WESTFIELD- Mayor Daniel M. Knapik announced this week that the City of Westfield has been accepted for participation in a technical assistance program run through the Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts-Boston and funded by the state’s Executive Office of Administration & Finance. Through this program, the City’s performance management initiative, WestfieldStat, will be provided with staff assistance and consultant services in the formation of an interdisciplinary statistical analysis program to measure departmental performance.
This grant program provides a framework from which a local ad hoc committee can measure, through empirical data, departmental performance to identify efficiencies and evaluate policies and procedures. CitiStat has been employed in several municipalities across the country, most famously in Baltimore, Maryland. Some communities, including Somerville, Mass., have created departments dedicated solely to analyzing data generated under the program.
“In 2010, I began working with city staff on developing a program through which we could measure departmental performance,” said Knapik. “While we have worked hard to implement some procedures, I am confident this grant will allow the City to take our analytical efforts to a new level.”
For the next six months, the Collins Center will work with city departments to collect data and implement a review procedure aimed toward allowing departments to understand how more effectively and efficiently to meet their mission.
Along with Westfield, Northampton, Chicopee, and Greenfield have pursued similar performance management programs with the assistance of the Collins Center.
“The City is fortunate to secure the assistance of the Collins Center in pursuing this initiative,” said Knapik. “It is vitally important we work to identify efficiencies and manage the taxpayers’ limited resources properly to meet our community’s needs.”
For additional information on municipal performance management, visit www.umb.edu/cpm.
