Baltimore City Council
File #: 15-0214R    Version: 0 Name: Council Oversight Hearing - CitiStat Changes
Type: City Council Resolution Status: Adopted
File created: 3/23/2015 In control: Judiciary and Legislative Investigations
On agenda: Final action: 5/4/2015
Enactment #:
Title: Council Oversight Hearing - CitiStat Changes FOR the purpose of convening a City Council oversight hearing to assess the current status, proposed future direction, cost effectiveness, and appropriate mission of Baltimore City's CitiStat program.
Sponsors: Mary Pat Clarke, President Young, Robert Curran, Sharon Green Middleton, Brandon M. Scott, Helen L. Holton, James B. Kraft, Bill Henry, Edward Reisinger, Nick Mosby, Carl Stokes, William "Pete" Welch
Indexes: CitiStat Changes, Council Oversight Hearing
Attachments: 1. 15-0214R~1st Reader, 2. 2nd Reader Amendments 15-0214R, 3. 15-0214R~2nd Reader
* WARNING: THIS IS AN UNOFFICIAL, INTRODUCTORY COPY OF THE BILL.
THE OFFICIAL COPY CONSIDERED BY THE CITY COUNCIL IS THE FIRST READER COPY.
      INTRODUCTORY*
 
      CITY OF BALTIMORE
      COUNCIL BILL           R
      (Resolution)
                                                                                                                                                           
Introduced by: Councilmember Clarke
                                                                                                                                                           
 
 
      A RESOLUTION ENTITLED
 
A COUNCIL RESOLUTION concerning
title
Council Oversight Hearing - CitiStat Changes
FOR the purpose of convening a City Council oversight hearing to assess the current status, proposed future direction, cost effectiveness, and appropriate mission of Baltimore City's CitiStat program.
body
 
Recitals
  
   Baltimore�s CitiStat program was initiated 15 years ago by thenMayor Martin O�Malley who initially brought the New York City Police Department�s Comstat program to the Baltimore Police Department, and subsequently adapted that model as an accountability and tracking system for about a dozen other City agencies.
 
  CitiStat is best known as accounting for progress in completion of quantifiable agency and interagency tasks.  While often tedious and timeconsuming, such accountability ties directly into our citizens� expectations when seeking help and lodging complaints through the City�s 311 system and when demanding cost effectiveness in the delivery of City services in general.
 
   �According to research by Harvard University and the Center for American Progress,� as cited in The Sun�s recent review of this program, �CitiStat�s tenets � such as �accurate and timely information shared by all� and �relentless followup and assessment� �  are crucial to the program�s effectiveness.�  Equally important is the involvement and support of the Mayor and other top City leaders.
 
  Recent Sun accounts and personal observations indicate a period at CitiStat in which the innate culture of urgency and the �relentless� elements of accountability are �on hold� by Administration consensus.
 
  With a consultant�s report in hand since the summer, City leadership may actually be in transition to a less confrontational and more collaborative CitiStat successor process in mind.
 
  Before Baltimore City�s fiscal year 2016 budget is developed, it is important for the Baltimore City Council to determine what future the Administration envisions for this presumably emerging CitiStat successor.
 
 
 
  Things change, but, in this case, the Council has a responsibility to understand what purposes a CitiStat successor might serve, how it might operate, what it might cost, and what 311 taskrelated functions might remain to retain accountability in addressing the City�s most frequent constituent requests.  The Council also must be informed about the impact of this transition on our proven progress in conducting interagency domestic violence and gunstat oversight.
 
  NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF BALTIMORE, That to accomplish our own oversight of presumed changes in motion, City Council requests a list of all agencies currently subject to CitiStat review and a copy of the CitiStat consultant�s report, presented to the Mayor last August.
 
   AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a City Council oversight hearing be conducted to include the CitiStat Director, the Deputy Chief of Staff responsible for CitiStat, the City Budget Chief, and other key personnel the Mayor selects to brief the Council.
      
   AND BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, That a copy of this Resolution be sent to the Mayor, the CitiStat Director, the Mayor�s Deputy Chief of Staff, the Chief of the Department of Finance�s Bureau of Budget and Management Research, and the Mayor�s Legislative Liaison to the City Council.
 
 
dlr15-1114(2)~intro/19Mar15
ccres/CitiStat/mpc:tw
 
 
dlr15-1114(2)~intro/19Mar15
????
ccres/CitiStat/mpc:tw