The prevailing balance of interests and pressures in the City’s determination of public expenditure management is unlikely to reflect a social equity, pro-employee, ethics driven, orientation in any simple sense. It is also likely to reflect complicated information sharing processes, generally held in private rather than public discussions, and designed to exclude groups from the decision-making. It is very likely that any attempts to eliminate walking quorums and other forms of illegal meetings will run into both overt and covert resistance. The adoption of formal budget policy goals by the City will lack commitment and have an insufficient support to achieve meaningful results.
Ideally, therefore, for people interested in understanding the politics of a given budget process it would be valuable to have information about the following: a) The formal structure of roles and responsibilities within the budget process; b) The formal rules governing decision-making, political choice and accountability within the public expenditure management system; c) The networks of stakeholder power and influence (outside the formal allocation of roles and responsibilities), which influence the outcomes of the budget process; d) Incentives for action (covert as well as overt) affecting the decision-making of politicians and officials during budget formulation and execution; e) The latitude for independent discretionary action of bureaucrats at all levels of the budget execution process; f) The norms and values prevailing in key institutions within the budget formulation and execution process.
Monday, October 31, 2011
Friday, October 28, 2011
How Are You Involved?
The Rice Lake City Council has taken a step that I find interesting and I’m going to follow the process for a while. The new resolution requires an agenda item called “Conflict of Interest disclosure and protocol” or something similar. They added this after a problem with a contracted engineer not disclosing a conflict.
The resolution requires staff, contractors and developers to provide information on any conflicts or potential conflicts of interest that may occur during any agenda item at the meeting and the procedure they will use to resolve the conflict. I assume that the Council’s ethics code would provide direction on clear conflicts of interest, but potential conflicts raise another question. Will requiring the discussion at the beginning of the meeting raise the level of attention to ethics problems and encourage the participants to take the high road and recuse themselves from participating in the decision-making process?
The first item I would add to this process is to include the Council members, committee members and board members. Rarely do these participants think about their conflicts before the meeting and as the meeting discussions develop, they are less likely to remove themselves even when they finally realize they may have a potential conflict.
This has the potential to establish a culture of ethics at the top of the organization. Frank conversations about what may create a conflict and the resulting actions may generate an organization that minimizes ethical lapses.
The resolution requires staff, contractors and developers to provide information on any conflicts or potential conflicts of interest that may occur during any agenda item at the meeting and the procedure they will use to resolve the conflict. I assume that the Council’s ethics code would provide direction on clear conflicts of interest, but potential conflicts raise another question. Will requiring the discussion at the beginning of the meeting raise the level of attention to ethics problems and encourage the participants to take the high road and recuse themselves from participating in the decision-making process?
The first item I would add to this process is to include the Council members, committee members and board members. Rarely do these participants think about their conflicts before the meeting and as the meeting discussions develop, they are less likely to remove themselves even when they finally realize they may have a potential conflict.
This has the potential to establish a culture of ethics at the top of the organization. Frank conversations about what may create a conflict and the resulting actions may generate an organization that minimizes ethical lapses.
Thursday, October 27, 2011
Solar Powered
The Wisconsin Public Service rate order requires purchasing the output of photovoltaic generation within the community. The attached PSC rate file provides the conditions and rates under which Lake Mills Light and Water will purchase electricity from small photovoltaic producers.
Lake Mills Light and Water (LML&W), a member of WPPI Energy, wants to offer a special energy purchase rate to its customers that generate electricity using solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The special rate, $0.30/kilowatt-hour (kWh), is available to all the LML&W customers on a first-come, first-served basis for systems up to 4 kilowatts (kW) up to an overall program cap of 10 kW DC. The LML&W program is part of a larger solar buyback program being offered by WPPI to its member utilities, which has a total program limit of 300 kW. The 10 kW program cap may be increased to up to 30 kW if sufficient capacity is available under the parent WPPI Energy program.
It is important to note that this is not a net metering arrangement. Instead, the customer continues to pay their normal retail rate for electricity that they purchase from the utility. All of the energy generated by the customer's PV system is metered separately and exported directly to the grid. The $0.30/kWh incentive is applied to all of the energy the system produces for a period of 10 years, under a written contract with the LML&W. The customer receives payment as a monthly credit on their electricity bill. LML&W then resells the energy to WPPI Energy.
