The Conspirator

From as early as “The Republic”, it was recognized that the powerful control justice or more accurately injustice. I would have thought that in two thousand years we would have figured the problem out, but it is clear to me that even in the American system that money and influence defines the result more than what is right.

Today's Quote

In the long run men hit only what they aim at.
— Henry David Thoreau

All In A Day

As provided by State Statute, the Council’s only employee is the City Manager, and its members shall deal with the administrative service solely through the City Manager and neither the Council nor any committee or member thereof shall give orders to any subordinate of the City Manager, either publicly or privately. The provisions of this section do not prohibit the Council, while in open session, from fully and freely discussing with the city manager anything pertaining to appointments and removals of city officers and employees and city affairs.

You Could Be ...

The City should select a consulting engineer based on qualifications and not price. Consulting engineers design and provide management services for large expenditure items, such as buildings, roads, environmental services and land use planning. When a client wants to be successful, choosing the right services from the best engineering expertise should be the primary consideration.
Our selection process will use conversational interviews focused on understanding the firm and the person who will be the city’s primary resource by learning about their values, strengths and weaknesses. We want to assess “fit” with our values, culture and community. Our process will included one conversational interview of one hour per firm. I want the engineer selected for intelligence, persistence, and cultural fit.
Because the City uses the engineer like staff, the exact amount of work to be done in any given time period cannot be predetermined and the hourly rate plus fee compensation is used. The engineering firm bills its actual costs (salaries and overhead) and then adds any costs over and above the rate as a fee on top.
Our consulting engineer does the preliminary investigation and reporting services that are required when the feasibility of the project needs to be established, or where there are a number of possible alternatives for the characteristics, performance and location, etc., of the project. Establishment of the project’s financial viability and preparation of submissions to staff for funding are often involved in this phase. Risk assessments for each alternative may be undertaken for major projects. This phase may include the investigation, application for and obtaining of required documents, licenses and any other initial permits or consents necessary before the project can be implemented.
The consulting engineer is often involved in meetings to discuss proposed private projects. The consulting engineer makes recommendations to staff that administer the City's storm water retention ordinances, utility extension policy and floodplain regulations. The consulting engineer makes recommendations to staff about reviews and approvals of off-site improvement plans and right-of-way dedications.
The consulting engineer makes recommendations to staff about all construction in the public right-of-way before the issuance of permits and inspection of all improvements including water, sewer, storm drains, streets, curbs, gutters, bikepaths/sidewalks, drainage, fire lines, hydrants, street lights and other public utilities such as gas, power, telephone, and cable television.
The consulting engineer reviews development plans for private developments within the City limits. Plans are reviewed for compliance with City of Lake Mills Engineering Standards. The consulting engineer will be able to provide information regarding public utilities, driveway locations, offsite roadway improvements, drainage issues, discharge location, discharge rate, offsite drainage improvements, and general site layout issues related to the parking layout or drainage.
The design of projects generally involves three phases: Project Feasibility Reporting; Investigating and Reporting; and the Detailed and Construction Design phases. Services offered during the final stages of the Design phase include administration of the bidding process, contract administration and assessment of construction standards. The engineer is expected to provide construction monitoring supervision and quality assurance that aligns with the city’s interests.
If you can do this – you may be the City’s consulting engineer.

Wage Slave

American financier Jay Gould after hiring strikebreakers, he said "I can hire one-half of the working class to kill the other half." I assume this is the philosophy being used in modern elections.

Budgets For 2012

I have sent the 2012 Budgets to be printed for the First study session. The State still needs to provide more information on ratios and the like, but I think I have that pretty well covered.

Lake Street Retaining Wall

The options for repairing the retaining wall next to the old municipal building on W Lake Street. The costs are still approximate, but they give an order of magnitude that these options should come back at.

1. Eliminate the retaining wall and grade a grassed or landscaped 4:1 slope off the edge of the sidewalk on West Lake Street. This would take up approximately 25-feet of the existing parking area. The parking area would need to be reconfigured, and some stalls would be lost up against the building. A small wall would still be needed at the old muni building to maintain access to the basement doorway. A new connection between the parking lot and Lake Street would be constructed. An inlet already exists in the pavement north of this area for drainage. Cost for grading, removals, fill material, new stairway and restoration is approximately $12,000.

2. Provide a new cast-in-place concrete wall with a railing. The wall would be approximately 5-feet tall (exposed) with a 4-foot frost wall and footing. This would require removal of the sidewalk on Lake Street as well as some of the pavement in the parking lot to construct the footing. Cost for the wall, railing, sidewalk R&R, wall removal, and CGC investigation is approximately $40,000.

3. Provide a modular block wall with a railing. The wall would be approximately 5-feet tall (exposed) with 1-foot buried. This option would also require removal of the sidewalk on Lake Street for geogrid reinforcement. Cost for the wall, railing, sidewalk R&R, wall removal, and CGC investigation is approximately $36,000.

