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City Efficiency Committee Holds First Meeting

March 25th, 2014

Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed’s Commission on Waste and Efficiency in Government held its first meeting early Tuesday, the main topic of debate being when the commission should start discussing potential cost-saving measures.As heard on the radio

Some of the 16-member commission wanted to jump right in discussing ideas that had been submitted by city workers and handed out to the group prior to the meeting. Others wanted to wait until the next meeting in three weeks to allow more time for commission members themselves to submit ideas and have them vetted.

“For the amount of work that seems to have to be put into this to be effective really good, the timeline when we actually get to do the work is not enough,” said Gina Pagnotta, who heads the Professional Association of City Employees union.

The commission, made up of seven city council members, five union representatives and four private sector CEOs, is set to meet four times before June 16, when city council votes on a budget.

The commission Tuesday cut its planned two-hour meeting short by about an hour, dismissing without discussing the merits of any potential cost cutting ideas.

The mayor’s group was formed to find millions of dollars in savings to help the city prep for a $150-$250 million bond referendum. Reed has said the money would be used to address some of city’s $900 million backlog in infrastructure repairs.

Commission co-chair Councilman Howard Shook said work will be done ahead of the next meeting.

“There’s work that’s going to get done,” Shook said. “Councilmembers are going to have ideas, and they’re going to start vetting them with people in the administration. The private sector, same with them. Probably some of those ideas have already received some sort of analysis.”

Shook called Tuesday’s meeting “productive,” saying none of the members “drew lines in the sand” over potential ideas for city savings.

“The problem with wanting to get going too fast is there’s the danger that one of the first ideas that gets looked at may not end up being nearly as attractive as six other ideas that come in during the next three weeks,” said Shook.

The commission will meet again the week of April 21.