This arrangement requires the installation of a second generation meter at the customer's expense. Participants are also charged an additional metering fee of $1.00/month. Systems and components are required to comply with all applicable national, state, and local electric codes, rules, and regulations, including the State of Wisconsin's Standard Interconnection Rules. WPPI Energy takes title to all renewable energy credits (RECs) or other environmental attributes produced by systems enrolled in the program.
Lake Mills Light and Water (LML&W), a member of WPPI Energy, wants to offer a special energy purchase rate to its customers that generate electricity using solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. The special rate, $0.30/kilowatt-hour (kWh), is available to all the LML&W customers on a first-come, first-served basis for systems up to 4 kilowatts (kW) up to an overall program cap of 10 kW DC. The LML&W program is part of a larger solar buyback program being offered by WPPI to its member utilities, which has a total program limit of 300 kW. The 10 kW program cap may be increased to up to 30 kW if sufficient capacity is available under the parent WPPI Energy program.
It is important to note that this is not a net metering arrangement. Instead, the customer continues to pay their normal retail rate for electricity that they purchase from the utility. All of the energy generated by the customer's PV system is metered separately and exported directly to the grid. The $0.30/kWh incentive is applied to all of the energy the system produces for a period of 10 years, under a written contract with the LML&W. The customer receives payment as a monthly credit on their electricity bill. LML&W then resells the energy to WPPI Energy.
This arrangement requires the installation of a second generation meter at the customer's expense. Participants are also charged an additional metering fee of $1.00/month. Systems and components are required to comply with all applicable national, state, and local electric codes, rules, and regulations, including the State of Wisconsin's Standard Interconnection Rules. WPPI Energy takes title to all renewable energy credits (RECs) or other environmental attributes produced by systems enrolled in the program.
Monday, October 24, 2011
On The Verge
"Change has a considerable psychological impact on the human mind. To the fearful it is threatening because it means that things may get worse. To the hopeful it is encouraging because things may get better. To the confident it is inspiring because the challenge exists to make things better."
- King Whitney Jr
- King Whitney Jr
If the budget passes with the reorganization, we are going to need well defined profiles of each position. These position profiles consist of documented routines, responsibilities, and levels of authority. These position profiles should be developed and distributed accordingly. Work assignments can be restructured and reallocated with documented clarity and explanation. As roles change, the individuals with new responsibilities will have documented instructions to follow, accompanied with guidelines, schedules, metrics, and reports of previous performance. It makes the transfer of responsibilities easier to manage and quicker to come up to speed.
Position Profiles are very different from job descriptions. A job description is typically a bulleted list of activities that may be performed by a particular job title, and the list of desired qualifications. This comes in handy when posting a position for hire, but is entirely inadequate as a position profile. A position profile should describe in detail the daily, weekly, or monthly routines performed by a person in a position. The position profile should include the metrics to measure performance, so there is an understanding as to determining the effectiveness of the job performed. The position profile should include a clearly defined level of authority for making decisions relevant to the completion of job related activities. For example, does this position have the authority to make a final decision, recommend, or influence a decision that has economic impact? It is good to have these things defined, especially when someone new inherits
the responsibilities.
the responsibilities.
Friday, October 21, 2011
Today's Quote
“I don't think Enron is that unusual. After all, we have a chief executive class which act like dictators of small Latin American countries.”
Sherron Watkins
Thursday, October 20, 2011
Ethics Treatment
There's a book out called the Lucifer Effect that I notice when reading CityEthics.org. The jist of the blog was that the book talked about treating ethics as disease prevention rather then disease treatment.
Another words, just treating the individual's problem fails to cleanup the organization. The culture of the organization provides the opportunities for choosing "to" or "not to" act ethically.
So, when the Council President removes himself from an issue with a possible conflict that has been ignored for years - it has the potential to send a message to other members that there is a cultural expectation. I know the cynic will say that it was done to avoid a hard decision, but I like to believe that there was a higher motive.
Another words, just treating the individual's problem fails to cleanup the organization. The culture of the organization provides the opportunities for choosing "to" or "not to" act ethically.
So, when the Council President removes himself from an issue with a possible conflict that has been ignored for years - it has the potential to send a message to other members that there is a cultural expectation. I know the cynic will say that it was done to avoid a hard decision, but I like to believe that there was a higher motive.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
Business With City
Does a personal relationship interfere with your objectivity in performing your duties because you interact, directly or indirectly, with this individual on behalf of the city? You should make sure other decision-makers are aware of this relationship and be fully prepared to outline your decision-making process.
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