Dear Bainbridge Islanders,
As I sat down to write this column for the City Manager's Report, I realized that
I will only be writing four more columns as your City Manager. With that realization, I decided that I needed to be strategic about what I communicate during the next four weeks. My approach will be to outline what I believe to be the most impactful initiatives undertaken by the City to improve the organization during the past six years.
The four initiatives I want to outline are: Use of Best Practices, Strategic Thinking, Performance Measurement, and Transparency.
Best practice is a method or technique that has been generally accepted as superior to any alternative because it produces results that are superior to those achieved by other means or because it has become a standard way of doing things. For example, when we pursued State Accreditation of our Police Department, we implemented many policies that represent best practices. The same is happening now within the Public Works Department as it pursues Accreditation through the American Public Works Association.
The Finance Department has received recognition from the Government Finance Officers' Association for each of the past two Biennial Budgets. In addition, for the 5th straight year the City has received a clean financial audit from the WA State Auditor's Office for 2017. Clarification should be made related to what was reported by the Bainbridge Review. The Auditor provides opinions on financial reporting and performance audits. The opinions are communicated through three forms: Findings, Management Letters, and Exit Items. A Finding is a serious error or illegal action has been identified by the Auditor. A Management Letter is a recommendation for improvements to a process or procedure. An Exit Item is also a recommendation, but usually less of a priority. The Auditor did recommend changes should be made to City procedures related to handling of cash for City Dock and Boat Ramp fees. These changes were in the form of a Management Letter. Most likely, the changes that will be implemented to address this recommendation is installation of an automated payment kiosk near the boat ramp.
Kindly,
Doug Schulze
City Manager
|