Public Administration Commons^™

Developing And Integrating A Lessons Learned Methodology For Humanitarian Mine Action, Cisr Jmu

CISR Studies and Reports

The demand for a centralized lessons learned database has made it clear that there is value in consolidating the experience derived from the numerous de-mining missions by a variety of teams in a variety of countries. Consequently, the James Madison University Mine Action Information Center developed a methodology for collecting, validating, and distributing lessons-learned within the mine action community.

Hot Topic: Growth Plan Policy Requires Joint Development Board, Don Darden

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

As part of the urban growth planning process, Tennessee Code Annotated (T.C.A.) 6-58-114 requires each county to establish a Joint Economic and Community Development Board by interlocal agreement. Cities need to be aware that forming a Joint Economic and Community Development Board is part of the growth plan process. Certain grants will be unavailable to counties and cities if a board is not established by July 1, 2001.

Census Bureau Seeks Partners In Business, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"By now you should have seen the advertisements for the U.S. Census Bureau to apprise us of the forthcoming census on April 1, 2000. And there will be plenty more since the Bureau has budgeted $167 million on this push for public awareness, something it has never perviously paid to do."

Hot Topic: Health Insurance Portability And Accountability Act Of 1996: You Must Comply, One Way Or Another, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996 (HIPAA) amended the Public Health Service Act (PHS Act), the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA), and the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to provide, among other things, improved portability and continuity of health insurance coverage.

U.S. Census Nears; Results To Be Questioned, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"It is the largest peacetime activity of the United States government, and since its inception in 190 takes place every 10 years. It will employ, at its peak, 860,000 workers who will receive a major portion of the $4.5 billion that Congress recently appropriated for the task. And the total population will be recorded for one day, a far cry from the 18 months that were necessary for U.S. Marshals who tried to find everyone in 1790."

Hot Topic: Fair Credit Reporting Act, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The Fair Credit Reporting Act is designed primarily to protect the privacy of consumer report information and to guarantee that the information supplied by consumer reporting agencies is as accurate as possible. The amendments to the Fair Credit Reporting Act make numerous and significant changes to using consumer credit information and restrict an employer's ability to obtain background information without the consent of the individual, whether he or she is an applicant or employee.

City Manager Recruitment Guide (1999), Warren Nevad

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

The purpose of this project is to examine and assess MTAS management's recent roles in the selection process for a city manager. As a result of this research, a brief guide is provided herein to assist MTAS consultants with future city management selection projects.

Hot Topic: Public Acts Affecting Cities, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The 1999 Tennessee General Assembly passed into law several acts that affect Tennessee municipalities. This Hot Topic summarizes some of these acts.

Hot Topic: Requirements Of Fingerprint Law, Rex Barton

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The Fingerprint Law was originally passed in the 1997 legislative session. The original law mandated that local law enforcement agencies (1) Fingerprint every person arrested and forward the fingerprint cards to the Tennessee Bureau of Investigation (TBI), and (2) Maintain at least an 85 percent retention rate. (This means that the TBI should not reject more than 15 percent of the fingerprint cards due to poor quality.)

Hot Topic: Y2k Preparedness Planning, Don Darden

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

This Hot Topic discusses a law passed by the Tennessee General Assembly that provides a five-year immunity to local governments for any Y2K computer failures, provided that the municipalities have adopted a Y2K preparedness plan. Included is a sample Y2K preparedness plan.

Level Adjusted Exponential Smoothing: A Method For Judgmentally Adjusting Exponential Smoothing Models For Planned Discontinuities, Dan Williams, Don Miller

Publications and Research

Forecasters often make judgmental adjustments to exponential smoothing forecasts to account for the effects of a future planned change. While this approach may produce sound initial forecasts, it can result in diminished accuracy for forecast updates. A proposed technique lets the forecaster include policy change adjustments within an exponential smoothing model. For 20 real data series representing Virginia Medicaid expenses, initial forecasts and forecast updates are developed using the proposed technique and several alternatives, and they are updated through various simulated level shifts. The proposed technique was more accurate than the alternatives in updating forecasts when a shift in level …

Hot Topic: The 1998/99 Mtas Salary And Fringe Benefit Survey, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The MTAS annual salary and fringe benefit survey for 1998/99 is complete and shows salary increases for city employees grew at a rate slower than 1997/98. This report contains a summary of the findings as well as a means to request specific information.

