“you have to take care of people if you want to reduce crime”
Kansas City, Missouri city manager interview with Janice Jackson
Here is the second installment of my Kansas City, Missouri City Manager candidate reviews: Janice Jackson of Augusta, Georgia.
Kansas City, Missouri is undergoing a critical hiring process right now. The City Council and Mayor are interviewing potential City Manager candidates. With our strong City Manager form of government, this hire is extremely important for future of the city.
I wanted to try and recap the candidates’ public interviews as much of possible. I realized I have my limitations so the recap/review I’ll be giving is based off of the public interview with the City Council and Mayor (there were two other public sessions) and a general glance at their bio. So not comprehensive but hey! I have a day job and a crazy toddler running around.
Watching the first interview, I realized there are really four big buckets that we should be evaluating these candidates on:
Revenue creation and fiscal management
Land use, physical development, and infrastructure
Business environment and economic development
Managing city staff and relationships with other organizations
All of these “buckets” should be layered with focuses on equity and sustainability.
What I’m Looking For
To be transparent, what I’m looking for in the city manager is someone who believes in a strong public sector that can deliver basic public services and create and execute effective policies that guide the city and its development. I also want them to be creative with the private sector and other organizations but to be tough and consistent in defending taxpayers’ interests. Big topics for me are housing, infrastructure, equitable development, and climate change.
Our second review is for Janice Jackson of Augusta, Georgia, who interviewed September 25th. You can view all the videos and submit your feedback here.
Biography
Janice Jackson, Janice Allen Jackson and Associates, LLC, Augusta, Georgia
Janice Jackson currently serves as Principal for Janice Allen Jackson and Associates, LLC, a management consulting firm that provides services to local governments, higher education, construction and nonprofit organizations. Prior local government management experience includes serving as Administrator of the Augusta-Richmond County, Georgia consolidated government, Assistant County Manager of Mecklenburg County (Charlotte), North Carolina, and City Manager of Albany, Georgia. She earned a Bachelor of Arts Degree from the College of William and Mary in Virginia and a Master of Public Policy Degree from Duke University.
What She Said
Here are some quotes and paraphrased statements from Jackson’s interview with the City Council and Mayor. I broke them up in my four “buckets.”
Revenue creation and fiscal management
There were not as many revenue creation and fiscal management questions as their were in the previous interview with Milton Dohoney Jr.
In response to the question about how she handled the last financial crisis? She said,
She had been through several rounds of financials crises and was furloughed herself at one point
Furlough is a short term solution but you also have to look at vacant positions
Review what services are offered and how they are delivered
She pointed out she is not normally in favor of deferring maintenance but it will always come around
The financial crisis is a good time to “rethink and reimagine” your organization
How would you balance needs of all services during financial crisis? She said,
There is a need good budget analysts to find money and cut fat.
She noted that the approach cuts and trimming costs.
If you offer incentives such as prioritizing raises, there is more collaboration in finding ways to make it all work
In response to what justifies outsourcing to you? She said,
It’s a “delicate balance” but…
In Augusta, Georgia, they outsourced fleet management because finding trained and qualified mechanics to repair vehicles in a timely manner is difficult and the responsiveness of smaller companies or internal was not as great. They also found that there were savings on parts with great economies of scale.
Land use, physical development, and infrastructure
Land use, physical development, and infrastructure also took somewhat of a back seat, which was puzzling given that Augusta is the product of a city/county merger and has a large amount of land.
Have you worked with long term strategic planning? She said,
The best example is the recreation masterplan in Augusta.
They responded to a need to add more trails and actually implemented it and now they are seeing the benefits during COVID.
One of the stigmas in Augusta was that plans did not get implemented. As the City Manager, she worked to transform the plans into action and get them off the shelf.
There was a question about how she has maintained and funded infrastructure priorities. She said,
Augusta is older city with brick tunnels that date back to 1860s.
Using a consultant and data driven process they identified where to improve first.
Working with the community and finance department, they implemented a stormwater utility fee as a dedicated funding source.
She said it was very controversial and set up meetings in each district.
They review fee every five years to make sure it doesn’t need to go up or down or stay the same.
On climate change, she said,
major change she has dealt with related to flooding
Albany had a huge flood in the 1990s
It was an affect of climate change and additional development, which contributed to runoff
Best mitigation strategy for something like this are buyouts and to build back in more elevated areas.
Reiterated that the flood and climate change make preparedness a priority.
“We know things are changing, we need to be prepared to mitigate and change.”
In response to additional questions about land use and services, Jackson noted,
Augusta, Georgia is the product of county/city merger with 300,000 sq. mi. and 200,000+ people.
