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Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management
              McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies
       
 The Collins Report
Collins Center and Center for Women in Politics & Public Policy Publish Demographic Analysis of Recovery Act Jobs
First-in-the-Nation Data Collection Effort
Mass ARRAThe Center, together with one of its counterparts in the McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies, the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy (CWPPP), has released a report examining which racial, gender and ethnic groups have benefited from jobs retained or created by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA). The research, conducted at the request of the Massachusetts Recovery & Reinvestment Office (MRRO) at Governor Deval Patrick's direction, reviewed data collected quarterly by that Office. The report appears to be the first attempt in the nation to analyze the impact of ARRA jobs on these demographic groups.

The study estimated that ARRA had created or retained 79,000 jobs across the state during the first two quarters of 2010 and found that the job holders lived in 90% percent of the Commonwealth's cities and towns. People of color constituted more than 10% of ARRA job holders in both quarters; women held just over 55% of ARRA positions in the first quarter, and 49% in the second. Furthermore, the ARRA jobs that were directly created or retained among public and private government contractors were disproportionately good jobs, paying wages at or above the private sector average and included health insurance and pension benefits.

The collection and reporting of this data is the first study of its kind and is a step toward more data-driven government activity. As MRRO Director Jeffrey Simon commented, "Collecting this data provides another way for the public to first understand the impact of government policies, and second, to hold government accountable for results."

Read the Full Report
Chatham Hires Center to Recruit New Town Manager
North Chatham MassChatham, the Town right on the elbow of Cape Cod, has hired the Collins Center to recruit candidates for Town Manager. The post is vacant for only the second time since 1995, when it was established by Home Rule Charter. Chatham has a year round population of approximately 6,800, which triples during the summer. Chatham recently approved implementation of a wastewater management plan with an estimated cost of $200 million over 20 years and the Town has also recently approved forming a regional school district with the Town of Harwich.

All Town Department Heads are appointed by the Town Manager. A Profile of the Town and a detailed job description will be available in early March on the Center's website, www.collinscenter.edu. A decision by the five member Board of Selectmen is expected in May.

Since its founding, helping municipalities recruit talent for top jobs has been a Collins Center service. Searches are carried out at a high professional standard and include careful assessment of the challenges that will face a new person, as well as outreach and networking using our extensive database, facilitating the interview and selection process and performing thorough reference checks.

Springfield, Princeton, Winthrop, Plymouth and now Chatham have utilized the Center's services to recruit Managers/Administrators. Worcester, Lawrence and the Essex Regional Retirement System have used the Center's services to recruit top financial management professionals and the South Hadley Fire District #1 is using the Center's services to hire a Fire Chief.

The Center serves as a retained recruiter for its clients, helping the municipality clarify and articulate its needs. Only when this process is complete does active recruitment commence. To learn more about the Center's recruitment services, please contact Senior Associate Richard Kobayashi at richard.koyabashi@umb.edu.
Collins Center Moderates Public Forums on the Town of Georgetown's Budget
GeorgetownAs with many Massachusetts communities, the Town of Georgetown is currently facing a significant deficit in its Fiscal Year 2012 budget. In light of these circumstances, Town officials wanted to receive public feedback and help in prioritizing services to inform their upcoming budget decisions. The Town engaged the Collins Center to facilitate a meeting that would bring together residents, Town officials and School officials for an open dialogue on the budget situation.

About 100 Georgetown residents attended the four-hour meeting, which took place on the morning of January 29th in the cafeteria of the Georgetown Middle/High School. The first part of the meeting consisted of presentations on the budget situation from the Town Administrator and Superintendent of Schools, as well as a short presentation on the state of municipal government in the Commonwealth by Collins Center Associate Michael Ward. The majority of the meeting then focused on a discussion of what the Town's residents considered priorities for services. Ward led the conversation through each of the Town's municipal departments, including the School Department. Residents presented a wide variety of views in a respectful dialogue with Town officials that produced a great amount of input on priorities. Read more about the forum here.

Following the meeting, Town officials decided to continue the discussion with a second meeting that will dig deeper into specific areas and programs that residents would be willing to see cut back as well as other changes they would be willing to see made in order to eliminate the deficit. This meeting will also be moderated by the Center and will take place on Saturday, March 3rd.

If you are interested in the Center's public meeting facilitation services, please contact Michael Ward at (617) 287-4876 or Michael.Ward@umb.edu.      
StatNet Winter Meeting on HR Data Attended by Municipal Officials from Fifteen Municipalities
StatnetNew England StatNet hosted its winter meeting at Worcester City Hall on Friday, February 4th. The meeting's topic was human resources and how different communities use municipal personnel data to make operational decisions. Despite taking place after a string of major snowstorms, the meeting was one of StatNet's largest yet with over 40 attendees, including municipal officials from fifteen different communities in three different states. The Massachusetts municipalities in attendance represented over one fifth of the population of the Commonwealth and seven different counties. The communities participating ranged in size from 23,000 to 650,000. Officials from the largest cities in Rhode Island and Connecticut were in attendance and five municipalities were first-time StatNet attendees.  In addition, six municipalites that were unable to attend it to the meeting submitted their data for analysis. 

The meeting's main discussion crossed a wide range of Human Resources (HR) - related topics, including health insurance, wellness programs, performance appraisals, and HR staffing. In addition, officials from Lowell presented a case study on how they used HR data to achieve operational savings in the parks department.

StatNet is a network of municipalities in New England using CitiStat or other data-driven performance management approaches. The group is coordinated by the Collins Center and gathers three times a year for in-depth discussion of municipal governance issues and works on other collaborative efforts.

StatNet is beginning preparations for its spring meeting and is also designing a training day for municipal officials interested in learning about how to start a CitiStat or other performance management program. The training will likely be held sometime in the spring at UMass Boston and will be focused on the kind of real world, practitioner-based information and lessons learned to help move a municipality from curiosity about or general interest in performance management to actual implementation and operation.

Formerly known as MassStat, StatNet is now into its third year of existence. In addition to human resources, meeting topics have included: public works, inspections, customer service/constituent relations, resources, meeting topics have included: public works, inspections, customer service/constituent relations, and police.

If you are interested in learning more about StatNet or any of its initiatives, please contact Michael Ward at (617) 287-4876 or Michael.Ward@umb.edu. And watch Kendra Amaral, Deputy Director of Lawrence's Department of Planning and Development and former Chief of Staff to the Mayor of Amesbury talk about CitiStat and Statnet here.
Center's Education Program Developer Now MBTI Certified
MBTISandy Blanchette, Ed.D, the Collins Center's Education Program Developer, is now a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTIŽ) Certified Practitioner. The MBTIŽ is the most widely used personality type indicator in the world. The Myers-Briggs assessment tool is used to help individual employees, teams and organizations meet the challenges of the workplace in such areas as communication, team-building, leadership and career management. This new certification adds to the Center's wide array of training and educational programs available to municipal and state governments.

If you or your organization would like to have a Myers-Briggs Type Indicator assessment or learn more about how it could be used to enhance your organization's performance, please contact Dr. Blanchette at 617-287-5534 or at sandy.blanchette@umb.edu.
Online Performance Management Course to be Offered in April  

 

PerformanceReady for Spring Training? Check this out for online professional development opportunities.




The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management
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About Ed Collins
Throughout his outstanding public career, Edward J. Collins, Jr. epitomized the spirit and goals of the Center that now bears his name.  We at the Collins Center are proud to continue the work of Ed's life - helping governments work effectively and productively for the benefit of their citizens.

More about Ed