Managing a planning agency

Learning objectives

• Explain where a planning agency sits in council-manager and mayor-council governments.
• Compare functional, matrix, and team-based organizational structures, and address silos.
• Distinguish line-item, program, performance, and zero-based budgets, and explain how development fees recover costs.
• Classify performance measures as inputs, outputs, efficiency, or outcomes, and use them in results-oriented management.
• Apply sound hiring and supervision practices, and follow open-meetings and public-records requirements.
• Explain internal controls and audits that protect public funds.

Key concepts

Where planning sits in government

• In the council-manager form, an elected council sets policy and appoints a professional city (or county) manager who runs day-to-day operations. The planning director typically reports to the manager.
• In the mayor-council form, an elected mayor serves as chief executive. In a "strong mayor" system, the mayor appoints department heads, so the planning director reports to the mayor. In a "weak mayor" system, the council holds more administrative power.
• Planning commissions are appointed citizen bodies that advise the governing body on plans and regulations and may make some decisions directly. Historically some commissions directed planning staff; today most planning staff sit in an executive department that also supports the commission.

Planning departments are often combined with building, code enforcement, economic development, or housing into a community development department.

9 more sections follow in the full lesson.

Key terms

• Council-manager form: A government in which an elected council appoints a professional manager to run operations.
• Mayor-council form: A government with an elected mayor as chief executive.
• Functional organization: Staff grouped by specialized function.
• Matrix organization: Staff reporting to both a functional manager and a project manager.
• Silo: A unit that operates in isolation from others.
• Line-item budget: A budget organized by object of expenditure.
• Program budget: A budget organized by service or program.
• Performance budget: A budget linking spending to workload and results.
• Zero-based budgeting: A method requiring every expenditure to be justified from zero each cycle.
• Output measure: A count of work produced.
• Outcome measure: A measure of results in the community.
• Progressive discipline: A stepwise approach to addressing performance problems.
• Open-meetings law: A law requiring public bodies to meet openly with notice.
• Public-records law: A law giving the public access to government records, subject to exemptions.
• Cost recovery: Setting fees to cover some or all of the cost of providing a service.
• Enterprise fund: A separate fund for a service paid for mainly by its own fees.
• Merit (civil service) system: Hiring and promotion based on qualifications, protected from political influence.
• Structured interview: An interview asking every candidate the same job-related questions, scored against set criteria.
• Succession planning: Preparing staff to fill key roles before they're vacant.
• Internal controls: Procedures, such as separation of duties, that prevent errors and misuse.
• Single audit: An audit of a government's federal award programs, required above a spending threshold.