|
ROLE 5: Assist Elected Officials or Citizens
Practice 5e. Assess citizen engagement: Assess or improve citizen engagement related to performance management.
Kansas City, Missouri, City Auditor [Profile]
The City Auditor does not really provide a specific example of this “future practice” of assessing citizen engagement in performance management. However, a possible “precursor practice” is the City Auditor’s “Governance Assessments” of City Boards and Commissions, a practice started in 2001 with the report Good Governance Practices for Boards and Commissions. This report includes a “Governance Checklist” (see “tools” below) which the Auditor’s Office recommended be completed by all of the city’s boards and commissions.
Following this report, the City Council passed an ordinance requiring annual reporting of governance practices. In 2002, the Auditor’s Office asked the Boards to answer six questions, including, “How does the board represent the people of the City of Kansas City? How is that documented? (Please provide the documentation.)” The verbatim answers were included in the published report. For the October 2003 report, the Boards were asked ten governing questions, including one about representing citizens. For the October 2004 report, they were asked the same questions found in the 2001 governance checklist. For the October 2005 report, board members were interviewed to discuss governance practices. This report also included recommendations to the City Manager to strengthen governance by these boards and commissions. The 2006 report used the original governance checklist and summarized the response received. The City Auditor’s Office devotes less than 800 staff-hours to this project annually. The issues illuminated by the checklists have sparked discussions about governance within some of the Boards and Commissions, which are expected to foster improvements in governance practices.
Tools:
Governance Assessment Checklist (PDF)
Reports:
|
