In mid-July 2010, a firestorm of controversy came upon the town of Bell, California. A Los Angeles Times report found that Bell’s top officials – city manager, police chief, assistant city manager – were making two or three times the going rate for those positions elsewhere. The largely poor, largely Latino community had a city [...]
According to Steve Moddemeyer, a former senior advisor to Seattle Public Utilities and the city’s Department of Planning and Development, new paradigm shifts in government service delivery and infrastructure management are leading more officials to consider sustainable solutions. In a conversation with Mr. Moddemeyer, he told CivSource that governments can no longer afford to approach [...]
In an effort to move local government public engagement strategies from complaint-driven affairs to problem-solving sessions, the National League of Cities has produced an action guide to help elected officials create a framework for civility and democratic governance. The guide mentions strategies, from utilizing Web 2.0 technologies to promoting volunteerism as ways to allow citizens [...]
In an announcement made last week, the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology will provide $32 million in funding to accelerate health IT through Regional Extension Centers (RECs). ONC head Dr. David Blumenthal also announced additional money for health information exchanges and community college HIT programs. In a message posted on Dr. [...]
In a survey announced this week, the National Association of State Chief Information Officers (NASCIO) said that continued declines in the states’ IT workforce will challenge service delivery and productivity in the coming years. Although respondents indicated that the weak economy has kept many workers at their jobs, an “inevitable tsunami of turnover,” should be [...]
Earlier this week, CivSource reported that the National Governors Association sent a letter to Congressional leaders urging them to keep the states’ fiscal environments in mind when looking at ways to close the federal deficit. This letter came on the heels of growing chatter, coming from conservatives, about the increasing likelihood of states filing for [...]
In a letter to Congress yesterday, the National Governors Association (NGA) requested that federal officials follow a handful of broad “principles” in reducing the state-federal deficit. The letter comes amid rising concerns from some Congressional leaders that states are in danger of needing bailouts or initiating bankruptcy procedures. According to the NGA, twenty-nine new governors [...]
In this, the first of two pieces on the federal debt and its relationship to state and local governments, Accenture’s David Wilson outlines how the debt crisis should lead to a fundamental reexamination of the way money transfers from federal to state coffers. He also argues for a government processes “Marshall Plan” that looks into [...]
A new study out yesterday by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that three-quarters of Americans participate in some kind of voluntary group or organization. Moreover, the study found the lines between online and offline participation in group activity is blurring.
Over the last decade, a technology known as customer relationship management (CRM) has slowly crossed over into the public sector. That migration from private to public sector use is about to get a boost with an announcement today from Microsoft that Dynamics CRM will be available online through the cloud.
