Policy Design, Analysis, and Evaluation Commons^™

Public Authorities And Determinants Of Aggregate Debt: Kentucky's Municipal Governments, Derek J. Bridges

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Special purpose entities, or Public Authorities, constitute a substantial portion of the public sector. In Kentucky, these entities provide large percentages of the services offered by state and local governments, employ thousands, have immense budgets, and issue large quantities of debt. It is this debt issuance that may be of concern to public administrators.

The purpose of this study was to examine the numbers and types of Authorities operating in a selection of Kentucky municipalities and how these Authorities, combined with other possible determinants, affect the levels of aggregate debt in the jurisdictions. A combination of analytical methods demonstrated that …

Evaluating Awareness Of Community Health And Human Services By The Hispanic Population In Lexington, Kentucky, Pilar Corbellini

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Over the past 10 years, Hispanics, predominately Mexicans, have become a notable component of immigration in Kentucky. At the same time, the city of Lexington has striven to increase and stimulate community efforts to help and support people in need. Over 2000 non-profit organizations exist in the city and surrounding areas that unite community support to assist people seeking help.

Among non-profit agencies, particularly the United Way of the Bluegrass, there is a perceived idea that people in need and seeking help are overwhelmed with information about available community human and health services. Notwithstanding this perception, a different reality seems …

Interlocal Cooperation In The Bluegrass Area Development District: What Factors Lead To Success?, Lora B. Littleton

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Regionalism, or interlocal cooperation, is an important consideration for elected officials in the Bluegrass Area Development District. The reasons to join in a partnership and the suspected outcome are of great concern to the judge-executives and mayors but also to the communities they serve. In order to assist elected officials in their decision-making capacities, this study was designed to primarily analyze what factors lead to success in regional projects within the Bluegrass ADD. A secondary consideration was to look at when and why local governments enter into regional efforts.

A statistical analysis was performed on a sample of regional projects …

First Responders On The Front Line: Measuring The Effect Of Mobilization On Emergency Services, Kate Pringle

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Statement of Problem

National guardsmen are a unique human resource issue because their association with the guard is frequently part-time with another position, such as a State Trooper, acting as primary employment. When mobilized, the guardsman leaves an opening in their department, which must be available upon return. This can create operational and management stresses, especially if the guardsman has unique skills. Moreover, the loss of personnel can mean critical loss of manpower to small emergency service departments.

Research Question

• What affects the impact of mobilization?

• How are Kentucky’s emergency services affected by military mobilization as opposed to other types …

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Contracting Waste Collection In Kenton County: Will Inter-Municipality Cooperation Decrease Cost?, Thomas A. Rauf

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Inter-municipal cooperation can be a valuable tool used by cities to decrease the costs of public services. An analysis of waste collection costs in Kenton County have indicated that using inter-municipal cooperation to change the contracting method from the sixteen cities individually contracting to the cities contracting as one unit (inter-municipal cooperation) will not decrease the cost of waste collection per household per year. Inter-municipal cooperation might still be appropriate given other criteria, such as equity, ensuring that all households have the same or similar waste collection services.

This study recommends that (1) the cities of Kenton County not proceed …

The Color Purple: Can Alternative Election Systems Better Represent American Political Behavior?, Krista Rinehart

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

Measuring Environmental Compliance Assistance Outcomes: A Benefit Cost Analysis Of The Kentucky Business Environmental Assistance Program, Kenya K. Stump

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

The 1990 Clean Air Act Amendments (CAAA) established, in section 507, the Small Business Stationary Source Technical and Environmental Compliance Assistance Program (SBTCP). SBTCPs under the CAAA are designed to provide small stationary air pollution sources with technical and compliance assistance, develop tools and disseminate information, communicate requirements under the Act, and assist small businesses with pollution prevention.

In Kentucky, the compliance and technical assistance program is known as the Kentucky Business Environmental Assistance Program (KBEAP). Since the program’s inception, measures of performance have primarily focused on outputs. With the establishment of Goal 5 of the 2003-2008 Environmental Protection Agency …

Organizational Structures And State Departments Of Transportation, Candice Y. Wallace

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

No executive summary.

An Exploratory Analysis Of The Fayette-County Urban League Senior Community Service Employment Program (Scsep): What Are The Barriers Facing Scsep Participants, Kelly S. Woodall

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Statement of the Problem

The Lexington Fayette County Urban League Senior Community Service Employment Program is a federally funded program designed to assist low-income senior citizens find unsubsidized employment. To accomplish this mission the SCSEP utilizes a number of activities in an effort to address barriers that inhibit successfully finding unsubsidized employment. The Executive Director believes that the extent to which she can successfully address the barriers of those considered hard-to-place will have an impact on how well the program meets future mandates.

