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To: Dick Zais
From: Kevin Wren
Re: Journal Entry 5 – “Contracting Tradeoffs”
February 29, 2016
Council-Manager municipalities mustrely on contracting out several services and their administration to the
private sector, a non-profit agency, or to another local governmententity in order to balance the budget,
meetcommunity needs, and implementpolicies. Using principles ofthe ICMA’s Fiscal Crisis: Taking Stock
and Looking Forward and the MRSC’s Contracting for Services, negotiating and bargaining contracts for
police and fire protection services,solid waste disposal, and parks and recreation programs are exercised
regularly aboutevery few years. Based on class lectures from Rich Conrad, Justin Marlowe, and David
Zabell, the realities ofcontracting require analyzing the tradeoffs, opportunities, and threats between the
three – often competing - sectors that have serious economic and political implications.Below is a deeper
analysis:
Economic Advantage
Private Sector Non-profit Agency Local Gov. Entity
Police/Fire: Public safety “is
the paramount responsibility
of cities” according to the
Small City Resource
Manual, so an organization
like Blackwater may be able
to provide less expensive
private security services
depending on need.
Solid Waste Disposal:
“Common contracts with
private firms include solid
waste” according to X due
to its affordability. Examples
include X and Y, though at a
fee.
Parks/Rec: Contracting with
a maintenance organization
or engineering firm can help
lower the costofnegotiating
within the city or another
department.
Police/Fire: RCW 43.101.200(1)
requires all newly hired peace
officers, except volunteers, to
engage in basic law enforcement
training which complies with the
standards adopted by the
Washington Criminal Justice
Training Commission (CJTC), so
you can save on hiring and training
volunteer safety personnel.
Solid Waste Disposal: Organizations
like Zero Waste existthat help with
waste removal, though specifically
recycling. These can help support
other services atno or low cost, but
cannot be relied upon for
wraparound solid waste removal and
disposal.
Parks/Rec: Volunteers are attracted
to cultural NGOs that can help with
basic service delivery atrelative no
cost, butsolely as a supportservice.
Police/Fire: Contracting with the
local Sheriff or District Fire is an
effective way to deliver qualiy
safety services,butat varying
costs based on contracts and
needs.
Solid Waste Disposal: Partnering
with neighbors for solid waste
collection is a viable opportunity
that is more affordable than
building a new system.
Parks/Rec: Park districts provide a
way to finance park programs,
which is often used when the
people who will use a city’s
recreational facilities live both in
and outside the city. Additionally,
partnering with another jurisdiction
is another costeffective
alternative as opposed to
providing in-house services.
Economic Disadvantage
Private Sector Non-profit Agency Local Gov. Entity
Police/Fire: Strategies for
partnering might include
improving pay and benefits,
recruiting officers with the right
skills for community policing,
changing job roles to enhance
officers’ satisfaction, improving
Police/Fire: While notneeding
training, volunteer safety
personnel provide a basic level
of service thatcannot
substitute the quality paid,
trained officers.
Police/Fire: For governments that
forgo due diligence, choose ill-
equipped contractors and fail to
monitor progress, outsourcing
deals can turn into costly
disasters. Creating the right mix of
parts, like Sheriffs and police

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career development, changing
residency requirements, and
creating incentives for retirement-
eligible officers to remain with the
agency, which will be a greater
draw on resources.
Solid Waste Disposal: Ifthe
contracted rates ofa private
organization are low, the workers
may strike for additional pay or
log significantovertime hours.
Parks/Rec: For a small scale
system, only a handful of
individuals need to be contracted
to meetthe needs ofparks/rec,
like maintenance, animal control,
and engineering.
Solid Waste Disposal:
Volunteer waste services are
often small scale and are ill
equipped for servicing large
areas. Relying on prisoners
through the jail system could
help with collection and
possibly disposal.
Parks/Rec: Volunteers and
non-profits can provide
maintenance services, but
more complex functions, like
engineering or construction,
need to be sourced through a
contract with either a private
entity or government
department.
requires considerable time, and
money to planning.
Solid Waste Disposal: “A service
agreement, one agency providing
service for another, the provider
agency is responsible for
delivering the service and
exercises administrative and
managerial controls over the
resources employed in the
process.” This can be expensive
though effective depending on the
contract.
Parks/Rec: Park districts provide a
way to finance park programs.
This financing method is often
used when the people who will
use a city’s recreational facilities
live both in and outside the city.
Political Advantage
Private Sector Non-profit Agency Local Gov. Entity
Police/Fire: Risk managementand
liability issues related to law
enforcementare a significant
concern for cities. To reduce liability,
many city insurance
programs have training programs
and have specific requirements,
such as procedures for hiring police
chiefs. Hiring a private contractor
can achieve expected service levels
at less cost.
