Mayor Jones Honors Transition Team at Reception
Feb 2nd, 2006
January 2006 -TOO BUSY TO BE DIVIDED- 1Mayor Samuel L. Jones’ Transition Report
Executive Summary
Managers’ Introduction
Immediately after his historic victory in the 2005 election, Mayor Sam Jones appointed
24 task forces and subcommittees to engage in a major assessment and planning
project for the City of Mobile. These task forces and subcommittees were staffed by 625
volunteer members, including 58 co-chairs and 33 faculty advisors appointed from local
colleges and universities. The transition process was organized and facilitated by two
managers, four associate managers and two resource persons. Each task force and
subcommittee was asked to conduct a SWOT analysis--that is, to assess the strengths,
weaknesses, threats and opportunities facing the City for their area of responsibility.
They were also asked to develop specific recommendations and action steps to be used
in the development of a formal strategic plan for the City, and they were asked to
complete this assignment in 60 days. It is a remarkable accomplishment that these task
forces and subcommittees, constituted entirely by volunteers, were able to meet this
challenge. As the Land Use and Code Enforcement subcommittee observes in its report
“… while many differences were presented as individuals, our Committee worked
as one Committee, too busy to be divided.” A similar esprit de corps was present in
all task forces and subcommittees. This document presents a total of 24 final reports
submitted by the task forces and subcommittees and includes 128 recommendations.
Two kinds of task forces were created: governmental service and community
investment. Governmental service task forces focused their efforts on the core
responsibilities of City government including public safety and security, other public
services, City finances, land use and code enforcement, public transportation and
technology and infrastructure. Community investment task forces concentrated their
efforts on the broader issues of facilitating economic development and improving quality
of life in the City. Each task force and subcommittee, except one, met multiple times
(usually four times) and reached consensus on the results of the SWOT analysis and on
their recommendations. One community investment task force, Racial and Ethnic
Diversity, was organized relatively late in the process and only met once. Even so, this
group was able to develop a final report that includes a set of recommendations.
The task forces addressed a number of important issues facing the City of Mobile. Their
recommendations are listed in the next section of this Executive Summary and are
presented in full detail in the final report section. This narrative highlights a few of the
recommendations to illustrate the variety of issues considered by these citizen groups.
The Public Safety task force recommends that the City increase the sworn manpower
of the Mobile Police Department and improve the infrastructure of the Mobile Fire
Rescue Department. The Homeland Security task force recommends the creation of a
Mayor’s Natural Disaster Task Force to improve the community’s ability to respond
quickly and decisively to the threat of hurricanes and tornados. This task force states:
“Mobile must be ready and anxious for a project to insure that we are better prepared for
the 2006 hurricane season and beyond.” Public Services recommends that the City
improve its policies and procedures for establishing priorities in its public works projects
including adoption of Performance-Based Budgeting and Performance-Based Program
Evaluations in making decisions on spending priorities.
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The City Finances task force recommends that the City move to address its currently
unfunded pension liability via several action steps including the placement of new hires
under the Retirement Systems of Alabama. Land Use and Code Enforcement
recommends a significant reorganization of the permitting and development process
including the creation of one central department staffed with “all necessary personnel to
review plans, issue permits and make inspections.” They also recommend specific
educational and outreach efforts that will improve customer service from City employees
and increase understanding of codes, ordinances and City processes among customers.
The Technology and Infrastructure task force recommends that the City perform a
best practices study for the City’s technology function and evaluate the need for the
appointment of a Chief Technology Officer. Public Transportation and Access
recommends the expansion of the bus system and improvements in transportation
infrastructure including sidewalks, crosswalks, bike paths and bus-stop shelters. Both
this task force and the Fostering Civic Pride subcommittee advocate the development
of a “Park and Ride” program in the City.
