Class 4 - How Municipalities Use Technology

We primed the pump for learning with a recap of what we covered last week. Our special guest speaker for tonight was Dennis Vlasich, the Information Technology Director for the City of Fontana. Dennis has over 30 years of experience in the public sector and technology field. He is also a Principal/Senior Consultant with the Kerry Consulting Group (KCG). Operational realities of the work Dennis shared were: money, skillset, and time. The value of starting with a Strategic Goal (where you want to go) vs. a Tactical Goal (how you want to get there) was emphasized. Without these, technology for technology's sake situations can occur. What is the problem you want to solve with technology? What opportunity will technology provide? The thought process behind whether to Build a system or Buy a system was discussed. It depends on your situation. Dennis also shared his insights that a good city manager usually either knows how to work with the city council or work with the city issues. The ability to defuse interdepartment rivalries for resources and blur lines between departments so all work together for the good of the city was a valuable skill to have as a city manager.


In the area current events show and tell, we discussed the 10/11/07 presidential hopeful candidate Ron Paul and his effective use of the web to raise funds and organize supporters. This is an example of how network technology and communications can flatten social structures. Ron Paul is able to run a campaign outside of the structured political party heirarchy. Whether an entire election can be run and won on the Internet has yet to be seen.

Chapter 4: Explaining E-Government Performance of the "Digital Government" book was a hard read. The data collection methodology and details about how data was collected obfuscated the valuable findings. Critical success factors were organizational, fiscal and political. Each was interrelated (think Leavitt Diamond). First and foremost was to keep citizen demands and wants in focus and what services the public values before deploying technology. Funding was determined to be the most important factor for technology development. However, political savvy, leadership and vision can change the equation. With proper alliances and coalitions, fiscal purse strings could be loosened. One hint was to be able to identify potential allies who had an interest in technology.