Research Methodology

The research is an exploratory analysis of the barriers that current and former (successfully placed) …

Enforcing The Fair Housing Act: Can Agency Interpretations Override Congressional Intent In Anti-Discrimination Legislation?, Francesca Laguardia

Department of Justice Studies Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works

On October 12, 2005, the Southern District of New York ruled that the New York State Attorney General was enjoined from enforcing state laws prohibiting discriminatory lending against national banks.1 The court found in favor of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), the federal regulator of national banks. The OCC claimed that while state fair lending laws had not been preempted, the New York State Attorney General’s (OAG) authority to enforce those laws had been preempted by a series of federal statutes and OCC-written regulations that give the OCC exclusive authority to bring any enforcement action against …

Securing The Commonwealth: Changing Emergency Preparedness In Kentucky: A Study Of The Efforts Of The Department Of Homeland Security In Changing Emergency Preparedness At The County Level, Christopher Cross

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Statement of the Problem

During the first 24 to 72 hours following a terrorist attack, local officials and first responders will be responsible for dealing with the initial aftermath. While most officials—federal, state, and local—have all acknowledged that domestic preparedness must occur at the bottom of the governmental structure, it is unclear if any changes to emergency response planning have actually occurred at the local governmental level.

Research Questions

The intention of this capstone is to answer the following questions:

1. Has change in emergency response planning occurred at the county level?

2. Are there regional differences present in terms of organizational …

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Survey Of Physical Agility Testing And Officer Fitness Levels In Kentucky Police Departments, Charles Nathan Brown

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Statement of Problem

HB 455 brought about the 1998 Omnibus Crime Act which created the Police Officer Professional Standards;16 requirements to becoming a peace officer in Kentucky. Five of the standards defined minimum physical agility standards. Though physical agility testing has had a history of controversy, validation studies have been created to support this practice. Though officers are testing for a level of physical agility upon entering the police officer field in Kentucky, no statewide policy has been passed to ensure that this level be maintained. This study examines the presence of physical agility testing in Kentucky police departments and …

Development Forecast: The Fiscal Effects On Property Taxes And Occupational License Fees And The Social Costs And Benefits Of Urban Redevelopment In Lexington-Fayette County, Kentucky, Tony J. Stoeppel

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Real estate development has effects on the publicly recorded property valuation of a parcel. The extent of the relationship in Lexington-Fayette County demands further analysis. Redevelopment also has unintended social costs the public may be forced to bear. This study presents estimates of the fiscal impact a redevelopment project has on the local tax revenues. The study population used for analysis includes redevelopment projects completed within the last six years in the downtown Lexington area. The research attempts to formalize a relationship among the incremental change in the publicly recorded value, the cost of redevelopment, and the distance the project …

Economic Analysis Of Kentucky Being A Part Of The National Lambda Rail, Chithra Perumal

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

Electronic connectivity and information network systems form a major part of the overall modern research infrastructure. High capacity networks allow for the sharing vast amounts of data between research laboratories, analysis of complex images, and other demanding computer applications. The major electronic information network that is being established in the USA to improve electronic communication in the research field is the National Lambda Rail (NLR). NLR is a nationwide broad bandwidth computing network used by leading research institutions. NLR provides national scale infrastructure for research and experimentation. Most of the member states of NLR have high ranking in terms of …

Technical Risk Information: Decision Tool Or Rhetorical Ammunition? Undisputed Facts In The Yucca Mountain Debate, David M. Hassenzahl, Denise Tillery, Paulette Laidler

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

This paper examines how both opponents and proponents of the proposed high-level nuclear waste repository at Yucca mountain Nevada claim that uncontroversial information supports their conflicting positions. Four pieces of information in particular are claimed by both sides: the distance of the proposed site from Las Vegas, the volume of waste that has been produced, the threat of terrorism since 9/11/01, and the occurrence of an earthquake in early 2002. Possible explanations for the difference include naive positivism, social constructionism, persistent beliefs and implicit warrants. The latter two models better explain observed knowledge/preference states. If so, more or better information …

Hiv/Aids Among Women Of Color In Massachusetts, Erika Kates, Helen Levine, Lakay Cornell

Publications from the Center for Women in Politics and Public Policy

According to a recent report on the status of women in Massachusetts, the Commonwealth has an “extraordinarily high” incidence of women of color with HIV/AIDS. Over 4,200 women are infected and women of color account for a disproportionately high number of these cases.

