County Executive Rushern Baker launched the public side of CountyStat this morning. It is an adaptation of similar "stat" programs (short for "statistics") in other jurisdictions, including the State of Maryland. Although a feature of the website is the analysis and charts of County agency performance data, maybe the most welcome news is that CountyStat does provide more actual data than has probably ever been freely accessible by members of the public or the media. In addition, the CountyStat model includes an open process, in which meetings between County leadership and agency personnel are open to the public, and documents transmitted as part of analyzing effectiveness are shared openly.
The idea is to keep an eye on what the County is doing right, and acknowledge it, but also to keep close tabs on what needs improvement, and to engage in friendly "borrowing" from other jurisdictions if their approaches show more success for the community.
Of particular interest to us at George of Denmark, is that the DER Animal Management Division is, for the first time, being asked some questions that we think better reflect the concerns that County residents have about hw dogs, cats, and other animals are being treated by County facilities, especially the impound facility. You can check out some of the CountyStat data on this here, in a DER memo responding to various questions, and you can see all of the CountyStat analysis and documents made public to date at the County's webpage here.
I'd be very interested in your impressions as you read the analyses, and I will be posting mine as I review at least some of them. Stay Tuned!
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