The Port and Maritime Affairs subcommittee voiced opposition to the proposed
location of the I-10 Bridge. Downtown Redevelopment/Riverfront Redevelopment
recommends the development of a Master Plan for the City’s downtown including the
creation of a cultural and entertainment district, fostering of residential development and
the recruitment of educational institutions and small businesses. Airports and Air
Travel recommends various efforts to expand the number of carriers, flights and seat
availability for air travel in/out of Mobile. Education and Workforce Development
recommends the creation of a comprehensive plan focusing on the development of a
competent workforce.
The Housing and Historic/Neighborhood Preservation subcommittee recommends
several administrative changes to encourage housing redevelopment and historic
preservation including improvements in inspections, refinements to the City’s codes and
honoring of the Architectural Review Board’s enforcement decisions. The Tourism
subcommittee recommends that the City develop a master plan for tourism and commit
to the value of tourism as a major part of the economic engine of Mobile. The Arts and
Culture subcommittees recommend increased public commitment to the arts and
cultural organizations including investment in the upgrading of existing facilities and
infrastructure and support for public art. Recreation calls for a comprehensive study of
City-wide recreation facilities. Similarly, Youth and Substance Abuse recommends the
development of a plan to expand service and facilities so that “all Mobile youth … have
access to recreation facilities and age-appropriate programs year round.” The latter
task force also recommends the development of a plan to pilot drug-testing programs in
local public schools and to initiate a City-wide mentoring program. Fostering Civic
Pride contends that “a clean City is critical” and advocates a City-wide effort to enforce
laws regarding litter, vacant buildings and abandoned properties. The Annexation task
force recommends strategies to be employed in the development of a campaign to
annex currently unincorporated areas that surround the City. Such a campaign should
carefully compute, document and communicate the true “net cost” of annexation to
residents or property owners, and the Mayor and City Council should commit to a
“Contract with Annexed Citizens” assuring the provision of specific benefits that will
result from annexation.
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The Health Care task force and its several subcommittees recommend the development
of a City-wide or regional plan for the provision of health care of all types to underinsured
and uninsured citizens. Like the Recreation subcommittee and the Youth and
Substance Abuse task force, Health Care also recommends the enhancement and
improvement of City recreation facilities and programs. The Racial and Ethnic
Diversity task force recommended a number of steps to improve the City’s
responsiveness to a wide variety of ethnic, national and racial groups who call Mobile
home. Among their recommended action steps was a call to provide education and
training to enhance the cultural competence and diversity of City employees, particularly,
the Mobile Police Department.
A variety of cross-cutting themes also emerges from the task force and subcommittee
recommendations. Perhaps the most aspiring is that Mobile has the potential to become
a “World-class City.” This aspiration is given prominent consideration in the Small and
Emerging Business and the Airport and Air Travel subcommittee reports. It is also
indirectly evidenced in several other reports. The Vision Statement presented in the
Downtown Redevelopment subcommittee report falls in the latter category: “We
believe the most important first-term objective of this administration should be to
make the City of Mobile the leading business and cultural community in the State
of Alabama in order to be nationally recognized as the regional center for
economic growth and quality lifestyle along the northern Gulf Coast.”
The most frequently discussed theme in the task force reports was the need for
public/private collaboration to help Mobile achieve its potential and provide the best
possible services to residents. Enhancing inter-sector cooperation was mentioned in
most reports. This includes the need for better collaboration with the business
community, private not-for-profit organizations and institutions of higher learning.
Increased collaboration is desired to help promote economic activity, enhance services
provided in the community and develop a world-class work force. Also, as stated in the
Homeland Security subcommittee report, private sector participation in EMA operations
must increase because private industry owns 95% of critical infrastructure that must be
protected.
Making better use of technology is another issue that was discussed frequently by the
task forces and subcommittees. The basic concern here is that the City of Mobile should
make better use of technology to promote the City regionally and nationally and to
provide better public services. Moreover, the latest technology should be considered to
help place the City at the forefront for using technology innovations to improve the
performance of government. In this regard, the Technology Infrastructure task force
suggests that Internet accessibility be given a priority as a mechanism for attracting
more individuals and businesses to the City. This might involve using wireless fidelity
(WiFi) or other information technology to make Mobile a “Wired” or “Intelligent
Technology Community.” A Sustainable Technology Capital Plan was also suggested for
the City.
