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Q&A
Commissioner Savino and Michelle Jackson discuss accountability mechanisms beyond interest penalties
0:55:05
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107 sec
Commissioner Diane Savino asks Michelle Jackson (HSC) about accountability mechanisms beyond interest payments, given that interest doesn't solve immediate cash flow issues. Jackson reiterates prohibiting agencies from demanding work before contract registration and emphasizes the value of strong public management reports for accountability. She also refutes the idea that "the city is good for the money," citing examples where nonprofits lost allocated funds due to bureaucratic delays.
- HSC recommends prohibiting agencies from asking vendors to perform services before contract registration.
- Robust management reporting on agency timeliness (similar to Bloomberg era) is suggested as an accountability tool.
- Jackson argues the city isn't always "good for the money," as delays can cause nonprofits to forfeit funds (e.g., workforce enhancement).
Diane Savino
0:55:05
accountability issue because well, there's some suggestions that legislation should be passed to require the city to make interest on outstanding contracts, and that's one way of going at it.
0:55:16
The city's good for the money in
Dr. Lisette Nieves
0:55:17
the end anyway.
0:55:17
Right?
0:55:18
Paying interest to
Diane Savino
0:55:19
your members isn't really gonna help solve your immediate problem where you're providing service from day one, not getting paid for months.
0:55:25
It's not gonna help you with your cash flow problem.
0:55:27
So what other types of accountability do you think beyond becoming a becoming a chartered agency and maybe having more more authority, more oversight?
0:55:35
Is there something else that you think that that we can recommend with Charter Revision Commission to actually speed up the process so that you're so that you're not waiting and then collecting interest?
0:55:47
Because at the end
Julie Won
0:55:48
of the day, you're still behind.
0:55:50
So we also in
Michelle Jackson
0:55:51
our recommendations do have that we should be prohibited contracting agencies from asking a vendor to perform services before a contract is registered.
0:56:01
There is a unspoken partnership that no one Fred is not closing a shelter while he waits for his renewal contract, and the city relies on that and exploits that.
0:56:11
And so I think I don't know that there's much else in the charter.
0:56:14
There's lots of things through public shaming and requiring, you know, better management reports.
0:56:19
Bloomberg had great management reports that actually were a great mechanism for us to see who was doing well and who wasn't.
0:56:24
And so we do have in our longer set of recommendations making sure that there is a reporting of that information, so I would add that to this.
0:56:31
But I do think it's, you know, time frames.
0:56:33
It's this.
0:56:34
It's having mocks because it is and, you know, even the idea that, like, the city is good for the money.
0:56:38
I that's not true.
0:56:39
We our providers lost a lot of their workforce enhancement funds because the agencies didn't allocate until June and told them you had till July 1 to spend it.
0:56:48
So a lot of them lost that money.
0:56:50
So there's and they're actually not good for the cash.