CC Web Header  

       
 The Collins Center Report          

Kelliher, Lamboy, Torrisi Join the Collins Center

The Collins Center is happy to announce that three new Associates have joined the Center. Together, they bring more than 80 years of experience to the work the Center does to help local and state government deliver services more efficiently and effectively.

 

Richard Kelliher

Richard J. Kelliher has a 4-decade career in Massachusetts local government, having served for 15 years as Brookline Town Administrator, 10 years as Chief Administrative Officer for the City of Newton, 5 years on the staff of the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA) and nearly 10 years in the administration of former Boston Mayor Kevin White.   His leadership was recognized statewide in 2005 when he was elected MMA President.

 

Throughout his career, Kelliher chaired numerous study and action committees including those focusing on labor relations, revenue sharing and group health insurance.  He was the first municipal designee ever appointed to the state Group Insurance Commission. Most recently, he was asked to serve on the Local Aid Task Force by the Massachusetts Executive Office for Administration and Finance.  He has also held project and teaching positions at Brandeis and Clark Universities, respectively.  Kelliher is currently a Senior Fellow at the Moakley Center for Public Management at Suffolk University.

 

Kelliher holds a J.D. from Suffolk University Law School and a B.A. in Government from Harvard College.

 

 

Monica Lamboy

Monica Renee Lamboy comes to the Collins Center from her most recent position as Executive Director of the City of Somerville's Office of Strategic Planning and Community Development. She brings 20 years of senior management experience in municipalities across the country, including stints as Chief Operating Officer of the Washington, D.C. Department of Health and as Chief Administrative Officer of Oakland, California's Community & Economic Development Agency, where she was named that City's Employee of the Year in 2002.

 

Lamboy has extensive experience in long range and strategic planning, public sector administration and budgeting, organizational change and development, program design, legislative drafting and ordinance implementation. In Oakland, she was one of the co-leaders of an organizational change initiative, "Moving Oakland Forward", that involved 350 employees who evaluated and made recommendations on how to improve internal and external city services.  In Somerville, in preparation for the extension of the MBTA Green Line through the city, she initiated preparation of the city's first Comprehensive Plan and drafted innovative zoning to promote transit oriented infill development.  During her time in Washington, DC, she drafted the budget and monitored expenditures of $1.7 billion for the Department of Health.  

 

Lamboy received her Master's Degree in City and Regional Planning from the University of California at Berkeley and her B.S.E. in Civil Engineering, with a certificate in Architecture, from Princeton University.

 

Anthony Torissi 

Anthony Torrisi brings more than 38 years of experience in Massachusetts municipal finance and administration to the Center. From 1979 to earlier this year, Torrisi served as the Director of Finance and Budget for the Town of Andover, responsible for the management and planning of the Town's $150 million annual budget. During this period, he also served two lengthy terms as Andover's Acting Town Manager. Prior to his service in Andover, Torrisi worked for the City of Worcester and the Town of Danvers.

 

Torrisi is a founding member of the Massachusetts Government Finance Officers Association, was elected its first president and served as the state association's representative to the national association. He is often invited to speak before governmental and non-governmental groups and has won many significant awards over the years from a variety of professional associations, including the National Government Finance Officers Association, the Association of Town Finance Committees and the Massachusetts Municipal Association.

 

Torrisi received an M.B.A. from Northeastern University and  a B.A. in Political Science and Urban Affairs from Boston College.

 

"These three extraordinary public servants will add significant public management, governance and finance expertise to the Center and we are extremely pleased to welcome them," said Stephen McGoldrick, the Center's Deputy Director.

October Online Performance Management Course 

Still thinking about learning how Performance Management can enhance your organization?

 

Performance Registration is now open for our online course, Performance Management in Government and Non-Profits. This 6-week course will provide you with the tools necessary to identify organizational goals and strategies and use data to measure outcomes. This management approach leads to improved organizational performance and enhanced communication.  Many organizations have found this online approach to be a convenient way to offer their staff professional development without ever having to leave the office. Enrolling a group allows people to progress at their own rate while, at the same time, work together with colleagues to implement performance management in their organization.  

 

In the current environment of heightened accountability, government organizations and non-profits are increasingly adopting management approaches focused on using goals and performance indicators to increase effectiveness and communicate accomplishments. Municipal, state, and federal government employees, as well as non-profit managers, interested in better understanding this approach to management and in building related skills will benefit from this course. The knowledge and tools gained from this course will be extremely valuable in helping to set an organization on the path of management for results.

 

Classes start on October 10, 2011 and the registration deadline is October 3, 2011.

 

For more information or to register for this course go to:http://www.umb.edu/academics/uc/corporate/government-performance/   

 or contact Sandy Blanchette at (617) 287-5534 or [email protected].

Center Initiates New Training Program for Municipal Supervisors and Managers

MMPA As described in the October 2010 issue of The Collins Center Report, the Center coordinated last year's Annual Meeting of the Massachusetts Municipal Personnel Association (MMPA). Following up on a lively discussion of professional development needs for municipal employees that took place at that Meeting, the Collins Center has initiated a new Supervisory Leadership Development Program (SLDP) for cities and towns.

 

This program is the result of a collaborative effort by the Center, the MMPA, the Department of Workplace Learning and Development (DWLD) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst and the Massachusetts Municipal Association (MMA).  Dr. Sandra Blanchette, Education Program Developer at the Collins Center and Dr. Linda Marchesani, DWLD Manager, worked with the Vice-Chair of the MMPA, Vanessa Hale, Southborough's Assistant Town Administrator, and Denise Casey, Chair of the MMPA  and Lexington's Human Resources Director, to develop the curriculum. The program is based on a six session course that has been successfully offered many times by DWLD within the state's public higher education system. The SLDP, which has been used and tested extensively, was customized for local government by the collaborators. With a focus on managing self, managing others, managing the work and managing the system, the program covers topics such as communication, team building, organizing and delegation, coaching and performance management, and supervising in a unionized environment.

