The Adrian Fenty administration is employing an “unremarkable but incredibly effective” tool to drive its focus on agency accountability, City Administrator Dan Tangherlini said Tuesday: deadlines.
One by one, agency directors are leaving routine accountability sessions, dubbed “CapStat,” with a series of charges, each one tagged with a specific deadline they will be expected to meet.
“It’s not so hard that you miss one of those deadlines and you’re toast,” said Tangherlini, who has participated in every session so far. “But in order to make sure you’re getting something done, it’s a Management 101 tool to use a deadline. Oddly enough, it hasn’t been applied as aggressively throughout this organization, frankly many organizations.”
During CapStat sessions, Fenty, Tangherlini and other top Cabinet members grill their colleagues — Tangherlini called it “constructive engagement” — over specific topics. Multiple CapStat sessions in January have concluded with deadlines for the directors of Public Works, Transportation, Health, Mental Health and Human Services, as well as the Office of Homeland Security Grants.
“William Howland, in the hot seat,” Public Works Director Howland said Jan. 10, just before his session got under way.
Interim directors who want to become permanent “or permanent directors who want to stay,” Tangherlini said, will take the deadlines seriously.
“People are kind of excited and nervous,” the city administrator said, “which is good.”
Among the directives:
» The homeland security team must deliver by Thursday a list of priority projects for the District and the National Capital Region.
» The Department of Health leadership was directed to develop a demographic breakdown of Medicaid participants by March 19, provide a Medicaid-related definition of “medical necessity” by Feb. 19, and create Medicaid quality outcome measures by April 19.
» The Department of Human Services must provide an explanation for the recent increase in the homeless population and develop a strategic action plan for housing the homeless, both by Feb. 13. The Department of Mental Health’s Family Services Administration was directed to develop individual plans for the most “chronically homeless” individuals by Feb. 13.