Augusta’s problem are not as severe because rural parts of the county do not expect the same services and were fine without street lights and some were okay with dirt roads.
Kansas City is a different dynamic as “developed areas are spread out”
To work on service, Jackson rhetorically asked “is it feasible to think about some intergovermental agreements [with county or other cities]?”
And that we need to ask “is it the eventual goal of the city to increase the density between the center city and the northland” or find less expensive ways to provide those services?
Business environment and economic development
There were a lot of questions about the financial crisis in terms of working with businesses to leverage opportunities as well as revitalizating historically disinvested neighborhoods.
On Public-Private-Partnerships, Jackson said,
Open to hear any proposal that will help out the city
But wants to make sure every thing is “on an even playing field regarding procurement”
“Always want to apply a degree of scrutiny to make sure the benefits [of the deal] are not one-sided.”
On tax abatements and equity, Jackson said,
In Augusta, economic development deals could be approved without the city through the economic development department and would “blindside” them.
Sometimes it feels like they have to “give away the farm” and sometimes they look crazy but they work out. She stressed the need to really think through the benefits and gave the example of the BMW plant just south of Charlotte that looked crazy at the time but has worked out.
“all incentives are not bad…but you have to make careful decisions about whether this is in our long term interests” and “will the developer make some concessions” to help out people in the community.
Schools districts should be included at all times in the incentive process “as I have been blindsided”
On economic development and its impact on life expectancy and health disparities, Jackson said,
she ran health department in Mecklenburg County and had a health disparities project, which won grants and developed a strategic plan
But the best example was her leading the creation of 212 unit complex in a historically disinvested and blighted area of Augusta.
Managing city staff and relationships with other groups
This section was where a lot of the questions were grouped. (Admittedly, it’s also the most broad.)
In response to the question about not having experience with public sector unions, Jackson said,
It was true, she has never dealt with unions (she has only worked in Right To Work states) but she maintained relationships with public employees and public safety groups.
“If you show employees that they are valued, they will do good things.”
She joked, she can make the fire and police unions “nice”
Regarding citizen customer service
“I’d like to make it a practice that new employees see the city manager on the first day they come to work.”
“You work for people and they will remind you of it at every turn”
She gave a story about how a utility department was conditioned to think all people were scamming them but working to recenter their approach improved their customer service.
Regarding Kansas City’s public safety crisis and the goal to cut homicides in half, Jackson said,
Albany, Georgia was “small city murder capital of the United State of America” and they were able to drop the murder rate after implementing community oriented policies with the police force better reflecting the community and had more women.
She did note it was a different time and she realized things had changed
She pivoted to say that now days it is understodd that ”you decrease crime by increasing your investment in people” and noted that more police funding isn’t always the answer but perhaps more parks and recreation funding, mental health, and helping with medications
Mayor Lucas noted he appreciated her writing on “interdisciplinary approach to public safety”
“you have to take care of people if you want to reduce crime”
“it is unusual that a city doesn’t have control over it’s police force”
On engaging neighborhoods and communities, Jackson gave a really compelling example of how,
In Augusta, they turned over recreation centers to neighborhood groups to run programs, etc.
The city does major renovations
But the neighborhoods can rent it out and it created a more invested neighborhood and could have more autonomy to improve their community with some citiy support.
What I Think
Janice Jackson came off as someone who is a “problem-solver” and really good with people. Given the conversation, it seemed being in a smaller city, Augusta, compared to Kansas City she was able to really be hands on with projects and intiatives and solve city problems.
I appreciated the examples she gave throughout. The examples really gave me a better picture of how she works with people and her process of running an organization. But she sometimes didn’t respond to the questions directly.
Her interview also showed how regional and state politics affect a person’s experience and resume. Due to only working in “Right To Work” states, Jackson did not have experience with unions, which are huge factors in city politics in Kansas City. In my opinion, the Fraternal Order of Police is one of the biggest barriers to change in the Kansas City. Knowing how to deal with these people is really important.
Jackson’s experience is not an “exact fit” for Kansas City but that could be what’s most exciting about her.
She seems to have had experience that lends itself to more flexible and creative solutions rather than being more of a bureaucratic operator. Some would argue that is exactly what Kansas City needs.
With experience running a smaller city, there could be questions about how it translates to a bigger Kansas City but like with many sports coaches never elevating someone to be a head coach is often a missed opportunity and a misjudgement of talent.
If the Mayor and Council are seriously considering Jackson, they need to be looking more holistically at her skill set and adaptability rather than how she can plug into a system even they are often frustrated with.
I’ll be reviewing candidate Kevin Jackson of Long Beach as soon as possible but in the meantime please subscribe and share!