Results-based government practices are topic of fourth national conference
 

Among those participating in the "Managing for Results" conference were (left to right) National League of Cities President Bob Knight, who is the mayor of the City of Wichita, Kansas; LBJ School Dean Ed Dorn; Washington, D.C., Mayor Anthony A. Williams; and Peter Harkness, editor and publisher of Governing magazine.

photo by María de la Luz Martínez

This year's "Managing for Results" conference explored how state and local governments have made progress in implementing new organizational cultures, systems, and processes to enhance and sustain results-based government.

The event was the fourth in a series of national conferences on the topic of performance measurement and was cosponsored by the LBJ School, a group of Texas legislative and state agency leaders, and a number of national associations.

Held in April at the Austin Convention Center, the conference drew public sector officials from around the country and offered many workshops for participants with varying degrees of experience in performance measurement.

One of the keynote speakers was Washington, D.C., Mayor Tony Williams, who discussed the challenges he faced when he took over a government that had lost the confidence of the public. Key sessions were led by some of the nation's top practitioners, and the program included numerous speakers from different local and state governments.

One of the highlights of this year's conference was the presentation of the National Excellence Award for Citizen Involvement. Funded by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the award recognizes outstanding achievement by state and local governments when setting policy, budgetary priorities, and performance measures. The winners in three categories were Florida Department of Revenue (state government); Fairfax County, Virginia (local governments over 200,000); and the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina (local governments under 200,000).

The selection committee was made up of nationally known practitioners and researchers in the field of performance measures. Selection was based on innovative practices, goal accomplishments, the citizenry's influence on the decisionmaking process, and other factors.

The conference was hosted by the LBJ School along with the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, Texas Lieutenant Governor Rick Perry, Texas Speaker of the House James E. "Pete" Laney, Texas State Comptroller Carol Keeton Rylander, the Texas State Auditor's Office, the Texas Legislative Budget Office, and the Texas Association of Counties.

This year's national sponsors were the American Society for Public Administration, Alliance for Redesigning Government, Council of State Governments, National Academy of Public Administration, National Association of Counties, National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration, National Civic League, National Conference of State Legislatures, National League of Cities, and Public Technology, Inc.

Comments to lbjwmast@uts.cc.utexas.edu