Community Commentary:

Last year, when I was reviewing some of the benefits given by the City Council to the fire union, I asked in public what I thought at the time to be a simple question: “How does paying for a college class benefit the Glendale taxpayer?”

The class in question was on Shakespeare. Under the Memorandum of Understanding with the firefighters association, the city management and the city council approved sharing the costs of college classes. So how does a class in Shakespeare help a Glendale firefighter assist the public in the course of his duties?

The question is not intended simply as a demonstration of the cynical state of the way the city manages its finances. The answer from the city manager is that the agreement called for providing 50% of college tuition. Still the question remained unanswered and none of the councilmen followed through with any questions of their own.

If we had such a highly competitive situation that we would have to pay for one-half of college tuition, why would we have hundreds of men applying for what is but a handful of job vacancies each year? There is no competitive situation that calls for such largesse. But the real question we should be asking is a basic one: “How will such expenditures improve the quality of life of the city’s residents?” or simply, “How will it benefit the public?”

Those questions are, in essence, at the heart of strategic planning. The actions that an organization takes must, in the end, fulfill an objective measurable in benefits to those who’ve invested in the organization.

If a business invests in new machinery, it is usually because it will help the organization reduce costs, or improve the quality of products, or its delivery to customers. When the customer purchases the product, it improves the company’s profitability which, in turn, benefits the organization’s shareholders. If a customer purchases the product consistently, the benefits for the shareholder will be sustainable.

If a governmental organization improves the training of its employees, it generally aims to improve its internal processes, which in turn improves its products or services, which improves the customer’s (taxpayers and residents) experience and leads to meeting the objectives of the stakeholders.