Contemporary Trends in Local Government

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Contemporary Trends in Local Government

• John and Carol Nalbandian

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Getting Started

• List two new ways you conduct your business today
  compared to five years ago in areas like finance,
  budgeting, HRM, performance management, service
  delivery, application of technology.
• Compared to five years ago, what are two new or
  different ways that you engage citizens?

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Contemporary Trends

• Modernizing the organization
• Citizen engagement

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Modernizing the Organization

• Connecting administrative processes to strategic
  goals
• Integrating personnel and financial systems
• Organizing around problems, not departments and
  hierarchy
• Decentralized decision making for timely response
• Market orientation including privatization
• GIS/GPS activities and Internet-based innovations
• Results-based quality-based performance
  measurement and bench marking
• Goal-based performance appraisal
• Performance budgeting
• Resident as customer

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Citizen engagement

• Engaging citizens in administrative processes
• More emphasis on expressions of direct democracy
• More emphasis on neighborhoods as the base unit
  of the community (de facto governments)
• More accountability and transparency with
  citizens
• More communication and education
• Devolution of tasks and partnerships with other
  non-governmental sectors private sector,
  non-profit sector, faith-based organizations

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The Challenge Between Trends

• How do we use the techniques of modernization to
  build unique communities?

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Critical Gaps
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Bridging the Gaps

• Citizen driven performance measures
• America Speaks
• Lewisham Citizen Panels
• Citizen survey used to develop policy initiatives
• Web initiatives that facilitate public meetings

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These skills add value 5-10 yrs (NLC 2004)

• Facilitate civility, engagement, preservation and
  creation of community
• Engage in facilitative decision-making
• Channel divergent interests into community good
• Desire to utilize citizen advisory groups
• Learn and comprehend issues and choices
• Doing what is right
• Facilitate regional problem solving

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Value of the Bridges

• New infra-structure connects political acceptance
  and administrative feasibilitycarrying capacity
  to make collective decisions
• Forums for deliberation
• Bring public values into the mix

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Summary

• Two trendsmodernizing and community building
• Gaps created between administrative feasibility
  and political acceptability
• Roles that add value are facilitative
• Public values are crucial and must be conveyed in
  the work of public officials or they will be
  absent.