 

This interactive learning opportunity has been designed for municipal employees interested in developing or strengthening their supervisory and management skills. Using a regional approach, the program will bring together supervisors and managers from different municipalities to develop and refine the knowledge, skills and abilities they need  to be effective supervisors,  as well as give them the ability to network  and share experiences with their colleagues from other communities. The pilot program for MMPA members will start in October 2011 and will be aimed primarily at municipal human resource directors. The goal of the pilot program is to fine tune the curriculum of the program and to familiarize the human resource directors with the program, enabling them to promote it to other supervisors and managers within their city or town. If you are interested in learning more about this new program, please contact Dr. Blanchette at (617) 287-5534 or [email protected].

Northampton Retains Center to Draft New Charter

North Hampton City hall The Northampton City Council voted last week to retain the Collins Center to advise the City's recently appointed Special Act Charter Drafting Committee.   

A Charter Review Committee, which filed its report earlier this year, had recommended the appointment of such a Drafting Committee, as well as a comprehensive overhaul of the City's existing Charter, which was originally adopted in 1883. The report of the Review Committee commented that the current Charter has "numerous provisions that are outdated and inaccurate in their content, internal inconsistencies and operational detail more properly left to the legislative process. Simply put, there are numerous provisions in our charter that do not belong in our charter."

 

The recommendations of the Special Act Drafting Committee will be forwarded to the City Council for its approval and, if so approved, submitted to the state legislature for enactment; the Town plans to have the question of adopting the new Charter put for Northampton voters on the state election ballot in November 2012.

 

Northampton is the latest Massachusetts municipality to take advantage of the Collins Center's expertise in charter development processes. For further information on the Center's charter services, please contact Collins Center Deputy Director Stephen McGoldrick at [email protected] or at (617) 287-4824.

Center to Offer Program in Public Management to City of Lowell Employees

Lowell 1 The City of Lowell has contracted with the Collins Center to provide professional development for its municipal employees. Dr. Sandra Blanchette, Education Program Developer at the Collins Center, in conjunction with Michael Herbert, Lowell's Assistant Human Resources Director, have developed a Public Management Education Program for the City that will provide management skills to current city employees to enhance their effectiveness and to increase their capacity to address the challenges faced in the public sector. Another goal of the Program is to provide employees an expanded knowledge base which they can advance within the organization.

 

Programming will be offered at Lowell City Hall over six Friday afternoons this fall and will include:

  • Introduction to Municipal Government and Financing;
  • Nuts and Bolts of Budgeting;
  • Communication and Administrative Skills;
  • Human Resources Administration;
  • Use of Performance Management in Municipal Government; and
  • Leadership and Organizational Behavior.

 

This program has been customized for the City of Lowell and the initial offering will reach 25 employees. The Collins Center will provide the faculty, which will include several of the Center's most seasoned and experienced municipal experts.  

 

Participants will receive a Certificate of Completion from the Collins Center at the end of the Program, which the City hopes to make an annual event. If you are interested in developing such a public management program for your community, please contact Dr. Blanchette at (617)287-5534 or at [email protected].

Merrimack Valley Regional Inspectional Services Program Begins Operation    

MVPC Logo Municipal managers in Massachusetts frequently comment that providing inspectional services is one of the more challenging areas in municipal government. Municipal inspections in the Commonwealth involve a bewildering tangle of different laws, departments, and functions. The nature of the work is extremely specialized and requires highly professional staff with significant knowledge and experience. When a municipality's inspector is out sick, on vacation or seeks retirement, or when there is a sudden surge of work, it can be very difficult to manage demand for services in a manner that serves and protects the public.

 

Recognizing these challenges, the Merrimack Valley Mayors & Managers Coalition, a group of communities that came together to identify common challenges and develop regional solutions, decided to provide professional inspectional services options to municipalities. The Merrimack Valley Planning Commission (MVPC), which provides administrative support to the Coalition, retained the Collins Center to develop the Merrimack Valley Regional Inspectional Services Program, to help member municipalities streamline the process of retaining inspectors by identifying, vetting, and pre-qualifying a pool of professional inspectors. The first areas to be included in the program are electrical/wiring inspections and health inspections. This service can be used to augment current staff, provide inspectional services due to vacant positions, or provide qualified support on an as-needed basis for a Merrimack Valley community.

 

Through a Request for Proposals (RFP) issued in May, the MVPC built an initial list of inspectors who are now available to MVPC members.  Once the program has been operational for some time and MVPC has a better sense of demand for the services, MVPC will be issuing a follow-up RFP to expand both the types of inspections offered and the number of inspectors available. 

 

"We're very excited about this program," said MVPC Executive Director Dennis DiZoglio.  "We hope that it provides communities with a high-quality and efficient way of supplementing their existing inspectional services, and we hope that it can serve as a model for other municipal governments and regions in Massachusetts."

 

For more information about the MVPC regional inspections program, please contact MVPC Executive Director Dennis DiZoglio at [email protected] or at (978) 374-0519. For more information about the Center's regionalization services, please contact Michael Ward at [email protected] or at 617-287-4876.

Full Story
The Edward J. Collins, Jr. Center for Public Management
100 Morrissey Boulevard
Boston, MA 02125
Phone: (617) 287- 4824
FAX: (617) 287- 5566
New Banner 1
Volume 3 Issue Six

September 2011

Collins Center In the News
ARRA Two
Contracting with the Collins Center
 Key Accomplishments
Quick Links
Steve on Collins Center
McCormack School Dean Steve Crosby

on the Collins Center


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