City Council Advisement



City Council Advisement

Introduction

The City of Kelsey is experiencing a budget crisis. A federal grant for the police department was recently cut. The mayor of the City of Kelsey must decide the appropriateness of allocating funds to public safety or to plans for the Stanley Park Project. This paper analyzes the decision making for two alternatives and the tools to implement the decision.

Analysis of the Policy

Policy evaluation concerns the estimation of the effectiveness of public policies, programs, or projects and their management and implementation. Because policy is about change, policy evaluation should explain what factors or determinants led citizens or groups to do things or take actions that otherwise they would not do (e.g., quit smoking, recycle products, practice sustainable behavior, end domestic violence, retain students in school, attract investments, reduce unemployment) (Moynihan, 2003). To implement such policies, governments have created programs with specific achievement goals. The role of policy evaluators is to give educated estimates of the effects of changes in government policies.

From a public administration perspective, program evaluation is a scientific activity that entails the use of scientific methods to measure the outputs, implementation, and outcomes of programs for decision-making purposes (Moynihan, 2003). But beyond all this, the key question in policy evaluation is the following: What does government do to improve the quality of life of individuals-citizens? It is also important for policy evaluators to decide if it is better to do something than do nothing to resolve a problem. This entry examines approaches to policy evaluation, the political role of evaluation, and some of the techniques used for policy evaluation.

The department of safety needs to support the purpose for establishing and maintaining an atmosphere where people can go safely about their varied activities. This should be the foremost priority of the city council. ...