Mayor Dennis Hession today praised the 400-plus-page Efficiency & Effectiveness Study as a tool to help the City deliver better service and better value to taxpayers.

"Before us is an exciting opportunity to make our City best in class in the nation," Mayor Hession said. "The implementation of these recommendations is part of a greater effort to ensure that City government does its part to help Spokane's economy continue to grow and our citizens to prosper."

The Mayor said that even though review of the study is just beginning, he and the City's Division Managers see the potential for significant savings this year.

Mayor Hession broadly released a working draft of the study today following the premature release of the document to only some media outlets. He cautioned that the report is still a draft, and that the final document wouldn't be available until early next week. Factual changes still are likely, and information-rich appendices aren't included in this initial release.

The City embarked on the Efficiency & Effectiveness Study as part of a commitment to citizens to search for ways to save money and improve service. The study provides an organization-wide look at City service delivery and operations. It includes more than 200 recommendations and observations to improve City services and operations. The study pays particular focus on centralizing organization-wide functions, tightening internal controls, and structural changes in the organization.

"We have a lot of work ahead of us," Mayor Hession said. "We're going to get the report finished and make sure it's right. We're going to review and evaluate the recommendations to determine what's achievable. And we're going to start implementation."

The Mayor has directed Acting Deputy Mayor John Pilcher to oversee the implementation process. Integral to this implementation is an eight-week strategic planning effort that will be led by the Mayor's Cabinet. The planning effort will incorporate recommendations from the study for implementation, both near and longer term.

"I have challenged our employees to create an organization that meets our goal to be best in class in the nation," the Mayor said. "We have a strong team at the City, and we will be successful."

A formal presentation on the Efficiency and Effectiveness Study has been scheduled as part of the City Council's 6 p.m. meeting on Monday, Jan. 29. A representative of Matrix, the Palo Alto, Calif.-based consultant who produced the report, will be on hand to answer questions at that time. The Efficiency and Effectiveness Study cost $260,000 and took about five months of research and study to produce.

1-16-07 Draft of Efficiency & Effectiveness Study. (PDF 1MB)