The desire for Mobile to take advantage of the “best practices” in governance and
community development was another recurring theme. Several subcommittees
suggested that Mobile might benefit from a comparison of its performance
(benchmarking) to other high-performing cities. Also frequently discussed is the need for
better communication between the City and its residents. This includes the need to
better educate residents about the assets in the community and other features that make
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Mobile an outstanding place to live, work and play. The need for improved
communication between the police and the community was recognized by both the
Public Safety and the Racial and Ethnic Diversity subcommittees.
The American Disabilities Act, public transportation enhancement and better
coordination of resources were also frequently discussed by task forces and
subcommittees. Of particular note was the expressed desire for a mechanism to
continue a high level of citizen participation for resolving issues and promoting growth
and development in the City.
The task forces and subcommittee reports highlight several emerging issues that are
likely to become major concerns. These include a need to embrace Smart Growth
strategies, to more seriously consider disaster preparedness and to develop a
community-wide initiative to care for a growing uninsured and under-insured population.
Cultural competence and cultural diversity are also emerging issues discussed in the
reports.
A series of unique and exciting recommendations also emanate from the reports.
Suggestions for a Park and Ride program and a Keep Mobile Healthy program are
included in this category. The Park and Ride program is suggested to enhance the ridership
of public transportation and to help address traffic congestion. The Keep Mobile
Healthy program, from the Prevention/Health Promotion subcommittee, proposes that
the Mayor and City employees commit to healthy lifestyle changes and partner with
other agencies to promote physical activity. The committee would also like for the City to
support the development of communities (subdivisions) that encourage healthy lifestyles.
Additional educational institutions for the downtown area were proposed by the
Downtown Redevelopment/ Riverfront Development subcommittee. The Port and
Maritime Affairs subcommittee recommends the establishment of a Maritime junior
college or community college to compliment the proposed National Maritime Museum of
the Gulf of Mexico.
Two other novel recommendations include the proposal for a “think tank” approach to
problem solving in the City and a City-wide mentoring program. The Education and
Workforce subcommittee recommends the “think tank” approach for the City to better
utilize the intellectual resources in the community. This would involve a process of
continued brainstorming, promoting new ideas and providing a voice for all residents.
The Youth and Substance Abuse committee proposes that the Mayor provide
leadership for bringing together all post-secondary institutions in the area to develop a
City-wide mentoring program and other appropriate initiatives for youth.
As they developed their recommendations and action steps, we asked each task force
and subcommittee to consider the costs that would be incurred if their plans were
accepted and implemented. We asked them to do this not because we thought they
could provide precise and accurate estimates, but so they would be sensitive to the fact
that resources are limited and to encourage realistic expectations. Acknowledging that
these estimates are rough, and probably conservative, they provide some indication of
the resources that would be required to implement the recommendations. About half of
the task forces included cost estimates in their reports. These groups estimated that the
capital and one time investment needed to implement their recommendations would total
approximately $100 million. Their estimate for the recurring costs is approximately $21
January 2006 -TOO BUSY TO BE DIVIDED- 5
million per year. It should also be noted that the costs of implementation vary widely with
some recommendations requiring an investment of millions of dollars and others
requiring virtually no contribution from taxpayers.
The Mayor’s Transition process has been an amazing and valuable exercise in the
process of democratic governance. Over 600 volunteers came together in a series of
meetings to help plan the future of our City. They discussed, argued and achieved
consensus in developing a set of thoughtful recommendations. The next step in this
process is for the elected leaders of the City to consider these recommendations and
evaluate their merits carefully. We anticipate that the ultimate product will be a strategic
plan for the City. We expect that the final plan will include some of the recommendations
that were developed by these citizen groups. Some of these recommendations will be
rejected as unwise or impractical while others will be adopted after significant
modification. Regardless of the specific outcome, we feel that the process has been
valuable for the City of Mobile, and we are very proud to have been a part of the effort.
Harvey L. White and G. David Johnson