RICK COLE EXIT INTERVIEW-This article describes our experiences with Rick Cole (photo left) during his tenure as Deputy Mayor for Budget and Innovation. Much of the material reported here was refined by an “Exit Interview” held, Wednesday.
Rick has shown real concern and support for the Neighborhood Councils and their progress, accessibility, open-minded consideration of all sides of issues, integrity and consistency. These are extraordinary characteristics often absent in public officials.
Rick Cole was brought into the LA City Government in July 2013 by “then, new” Mayor Eric Garcetti to become the “new” Deputy Mayor for Budget & Innovation. Mayor Garcetti wanted to “get back to basics” and he knew that that would take new ideas and new people. Before coming to LA, Rick didn’t know Mr. Garcetti nor did he contribute (money or time) to Mr. Garcetti’s election. It would seem that Rick was hired on his reputation for modernizing and reinventing activities in other cities. Rick came with a long history of elected and appointed public service and recognized accomplishments.
Mayor Garcetti wanted to replace Mayor Villaraigosa’s program-focused and concept-oriented 15 Deputy Mayors with just four (4) performance based and department-focused Deputies who report, directly, to the Mayor. Now, there are:
1. A Deputy Mayor for Public Safety watching over the LAPD, LAFD and Emergency Management
Departments,2. A Deputy Mayor for Economic Development watching over not only the Building & Safety, Planning,
and Economical Developments but also the Harbor and Airports,
3. A Deputy Mayor for City Services watching over the D.W.P., Recreation & Parks, Department of
Public Works (Streets, Street Lighting, Sanitation, Contracts & Engineering) and Transportation, and
4. Rick, as Deputy Mayor for Budget & Innovation, watching over Office of Finance/Treasurer,
Information Technology Agency, General Services and Personnel Departments. (The opportunity
to modernize outdated and inefficient concepts in the Second Largest City in the country was an
offer he could not refuse.)On arrival, Rick found that essentially all of the City’s Departments were understaffed, underfunded and underperforming. What was more worrisome, the Departments were “too busy” to evaluate their goals and that they could not define nor document their productivity. These circumstances had been unchanged for decades, before, during and after the recent “Great Recession.” Data collection, information management and communications methods were fragmented, non-existent and not up to Twenty-first Century standards. To address these issues, Rick would have to “change the world;” to create a new mind-set in LA City Government.
But he was not alone.
He had the support of Mayor Garcetti who very quickly established much greater communications between the Mayor’s Office and the Public. He had the “new” Controller who started an ever-increasing publication of general and financial data. He quickly established a good rapport and the support of the Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates. The concepts of Performance-based Budgeting had been introduced although Performance-based concepts were still very poorly defined and almost entirely unused.
Perhaps, Rick’s greatest contribution to LA governance in the above-described environment was his introduction of performance measurements from the Departments. However, Rick wanted the Departments to define those measurements they thought were most important. The wisdom of this approach remains to be seen. Rick introduced forms requiring the Departments to include performance data in their annual Budget Applications.
It is a slow process but it has been started and we must see it developed because Rick is leaving the LA to become the City Manager of Santa Monica. His position will be assumed by Matt Szabo, a long-time City employee, who was one of Mayor Villaraigosa’s Deputy Mayors and who is now a Department of Public Works Commissioner. (Photo: Rick Cole with Mayor Garcetti and Neighborhood Council Budget Advocates.)
Rick showed us, by example, that “good politics is good government.” He spoke of the following steps to good decisions:
- Accurate measurements
- Balanced concern for needs/wishes of various constituent groups
- Transparency in your dealings
- Strategic Thinking (“What is feasible?” and “What are the priorities?”)
- Accountability
- Creating “feed-back” loops to evaluate the effects of the decision
(with revisions, as necessary, for ongoing programs).He gave the following suggestions to the Neighborhood Councils:
- Continue to research the essence of key issues
- Set your priorities … focusing on only a few issues at a time
- Gather as much support as you can from NC groups (Budget Advocates, Plan Check,
LANC Coalition, Regional Alliances) and Neighborhood Council Boards.- Document your findings and develop your recommendations clearly
- Present your recommendations early and continue as needed to achieve your goals
He ended our visit by saying that the Neighborhood Councils, in general, are having a real influence in City government decisions and the NC Budget Advocates, specifically, had a real impact on this year’s Budget. He spoke highly of the style and content of the NC White Paper and he expects that there will be greater involvement and influence in future years.
(Daniel Wiseman is a long-time Neighborhood activist and an occasional contributor to CityWatch. He has served as an NC Budget Advocate. Linda R. Lee, Joanne Yvanek-Garb and Punam Gohel contributed to this article. )-cw
CityWatch
Vol 13 Issue 52
Pub: Jun 26, 2015
