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Municipal Services Input sought for Amesbury management tool
Amesbury is working to integrate the ideas of residents into AmesStat, the performance-based municipal management approach the town introduced in 2006.
With a $5,000 award from the New York-based Center for Government Performance, Amesbury has hired a consultant to lead a pair of focus groups designed to give town officials a keener sense of what residents regard as most important.
No town officials will take part in the two focus groups, the first of which met on March 13. Not having town officials on hand, said Kendra Amaral, chief of staff for Mayor Thatcher Kezer, “takes the conversation away from whether you like the mayor, or whether you like the city council, and helps you focus more on what should be the goals for the community.”
Over time, Amaral said, the ideas that emerge from the focus groups will be incorporated into the town’s annual report and other planning tools.
Betsy Bury, an associate at the Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said her role is to introduce areas of possible discussion, but to refrain from forcing conversation on topics that participants aren’t especially interested in. She said it was too early in the process to describe the ideas or topics discussed during the March 13 session.
She said attendees “engaged on a very thoughtful level with a great deal of understanding of the challenges that Amesbury faces.”
Municipal Services Input sought for Amesbury management tool
Input sought for Amesbury management tool
Amesbury is working to integrate the ideas of residents into AmesStat, the performance-based municipal management approach the town introduced in 2006.
With a $5,000 award from the New York-based Center for Government Performance, Amesbury has hired a consultant to lead a pair of focus groups designed to give town officials a keener sense of what residents regard as most important.
No town officials will take part in the two focus groups, the first of which met on March 13. Not having town officials on hand, said Kendra Amaral, chief of staff for Mayor Thatcher Kezer, “takes the conversation away from whether you like the mayor, or whether you like the city council, and helps you focus more on what should be the goals for the community.”
Over time, Amaral said, the ideas that emerge from the focus groups will be incorporated into the town’s annual report and other planning tools.
Betsy Bury, an associate at the Collins Center for Public Management at the University of Massachusetts Boston, said her role is to introduce areas of possible discussion, but to refrain from forcing conversation on topics that participants aren’t especially interested in. She said it was too early in the process to describe the ideas or topics discussed during the March 13 session.
She said attendees “engaged on a very thoughtful level with a great deal of understanding of the challenges that Amesbury faces.”
Written by MMA Associate Editor Mitch Evich
