Transparency in Government
How is St. Paul doing as a city? Are we really the “most livable city in America?” Are we even close?
The truth is that we have very little idea because we don’t actually measure outcomes in St. Paul other than pointing to shiny new buildings or entertainment venues and claiming they demonstrate “Saint Paul is moving forward” or “Saint Paul is back.” Unfortunately, anecdotal feel-good stories put out by the current administration are no substitute for actually measuring our progress from one year to the next.
Process improvement, audits, transparency, staff accountability, making sure every dollar is spent wisely—none of these things may sound particularly exciting, but focusing on them is essential to the future success of our city.
As Mayor, I will:
- Use my business background to help transform City Hall into a customer-service-oriented institution that focuses on providing timely responses to residential complaints, solves problems rather than giving people the runaround, and offers ready access to information and data.
- Demand complete transparency of departmental budgets and contracts, including clear identification of all TIF districts within the city and easy-to-read data that will inform taxpayers of the exact level of subsidies we are granting to developers.
- Advocate for the hiring of an independent City Auditor who will regularly evaluate city programs and departments so that we can have an honest appraisal of how we are performing as a city from one year to the next.
- Work with the City Council to develop a citywide scorecard that measures how we are doing on several key indicators, including crime prevention, job creation, sustainability initiatives, and economic growth.