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 The Collins Center Report          

Center Announces Expansion of Public Safety Practice   

The Collins Center is pleased to announce the expansion of its public safety practice with several important new projects. Based on the response to the Center's initial projects and continued requests for additional services, the Center will be devoting significant resources to public safety management initiatives in the near future.

Boston Police Department Training


BPD LogoAs described more fully in the March 2010 edition of The Collins Center Report the Center designed a three-day public management-training program for newly promoted supervisors in the Boston Police Department (BPD). Twenty-five sergeants, fourteen lieutenants and six captains attended the sessions at UMass Boston, participating in the first such professional training offered to BPD managers. A second management program offered to eighteen sergeants in the fall of 2010 continued this management training effort. This program which took place at the Boston Police Academy in Hyde Park included an interactive leadership case study presentation by the Collins Center.

Regionalization of E911


E 911In the spring of 2010, as reported in the April edition of The Collins Center Report, the Center entered into an agreement with the Executive Office of Public Safety's State 911 Department. The Center will assist them in the development of Regional Public Safety Answering Points (RPSAs), which handle all emergency calls in an area and Regional Secondary Answering Points, which manage either fire or police emergency calls. The Center also helped the Department enroll additional communities in the state's several new Regional Emergency Communications Centers (RECCs), which provide regional dispatch and coordination of emergency services.

As an outgrowth of that original work, the State 911 Department recently asked the Center to help the Department understand the most critical issues facing the development of regional emergency communications centers. The Collins Center will analyze the successful approaches supporting the development of regional 911 centers and develop case studies to assist in the replication of those efforts across the Commonwealth. The Collins Center will also investigate the barriers to the establishment of regionalizing emergency communications centers.

Homeland Security Center of Excellence


Mass HazMat truckThe Center has partnered with the Boston Fire Department (BFD) and other area fire departments to assist in the Metro Boston Homeland Security Region's (MBHSR) establishment of a Center of Excellence (CoE), which will initially focus on hazardous material (HazMat) and chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear defense (CBRNE) training for the region's firefighters. Boston's Fire Commissioner Roderick J. Fraser, Jr. said, "The fire service is the lead agency for all HazMat and CBRNE incident response. This CoE will allow us to better train the fire fighters in the region and increase our level of expertise.  We are very excited to partner with UMass Boston in this important endeavor." Funding from the MBHSR will support the development of the CoE. The MBHSR is comprised of nine communities (Boston, Brookline, Cambridge, Chelsea, Everett, Quincy, Revere, Somerville, and Winthrop), and has the responsibility for defining the region's homeland security goals, objectives and projects. This regional planning process will serve as a roadmap to guide the development, implementation, and enhancement of homeland security initiatives for the region's public safety agencies. The Center is providing the BFD with strategic planning services for the implementation of Hazmat and CBRNE training as well as developing a leadership-training program to prepare senior fire personnel to manage critical incidents.

The Center has already assisted the CoE with organizing an 80 Hour HazMat Technician course and supported four one-day mini-conferences on Rapid Risk Assessment, Air Monitoring Training and Technical Rescue Awareness with Confined Space Air Monitoring.

 

Massachusetts Department of Fire Services Training

  

Mass Fire Fighting academyThe Center recently concluded, in conjunction with the Massachusetts Firefighting Academy, a 13-week training program for municipal fire departments for the Massachusetts Department of Fire Services. The program, open to senior managers, consisted of weekly classes on leadership, communication, supervision, ethics, decision-making, and human resource management as well as on fire prevention and life safety programs.  

 

Read More about Expansion of Public Safety Practice>>>

 

To learn more about these services, please contact Kym Craven or call 978-314-7283.

Collins Center Continues Its Work Helping Cities and Towns with Charter Change

mass charter.Center Sees Boom in Demand for Charter-Related Services

Many citizens of Massachusetts know that our state constitution is the oldest written constitution in continuous use in the world and that it is a document that predates and provides some of the basis for the United States' constitution. However, what may be surprising is the fact that, at the time the Massachusetts constitution was written in 1780, 110 of the Commonwealth's current cities and towns - almost a third - had already been granted charters - the municipal equivalent of a constitution. Today, more and more municipalities are working to update their charters and bring them into the twenty-first century.