The Politic 2004 Fall, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Performance Measurement And Performance Budgeting In The United States In The 1950s And 1960s, Dan Williams

Publications and Research

The period of the 1950s and 1960s reflects the rise of performance budgeting. It also reflects the rise of the post-war generation of academic social scientists, which is roughly the second generation of statistical social scientists within the United States. This is the period of expanding program evaluation and the rise of policy analysis. While policy analysis is fairly distinct, program evaluation is largely the same thing as performance measurement, but as practiced by social scientists with a different skill set than public administrators. This paper examines the continued evolution of performance measurement practices and other closely related practices including …

The Politic 2004 Summer, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Community Acceptance Of Affordable Housing, C. Theodore Koebel, Robert E. Lang, Karen A. Danielsen

Public Policy and Leadership Faculty Research

Despite historically low interest rates, organizations across the nation have become increasingly concerned about the impacts of regulatory constraints and anti-growth sentiments on the availability and cost of housing. This concern is by no means limited to a few “high cost” areas like Boston and San Francisco. It can also be found in Iowa City, where new single-family houses were recently selling from $150,000 to $375,000 (prices readily considered affordable in many larger metropolitan areas) and even in rural areas where spill-over growth and “drive to qualify” solve the commuter’s affordability problem while creating unforeseen affordability problems for the rural …

The Fight For Political Representation In A Southern Suburb: The Use Of The Voting Rights Act And The Federal Court System By Black Plaintiffs In Henrico County, Virginia, Thomas J. Shields

Jepson School of Leadership Studies articles, book chapters and other publications

There has been an abundance of written work on the historic fight for black political equality in southern urban areas. However, almost no scholarly work exists on the fight for black political equality in the rapidly expanding southern suburbs. This article analyzes the rise of the black population and its fight for political representation on the local governing board in Henrico County, a large suburb of Richmond, Virginia. The article details the increase in the black population in Henrico County from 1950 to 2000 and provides a descriptive analysis how black plaintiffs used the Voting Rights Act in a redistricting …

The Politic 2004 Spring, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Public Libraries: Is Independence Better?, Gayle Hornaday

UNLV Theses, Dissertations, Professional Papers, and Capstones

Since the origin of public libraries in the United States during the nineteenth century, they have been primarily supported by public taxation, due to their intended purpose of benefiting all of society, and especially the economically disadvantaged. Public libraries are provided in much the same spirit as public education, to uphold the American value that knowledge and information should be equally available to all, without regard to individual ability to pay. The dilemma of how to pay for library services has involved considerable debate in the library community about the implementation of user fees to supplement revenue, as an alternative …

A Comparative Study Of Factors Related To Adoption, Management, And Impact Of Police Consolidation And Amalgamation In Norfolk, County, England, And Kent And Ottawa Counties, Michigan, United States, Terry Lee Fisk

Dissertations

The evolution of law enforcement in the United States has created a circumstance where thousands of smaller communities are served by a police agency, some of which may not have the capability or resources to provide adequate police service. Many of these are agencies operate within a geographical area where they are joined by common boundaries, yet each operates as an autonomous police force. One possible solution to this quandary is to consolidate those existing agencies experiencing difficulties in the provision of police services into single, larger departments with combined resources.

The purpose of this research was to determine what …

Some Concluding Thoughts, Frank E. A Sander

Journal of Legal Education

No abstract provided.

The Organisation For Economic Cooperation And Development, Richard Woodward

Articles

This article reviews the role of the OECD, a much cited but little studied institution, in global governance.

Enhancement Of Casualty Data Collection & Management, Cisr

CISR Studies and Reports

The MAIC built upon research conducted in earlier phases of the project (2001-2002) to investigate the following unresolved questions regarding the development of an effective landmine casualty data system.

1. What kind of data about landmine victims is being collected and is it adequate to the needs of victim assistance service providers?

2. If it is not adequate, what additional data should be collected and how should it be managed?

3. What can be done to improve the dissemination of landmine casualty data?

These questions were addressed by investigating developments in landmine casualty data collection and management since 2002 and …

Decision Tools Manual Humanitarian Mine Action Projects, Cisr

CISR Studies and Reports

No abstract provided.

The Politic 2004 Winter, The Politic, Inc.

The Politic

No abstract provided.

Contracting With Nonprofit Organizations: A Model For Local Governments, Renee Jackson

MPA/MPP/MPFM Capstone Projects

A number of factors have contributed to the rise in nonprofit organizations during the last three decades. No matter the reasons one significant consequence has been an intensification of competition for available funding. With the increasing competition for funding there is growing concern that there may not be an equitable and efficient method in place for many funders to base their allocation decisions on. These concerns arise from the issues that occur during funding processes such as: how open and competitive is the request for proposal process; is there duplication of the same service; can the organization adequately provide the …