City Operational Review

Our city meets a lot of basic requirements and gets routine issues right.  Interesting to me, the issues some citizens lament, our city employees also lament. The following is taken from Review of the Operations of Bay Village.   Prepared by the Center for Public Management, College of Urban Affairs.

“While some aspects of the city communications program are commendable, some employees feel disconnected, uninformed, and underappreciated. This sentiment applies to their relationships with their immediate supervisors, the administration, and council. This has contributed to a decline in morale and in some departments and may result in lower productivity.”

“Several employees expressed that communication does not flow sufficiently between employees and administration, and that they do not feel they receive enough information about what is happening in the city. Some indicate decisions are made that affect their jobs and these decisions are not communicated directly to them or the department.  When they do find out, the information came from residents or personnel from another department. In addition, some employees feel that directors, the administration, and/or council do not have an adequate understanding (and in some cases appreciation for the work done) of their jobs or departments. This has resulted in decisions in which jobs have been eliminated or people have retired and elements of those positions have not been assigned to others or those in the department are unsure who is responsible for handling those duties.”

“Several employees indicated that it would be helpful to have an impartial human resources staff member to provide guidance on staff-staff or staff-management conflicts and other human resources issues.”  (Under consideration is the hiring of an associate from our Law Director’s firm)

“The majority of job descriptions reviewed were inconsistent in content and format, with some missing important elements. “

New council members do not receive an orientation.

On the topic of Bay’s high percentage of emergency meetings.  “Bay Village has a high percentage of emergency measures, thus suggesting that all decisions were of an emergency nature – by definition necessary for “the immediate preservation of the public peace, property, health or safety.”  It is not a good practice to routinely sidestep spirit of provisions in the charter or codified ordinances, nor  is it a good practice to routinely conduct council business using emergency measures.

Refer to the report for detailed information:

http://urban.csuohio.edu/publications/center/center_for_public_management/BVOpReviewFinalReport031912.pdf