The Collins Center recently completed its work with three elected Massachusetts Charter Commissions charged with writing new municipal charters. The cities of Everett, Holyoke and Newburyport elected 9-member Charter Commissions in November 2009 and, in accordance with state law, were charged with producing a new charter document by May 2011. All three charter proposals will appear on the November 2011 municipal election ballots in these communities.

Everett's current charter, dating back to 1892, set up a mayor-council form of government. The bicameral legislative body consists of 25 members; a 7-member board of aldermen and an 18-member common council, the last of its kind in the country. The charter proposal calls for the elimination of that body and its replacement with an 11-member city council; 6 councilors to be elected by ward and 5 to be elected at-large. The new charter proposes increasing the term of office for mayor from 2 to 4 years and contains a recall provision for all elected officials. There were no changes proposed for the 9-member school committee. The charter change proposal received unanimous support from the Commission.

For more information on charter reform, see a Department of Revenue City and Town article co-authored by Steve McGoldrick.

Read More About Charter Change>>>

 

For further information on the Center's charter revision services, please contact Steve McGoldrick or call (617) 287-4824.

Center Begins Search for Framingham Town Manager

Chatham Hires Candidate Recruited by Center

Framingham Town HallThe Board of Selectmen in Framingham, New England's largest town with a population just shy of 70,000, has retained the Collins Center to assist in
the recruitment of its next Town Manager. Framingham established a strong Town Manager position in 1996 by Special Act and has a Representative Town Meeting as its legislative body. Framingham has had three Town Managers since the position was created in 1996. Center staff will work with the Board of Selectmen and a ten person Screening Committee to recruit and interview candidates. The Screening Committee has been charged with recommending approximately five thoroughly qualified finalists for the Town Manager position for consideration by the Selectmen. Active recruiting will commence in July and an appointment to the position is expected to be made in late Fall 2011. A Profile of the Town and a description of the position will be posted shortly on the Center's website.

The Center's philosophy concerning recruitment is that a proper search cannot be accomplished unless the Town has a clear sense of its strategic goals as well as the kind of person the Town needs to achieve those goals. Center staff take this approach in all searches and clients have all commented on its value.

In related news, Jill Myers Goldsmith was appointed as Town Manager of Chatham on June 21st. Ms. Goldsmith, currently the Town Administrator in Kingston (MA) was one of four finalists considered by the Chatham Board of Selectmen. The Collins Center provided recruitment assistance to the Town and worked closely with the Board of Selectmen and a five person Screening Committee during the process, which commenced in early February. Over fifty applications were received during the recruitment period. The Profile statement for the Chatham Town Manager position is on the Center's web site.

For further information about the Center's executive recruitment and interim management practices, please contact Senior Associate Richard Kobayashi or call (617) 489-8812.

New England StatNet to Hold Next Meeting in July  


StatnetN. E. StatNet will host its summer meeting at Worcester City Hall on July 20th, beginning at 10:00 a.m. The subject of the meeting will be municipal public works departments and how different communities use data from these departments to make operational decisions.

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, with additional support from the Rappaport Institute for Greater Boston at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government and the Pioneer Institute for Public Policy Research. StatNet is currently chaired by the cities of Lowell and Worcester.

For more information about the meeting and to receive the pre-meeting survey or to sign up for the StatNet listserv, please contact Michael Ward at [email protected] or at (617) 287-4876.

Enhance your Knowledge of Performance Management with On-line Summer Course.

Performance 

This 6 week online course in Performance Management is designed for the working professional who values learning new and relevant skills. You can participate in the course from anywhere you have computer internet access; you can still go on vacation and it won't interfere with your professional development plans. If you're not sure how it works or would like more information, please contact [email protected] or call 617-287-5534.

 

 

Performance Management course description and registration details

 

The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125
Phone: (617) 287- 4824
FAX: (617) 287- 5566
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In the News

Selectmen Reviewing Town Manager Recruiter Proposals 

NorthAndoverPatch.com

 

Town Manager's Agreement Released  

FraminghamPatch.com, June 22, 2011 

 

Framingham Selectmen Hear Recruiter's Pitch for New Town Manager   

metrowestdailynews.com,  

June 1, 2011  

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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.

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