Site Plan Review

When the City requires site plan review - it is not offering to do the site planning. The developer of the site has to make the initial plan that is designed to meet the city codes. The reviewers respond to the plans by determining if the plans meet code and may provide suggestions for how to meet code.
Sometimes reviewers will ask the developer to incorporate perspectives that include the neighborhood, other developments and special features of the site. The goal is harmonious community development.

Allegory

Once there was a valley with a stream running through it. The stream was clear and dependable. The stream supported all the communities that lived in the valley. One day an army moved onto the mountain to the left of the stream and soon thereafter an army moved onto the mountain to the right of the stream. Soon each army was spinning around trying to pull the stream up their mountain. Eventually the spinning pulled all the green out of the valley. The noise distracted the people of the communities and left them confused and wandering. The communities finally crumbled and the people turned around to see what they’d lost and the only thing they found was that the stream was still there and was as clear and dependable as ever.

Proposal Selection

The firms who have been selected to be interviewed are:
Strand
Vierbicher
MSA
Ruekert/Mielke

Today's Quote

The two words 'information' and 'communication' are often used interchangeably, but they signify quite different things. Information is giving out; communication is getting through. Sydney J. Harris

You Want To Be A City Manager

Today's question was what adivce would you gave someone starting in a new position. There was the listen to the Council, learn to understand your organization and be flexible advice. But what simple advice is there that takes you to the next level? Leadership, ehtics, effort, intelligence?
I started simple - tell the truth. In the world of politics and spin - this can be a very hard requirement. There are managers out there that are relative from the tips of their toes to the tops of their heads. Customer friendly, compassionate listening, group huggers often cannot stand up and say what needs to be said - the truth.
And in this current enviroment, telling the truth maybe a wasted effort because the one who really needs it will find someone to tell them what they want to hear. Just like going to church.

Culture

The internal and external dynamics of an organization define the culture. Culture defines the methods for aligning with the organizational mission. Culture can be used to as one method for aligning long term agents with the interests of an organization.

The Principal-agent Problem

We have talked about incomplete contracts before and this problem is associated. Conflicts of interest and moral hazard issues arise when the city hires contractors to perform specific duties that involve low bid requirements and incomplete contracts because the best interests of the city and the contractor will not be aligned. The principal-agent problem develops when the city attempts to create a contract that has incentives to align the contractor's interests with those of the city. The city (the principal) attempts to create incentives for the contractor (agent)to act as the principal wants because the principal faces information asymmetry and risk with regards to whether the agent has effectively completed a contract.
The principal-agent problem can be associated as part of agency theory. It has similarities to game theory in that the "rules" are changed to favor specific actions favored by the principal.
An example of how the principal-agent problem occurs between the contractor (agent) and the city (the principal) is when they hire them to provide the highest quality street at the lowest cost. The contractor’s primary incentive is to provide the minimal amount of quality allowed by the contract to meet the low bid requirement; the incentive is structure to compensation the contractor for price not quality. The contractor is less likely to be concerned about quality because it fears losing business by being too costly.
If the city (the principal) hires a contractor (the agent) to construct a street without observation, all you can observe is how the street looks when you happen to view it. The contractor could have failed to properly construct the base, as required, or could have laid the pavement in one three (3) inch layer. By hiring an engineer to monitor the contractor's behavior, the city has a record of what the contractor actually did, although at some cost.
The contractor has information and expertise that the city does not have-indeed, that is why they are contractors. The city can observe the final street, but does not have the time to observe the contractor’s efforts. To complicate matters further, even when the contractor’s behavior can be observed, the city does not generally have the expertise to evaluate it. Everyone can see the final product (street), but it takes very detailed knowledge to understand how high the quality could have been if the contractor had acted differently.
The engineer hired to do the observation is also a contractor. They are hired because they have information and expertise that the city does not have-indeed, that is why they are engineers. The city cannot ensure that the engineer’s interests are perfectly aligned with the city’s interests. To complicate matters further, the city does not generally have the expertise to evaluate the engineer’s performance. Everyone can see the final product (street), but it takes very detailed knowledge to understand how high the quality could have been if the engineer’s interests were perfectly aligned with the city.
City hires staff and lawyers with some of the relevant expertise to monitor contracts, but again this is costly.
These examples illustrate the principal-agent problem. This is the problem of designing mechanisms that will induce agents to act in their principals' interests. In general, unless there is costly monitoring of agents' behavior, the problem cannot be completely solved. Hired staff, lawyers, engineers and contractors will generally wish to pursue their own goals. They cannot ignore the city’s interests, however, because if they perform badly enough they will lose their jobs. Just how much latitude they have to pursue their own goals at the expense of the city’s interests depends on many things, including the degree of competition, risk, contracts and moral hazard.

A Line Item Review?

The problem with line item review is identifying the total cost of each municipal service and how changing line item spending levels affects the priorities of the service. The problem with a program budget approach is that considerable time is required to establish and maintain the system. Also, programs tend to overlap, both between departments and within the same departments, which can make collecting data difficult.

Have You Seen These Lately?

The principles of good governance – transparency and accountability; fairness and equity; efficiency and effectiveness; respect for the rule of law; and high standards of ethical behavior – represent the basis upon which to build open government.