Whoopee!! we are now legally operating with a budget. Apparently the State on Friday accepted the submitted version which was approved last night.
However, the routine special meeting was not without turmoil. Councilor Mapp supported by Storch, McWilliams, and Carter objected to not having seen the revised budget even unto the call for the vote. As matters turned out, Bob Swisher of the auditing firm Suplee, Clooney had brought copies which were still on the clerk's desk in a brown paper wrapper. The Council then went into a 15 minute recess to "study" the document and after reconvening passed the 2009 budget. With two months remaining in the fiscal year it is now inconceivable that the city with the help of deferring a $2.5 million pension plan payment will not meet the goals of this fiscal year.
Starting July 1 ,2009 with the 2010FY the deferral will have to be paid back over the next 15 years at an annual interest rate according to Administrator Dashields of 8%. Yet to be figured out is the true impact on the tax rate for the coming years.
After adjourning the official meeting, the Council opened the Information Technology working session. Notably was the absence of City Administrator Dashields. Except for perhaps six citizens the chamber also cleared out of spectators. I am unable to give a complete report since I also had to leave shortly after 10PM. During the time I was there after Council President Burney's dissertation on what he perceived to be the goals for the city in IT, the other members expressed their opinions.
Although the city in the past three years is supposedly spent hundreds of thousand dollars on "IT" upgrades there seems to have been little to show except a voice over capable telephone network. Councilor Burney focused on (A) fiscal controls would be better because it would be easier to centralize purchasing which now seems to being done separately by various divisions, and (B) the various offices computers would be able to communicate with each other, (C) The public could use Internet methodology to pay taxes and/or get information needed from various city departments without physically visiting City Hall. This also included participating in Council meetings via the Internet. (D) Council members and various administrators using video conferences instead of meeting here or travelling to outside locations. (F) There were other possibilities mentioned by other Councilors including centralizing records for access.
My impression, for which I am sure I will be criticized, is that there is as of this moment no idea what is practical and what is not. I am not sure if there is a concept that IT is just another tool in good management, or whether it is considered to be the ultimate answer to everything that is wrong. When it comes to computers the adage "Garbage in, Garbage out" holds true if the tool is not properly used or programed appropriately.
What is forgotten is that for years "pen and paper" was all that was needed for good fiscal control which boils down to management. The city used to have centralized purchasing, somewhere perhaps due to the lack of continuity in a CFO the individual departments started to act independently. Additionally per Councilor Mapp when the city did purchase proprietary software for fiscal controls they only bought one of the modules not the whole system. Whenever that was done, it certainly could not have been a good management decision.
During comments on the availability of records, Assistant Municipal Clerk Abubakar Jalloh noted that the only resolutions that were on computer file in the Cerk's office where those that originated through that office. all others that came from various departments had to pass through the city administrators office and although the Clerk's office prepared the Council's agendas they never received a computer ready copy of the resolutions. To me that is inconceivable that this could occur.
Even though computers in the various sections of city government cannot talk to each other does not excuse poor management. Information could be hand transmitted via disc. Granted that takes a minimal amount of effort. However that has not been done. The fact that the computers themselves cannot network is a reflection on poor administrative decisions as to vendors and consultants, as well as lack of controls over purchases.
This is an old problem which present administration has not been able to solve. The creation of a position of Information Technology director or whatever title is given will not automatically correct these deficiencies unless the proper qualified individual is hired. The position is needed but will this or any future administration use due diligence to select that person. The recent track record has not been encouraging.
The other items will be dealt with anon.
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Doc, you state that "What is forgotten is that for years "pen and paper" was all that was needed for good fiscal control which boils down to management"
ReplyDeleteTrue. And for centuries there were no blogs. Letters to the editor were about as good as it got. Why change now?
For centuries there were no cars. Horse and buggy was all we had.
For centuries we had no X-Ray. We had no penecilin. We had no air bags in our cars. We had no anti-lock brakes in our cars.
For centuries we ahd no telephone. Can you imagine what some old times would have siad to the then-city council? I can - "For all our lives we have survived without telephones. We don't need them now".
For centuries we had no scanners to scan in our slide pictures.
But then again, maybe you may be right. For too long pen and paper is all that is needed.
You completely don't understand or are trying to be cynically smart. Which?
ReplyDeleteThe point is without good management controls that have worked for centuries using "pen and paper" instead of electronics. The computer is just another tool. The abacus was a tool that in experienced hands was a good as the adding machine or the "slipstick" before the calculator.
The point I tried to make is without proper management controls no hi-tech equipment will be of any value.
As to Blogs; they are no substitutes to letters to the editor, your comments are. Blogs fill a function that the pamphleteers did in the 18th & 19th Centuries.
Doc,
ReplyDeleteI think you still miss the earlier writer's point. With computerization, the need for constant supervision, and management is removed. With computerization effectively controlling work flows the human error is lessened. Managers can do more planning as opposed to supervision and correction since they are freed of the duties of supervision and correction. That is why computers are better then pen and paper.
Sorry if you think I missed the point. Perhaps I did not make a clear explanation. The computer and the networks, software and hardware are only potentially better tools that help management, not a substitute. The adding machine was an improvement over the abacus, the calculator over the slide-ruler,.The computer can contribute but is not an infallible substitute. No matter how well programed it can make errors. Like my spelling checker which will accept a misspelled word as correct if it resembles another kn own word, or will try to correct a word that is without error but not in its vocabulary to one irregardless of meaning that it recognizes.Yes human error should lessen, but there is no substitution for good management practices. Moreover utter reliance on the computer will result in errors due to improper programing.
ReplyDeleteFurther clarification; unless and until good management practices which have been deficient are in place even the most sophisticated electronic management tools are npt reliable.
ReplyDelete