event? Is it even enough to talk about?

When Citistat was sold to us by our civic leaders, it was a way for all to check immediately
if the city was doing the job they said on crime, housing, services, etc. Can you tell me the
exact date current trash collection pays off? I mean we spent a ton on implementation
what year does it go from a minus to a plus? How much does it cost a taxpayer for each
banner or sign erected? I was told at one time $45.00. OK for material that seems right.
How about the union shop that produced it? The union workers that install them? Could
any of this be offset by charging the group if they are charging to participate? If the group
charged $5.00 more an entry, could the city actually make money on their participation?

So while one could claim a gimmick, and many of us always thought it was. Some in city
hall claim it is a way for the mayor to understand. Why not the rest of us? In the Baltimore
schtick on CitiStat they sell it as the cure for all that ills a city, for everyone. Is it?

FWIW?

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Jim O'Bryan wrote:I agree it could be, but when I ask City Hall for numbers it becomes hard and I have heard
back well those our numbers we could not get together because it involves different
departments frustrates the hell out of me, and makes me wonder if anyone knows or are
they just afraid to speak up? Example, how much does it cost the city to put on a street
event? Could the cost of city services be recouped someway in the cost of joining in? Or
do we collectively eat one for the team? Or are the simply transfers of wealth from the
taxpayers to the group getting paid to stage the event? Is it even enough to talk about?

When Citistat was sold to us by our civic leaders, it was a way for all to check immediately
if the city was doing the job they said on crime, housing, services, etc. Can you tell me the
exact date current trash collection pays off? I mean we spent a ton on implementation
what year does it go from a minus to a plus? How much does it cost a taxpayer for each
banner or sign erected? I was told at one time $45.00. OK for material that seems right.
How about the union shop that produced it? The union workers that install them? Could
any of this be offset by charging the group if they are charging to participate? If the group
charged $5.00 more an entry, could the city actually make money on their participation?

I’m looking at the 2011 budget for Refuse and Recycling (the version on the City’s website). It includes the 2007-09 actual and 2010 estimated actual. I see a cumulative decrease in 2009 and 2010 of close to 2 million from 2008. And it continues to pay off as the 2011 budget is about a million less than 2008 actual. If the 2011 budget holds up, we’ll have a 3mill cumulative savings since 2008. I believe that’s more than enough to cover the investment in the new trash trucks and all those bins.

I took a shot at estimating the hourly cost of an officer to staff a street event. The ‘Police Division’ total budgeted expenditures for 2011 is 11.655 million. There are 99 full time and 12 part time officers, I’m figuring 105 full time equivalents or FTEs. With zero overtime, it costs about $53 per hour to put a police officer on the street. Assuming 5 hours of overtime per officer per week is included in the 11.655 million, the cost goes down to $47 per hour. This is fully loaded cost (guns, ammo, uniform, etc), not just salary and benefits. The only assumptions are that the 12 part time officers work 20 hours per week and the average overtime of 5 hours.

To calculate a ballpark cost for police at a street event, take number of officers at the event, multiply by the hours worked and multiply by about $50 an hour. For an event where 15 officers are required to be there for 4 hours, it would cost about $3,000.

I have no idea if the City sends a bill to the event holder for the police staffing the event or they just eat the cost as a way to help promote the City in a positive light. Either way, I would hope they treat all groups the same.

I’m assuming that Parks and Public Property would create the signs you speak of but I could be wrong. (I can’t help but ask why the City would create a sign or banner for an event not sponsored by the City? Why wouldn’t the event holder do this through a local sign company?) The Division of Parks and Public Property salary and benefit budget for 2011 is $1,495,391. There are 19 full time and 6 part timers (assuming 20 hours per week again). With zero overtime, it works out to $33 per hour for labor only. Figure an extra $15 per hour for equipment cost (pure guess on my part) and its $48 per hour of cost. This does not include materials.

These use the 2011 budget numbers prepared as of 11/15/10 which may or may not be different than the budget passed by Council. So the numbers above may or may not be slightly different.

Jim O'Bryan wrote:So while one could claim a gimmick, and many of us always thought it was. Some in city
hall claim it is a way for the mayor to understand. Why not the rest of us? In the Baltimore
schtick on CitiStat they sell it as the cure for all that ills a city, for everyone. Is it?

I know you know this but I have to say it. Citistat is not some magical black box that you plug in and suddenly all these numbers and stats come flowing out like a waterfall. Citistat is a management tool. It requires a lot of upfront work and maintenance. Maintenance costs money. How many people did Baltimore hire whose sole duty is to operate Citistat? How much did Baltimore invest in systems to produce those fingertip numbers?