Solid Waste Disposal: RCW
35.21.156 ensured that contracts
with vendors for solid waste go
through a selection procedure to
determine fit and preventrisk.
Parks/Rec: The conomic
advantages ofhiring private sector
employees corresponds to political
capital, since you are saving the city
money by providing basic services.
Police/Fire: Allowing
community members to help
protecttheir neighborhoods,
like the Guardian Angels,
can increase neighborhood
unity while making the city
safer.
Solid Waste Disposal: Aside
from costsavings,
partnering with an NGO can
also supporta political
vision or mission that aims
to dispose ofwaste in the
“greenestway as possible.
Parks/Rec: Engaging the
community in maintaining
parks helps foster stronger
bonds between residents
and their city.
Police/Fire: Patterning with
another governmentagency for
safety protection, like Sheriffs, is a
politically neutral way to provide
services while notestablishing
them in-house. Risk is owned by
the Sheriffs and not within city
management.
Solid Waste Disposal: As long as
the service is provided effectively
and efficiently by a neighboring
town or jurisdiction, residents will
have no qualms.
Parks/Rec: The quality oflife in
cities is better when families and
friends can enjoy a picnic in the
park, a swim in a pool, a softball
game or a walk on a trail through
open space.
Political Disadvantage
Private Sector Non-profit Agency Local Gov. Entity
Police/Fire: The quality of
service is unknown for private
Police/Fire: Incidents of
Guardian Angels being the
Police/Fire: Hiring an outside
governmententity for safety

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enterprises providing security/
Additionally, an outside
organizations does notfully
understand community or city
priorities. The likelihood ofan
incidentinvolving one ofthese
officers causing political
backlash is steep.
Solid Waste Disposal:
Contracting for waste disposal
can be expensive ifthe workers
want to renegotiate a contract
and leverage notcollecting trash
as a bargaining tool that causes
political backlash.
Parks/Rec: If the bidding
process is flawed, there is a risk
of hiring a fraudulent or
incapable service that can
create political turmoil for those
who chose to contract.
target of violence undermines
the pointof partnering with a
safety NGO. In this case, the
supportagency becomes a
liability.
Solid Waste Disposal: These
services are noteffective in
the large scale cities and are
more ofa solution for
neighborhoods or individuals
as opposed to whole
municipalities. Relying on
them to fully service the city
may beyond thir scope and
create problems ofeffective
service delivery.
Parks/Rec: Residents may
feel they are being used, ifthe
city relies purely for residents
to provide maintenance
services.
services mightbe atodds with
community values, like relying on
Sheriffs services in liey of
community policing
Solid Waste Disposal: Ifthe partner
provides sub-par services,the
community may blame council for
this breakdown
Parks/Rec: The Growth
ManagementAct (GMA) requires
the fastest growing counties and the
cities within them to plan extensively
in order to be consistentwith state
goals on open space and recreation.
The state requirementincludes
retaining open space, enhancing
recreational opportunities,
conserving fish and wildlife habitat,
increasing access to natural
resource lands and water, and
developing parks and recreation
facilities.
Recommending a suite ofoptions ofprivate, public, or non-profitfor these basic services is sometimes
legally required and can help the city save resources through a competitive bidding process.A selection
process like this will also help weed outany potential bas or incapable vendors.Furthermore, ifthese
groups unionize, the city can conductcollective bargaining to help balance the budget, deliver quality
service, and implementpolicies.
I would advise my council to choose between three and five candidates for each service. As you noted in
class, I would notrank them myselfin order to preventbias. Iwould also ask them to rule outtheir least
favorite candidates or the ones they can’t possibly work with in order to assess the bestcandidates. As
with the interviews for the city attorney RFP in Woodinville, Iwould be an equanimous advisor and give
even counsel like above, showing tradeoffs.
An article in Governing discussing New Jersey’s Privatization Task Force found “Sterile philosophical
debates about‘public versus private’ are often detached from the day-to-day world ofpublic
management. Over the last several decades,in governments atall levels throughoutthe world, the
public sector’s role has increasingly evolved from directservice provider to that of an indirectprovider or
broker ofservices;governments are relying far more on networks of public, private and nonprofit
organizations to deliver services.”
While the disadvantages mightbe severe, like costfor quality and potential political drawbacks for each
option, the level ofsavings is significantby making a competitive bidding process. Ultimately, getting
candidates from each sector is integral for determingin which candidate can provide the mosteffective
service, then negotiating on cost, is the bestprocess for making an ethical and informed decision.