Lynnwood considers performance reviews

By Janice Podsada

Herald Writer

LYNNWOOD — Traditionally, governments — city, county and state — have based their internal evaluations on the bottom line. Did the department in question go over budget or remain on track?

But the Lynnwood City Council is considering an ordinance that would institute performance reviews for city departments.

The ordinance will be discussed this week and put to a council vote sometime in March, said Mike Bailey, the city’s finance director.

The new form of self-evaluation would serve as a how-are-we-doing look at city services intended to measure what did or did not get done.

The focus of the performance review would be measuring actual results, with the ultimate goal to trim the fat, Bailey said.

For example, a city employee whose job is to ensure public safety wouldn’t be evaluated on the number of meetings he or she attended, but on the end product.

"We’d be interested in finding out whether people in Lynnwood feel safer," Bailey said.

Feedback could come from citizen surveys, town meetings and resident forums.

Private businesses have employed performance reviews for at least 10 years, Bailey said.

Presently, only a handful of cities around the state conduct performance reviews, with Tacoma, Bellevue and Kirkland leading the charge, Bailey said.

Interest in the performance review model is growing among all government officials.

"It’s a new trend we’re seeing across the country," Bailey said.

During this legislative session, lawmakers in Olympia are discussing implementing performance audits within state agencies and departments.

Two factors are driving the change in how government evaluates itself, Bailey said. The first is the need to show tangible results to an increasingly demanding and cost-conscious public. How many potholes were filled this year? How many parks got built?

The second factor is purely financial; Economic decline, recession and falling revenues have shrunk the city budget.

In recent years, former Lynnwood mayor Tina Roberts-Martinez and current council member Don Gough have supported performance reviews.

Anticipating passage of the proposed ordinance, the council budgeted $50,000 for performance audits in 2003, enough money to evaluate two or three city departments.

Lynnwood has more than 20 city departments and 400 employees.

While citizens might be the best judge of some city departments, others might best be evaluated by an impartial but expert evaluator, which would require the services of an outside consultant.

For example, a performance review of the city’s fire department might include hiring someone who’s familiar with the delivery of fire and medical services.

Bailey said Lynnwood may be the only city in Snohomish County currently considering implementing performance reviews.

You can call Herald Writer Janice Podsada at 425-339-3029 or send e-mail to podsada@heraldnet.com.

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