Professional Management and Service Levels in Small U.S. Communities

Abstract

Based on a national survey of small U.S. cities between 5,000 and 25,000 in size, this study classifies the level of municipal services provided by small communities and examines the community and governmental features that are related to those cities that provide higher levels of urban services. The study finds that after controlling for differences in population size, wealth, education, and metro status, those small cities that have a professional city manager and an adaptive or administrative type of local government structure are somewhat more likely to provide qualitatively higher levels of municipal services, suggesting that professional managers play an important role in advancing the level of service provided in the communities they serve.

Citizen-Centric E-Government Services: Understanding Integrated Citizen Service Information Systems

“…A study of CiRM also argues for the importance of absorptive capacity in an organization's ability to create and use knowledge about citizen needs (Schellong & Langenberg, 2006). Moreover, having a professional city manager is found to have a positive association with a high level of public services in small local communities (Folz & Abdelrazek, 2009). For governments, professional management capacity is likely to enable them to have the time and resources to look for new and better ways to improve public services.…”

What Have We Learned about the Performance of Council‐Manager Government? A Review and Synthesis of the Research

“…. The professional values, training, and expertise of city and town managers and administrators may promote or encourage advances in the level of urban services provided in their communities” (Folz and Abdelrazek , 568). The evidence for this proposition comes from several different approaches to studying the quality of public service provision.…”

“…Folz and Abdelrazek's () analysis of service levels for police, fire, building code enforcement, and solid waste management in 508 communities showed that council‐manager governments and “adapted” mayor‐council cities with a professional city administrator had higher levels of service than mayor‐council cities with a mayor serving as the chief executive officer . There is clear evidence in this study for a distinction based on form, but the authors also suggested that the presence of professional administrators alone is likely enough to influence service levels.…”

“…There is clear evidence in this study for a distinction based on form, but the authors also suggested that the presence of professional administrators alone is likely enough to influence service levels. They concluded that the “association between the type of chief executive and service level is considerably stronger than the connection between type of government and service level” (Folz and Abdelrazek , 564).…”

Bottom-Up or Top-Down Local Service Delivery? Assessing the Impacts of Special Districts as Community Governance Model

“…3 The same study finds that dissolution is more likely to be considered and approved in a village where the economy struggles, the population declines, political trust undermines, and fiscal health deteriorates. 4 Research has also shown that small local governments strategically allocate resources to professional management to cope with such challenges and to provide quality services (Folz & Abdelrazek, 2009; French & Folz, 2004). While the geographic focus of this article is limited to California and a specific class of special districts therein, CSDs provide a unique opportunity to examine the impacts of bottom-up self-governance in the U.S. context.…”