Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Today, it's all about chili and the audit...

Today I am going to mix it up a bit and talk about my favorite subjects: food, and the City Voluntary Performance Audit recently completed by the State at our request.  So before we get into the numbers, let’s talk about the Chili!  If you are game for a fun-filled lunch, please join me and other “Chefs” in the community this Friday, May 17, 2013 from 11:30am – 1:30pm at Spitzer Conferencing Center at Lorain County Community College.  We will be participating in the Third Annual Lorain County Celebrities Cook for Pathways event.  Thirteen “Chefs” including yours truly will be presenting their special dishes for your dining pleasure.  Tickets are $20 in advance or $25 at the door and all proceeds benefit Pathways Counseling and Growth Center – an important organization in our community that provides psychological counseling services to individuals, couples and families.  My special dish: Mayor Brinda’s “Kickin” Southwest Chili.  Warning: it’s hot, hot, hot!  On another note, let’s talk again about the performance audit.  Jane called today with the following question…

Jane: Will the City adopt all of the state’s recommendation made in the performance audit; why and why not?


Many of the recommendations and strategies contained in the Performance Audit have been or are in the process of being implemented by my administration and serve to reaffirm that the City is moving in the right direction.  Other recommendations are new to us and will be considered in whole or part depending on the city’s ability to remedy barriers as well as address local preferences and priorities.  Some recommendations, including a number of the Enterprise Fund recommendations, cannot be implemented without the acquisition of further technology that will be needed to streamline operations and will be considered as resources become available.  Seven of the 14 cost-saving recommendations in Local Governments Funds ($1,167,737 of the total $2,024,983) are subject to the collective bargaining process with the City’s six unions.  The audit findings in these areas will serve as vehicles for discussions as we enter negotiations.  The recommendations that involve the creation of joint districts across municipalities are subject to agreements by multiple government bodies, and in some cases voters, and will have to be addressed over time.     

As we have discussed, while these recommendations were made using a cost-control lens, in the end, community values and local priorities may override some of the cost-savings recommendations.  Because municipal government also has the responsibility of giving taxpayers what they want and are willing to pay for – there may be services taxpayers are willing to pay more for compared to peers because they want to maintain more local control, they perceive the quality of the city service to be value-added compared to a privatized service, or other reasons.  In cases where this administration and Elyria City Council believe there is a disparity between the recommendation and local preference or benefits, every attempt will be made to conduct further internal and external analysis, and in some cases, publically vet these issues by providing residents an opportunity to weigh in on alternative scenarios with costs and benefits attached to them during the strategic planning update process.   This added information will assist this administration and Elyria City Council in making final determinations on issues like the future use of our parks and pools and other issues.