Helping Teachers Help Students Enjoy Geography, Chester Smolski, Anne K. Petry

Smolski Texts

"The concern to improve the education of your young people, whether at the national, state or local levels, is manifesting itself in a variety of ways. One of these is the national program sponsored by the National Geographic Society.

Hot Topic: Changes In Federal And State Reimbursement Rates For Travel, Mtas

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

For those cities that elected to reimburse for travel using the federal reimbursement rates, the federal government decreased the vehicle-cents-per-mile reimbursement rate for 1999 to 31 cents per mile. This decrease became effective on April 1, 1999. Any mileage allowances paid to an employee before April 1, 1999, for mileage expenses incurred prior to April 1, 1999, still qualified for the previous rate of 32.5 cents per mile.

The Lobbyist No. 25 (May 1999), Maine Women's Lobby Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Population Sampling Issue Still Bedevils, Chester Smolski

Smolski Texts

"How do you count, with accuracy, 275 million mobile people? That is the task of the U.S. Census Bureau in the year 2000. Unfortunately, the courts rather than the professionals have made this decision.

"On January 25, 1999, in the case of Department of Commerce v. United States House of Representatives, No. 98-404, the nation's highest court ruled that statistical sampling of the population for the next census in the year 2000 cannot be used to apportion seats to the house of Representatives."

Hot Topic: Personnel Issues That Made The News, Richard Stokes

MTAS Publications: Hot Topics

The following Hot Topic summarizes pertinent information, key legislation, and Supreme Court rulings that took place during 1998.

Disjointed Incrementalism: The Overture To A Full (And Unfinished) Symphony, Roger A. Lohmann

Faculty & Staff Scholarship

On the 50th anniversary of the publication of Charles Lindblom's seminal article on incrementalism, this reconsideration finds that it is still one of the major contributions to understanding how decisions are actually made in organizations and public life.

The Lobbyist No. 24 (February 1999), Maine Women's Lobby Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Town Of Georgetown, Umass Amherst Center Economic Development

Center for Economic Development Technical Reports

This report focuses on the town of Georgetown, Massachusetts. While it was still widely forested, with many acres of open and recreation land, the town also had a walkable village core as well as industrial and commercial development. The town was renowned for its thriving antique industry and also boasted an organ manufacturing company, a supermarket and an expanding public golf and country club.

The Lobbyist No. 27 (Fall 1999), Maine Women's Lobby Staff

Maine Women's Publications - All

No abstract provided.

Helping Cities For Half A Century: A History Of The Municipal Technical Advisory Service, 1949-1999, Rob Parkinson

MTAS History

This history of the Municipal Technical Advisory Service looks to examine several aspects of the organization’s first 50 years; more specifically in several areas: the historical context out of which MTAS operated, the bureaucratic or structural changes that have come over 50 years, the people who shaped and breathed life into the organization, and the specific issues and problems MTAS consultants were called on to help Tennessee cities with. These topics fit together to give the reader a larger view of what the Municipal Technical Advisory Service has accomplished since 1949 and what the future holds for the next 50 …

Municipal Technical Advisory Service 50th Anniversary Packet, Rob Parkinson

MTAS History

Includes a year-long series of articles celebrating MTAS's 50th anniversary in 1999.

Tennessee Public Acts 1999: Summaries Of Interest To Municipal Officials, Dennis Huffer

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

Summarizes the year's public acts and provides date they become effective.

Users of this publication are cautioned that much judgment is involved in determining which Public Acts to summarize and how to summarize them. Before taking action or giving advice based upon any Public Act summarized here, one should consult the act itself and not rely on the summary.

Finding Money Iii For Municipal Water, Wastewater, And Solid Waste Projects In Tennessee, Sharon Rollins

MTAS Publications: Full Publications

This document is an overview of various financing programs available to Tennessee's local governments for water, wastewater, solid waste, and other project needs.

Facing Challenges: Irish Public Television In The Digital Age, Ellen Hazelkorn

Books/Book chapters

This paper traces some of the main challenges facing public television in Ireland.