Marc Warner: Mayoral competence? Look at results

While the writers of the March 21 letter, “Mayor Sciarra, a competent, compassionate leader,” list several examples of what they see as the Northampton mayor’s compassion, they’re pretty thin on their basis for declaring her competence. The one item they raise of any possible relevance here — she’s “a whiz at budgets and spreadsheets” — is an awfully low bar for someone at the top of the organizational chart for a $137 million per year operation. A better measure of mayoral competence is to look at results.

What’s changed during the mayor’s time in office? Have residents and businesses stayed in the city, and have families kept their kids in the city schools? Has crime dropped and school test scores risen? Are city roads, sewer lines, buildings and rec facilities in a state of good repair? Have city staff and contractors delivered these outcomes efficiently at a reasonable cost per unit?

A competent mayor is one who is making progress on all of these. It is a person who routinely ensures that department heads are tracking overtime, are knowledgeable about best practices, are extensively benchmarking performance against peer communities, and are applying lessons learned and findings to deliver effective and efficient services.

So, does Mayor Gina-Louise Sciarra meet these criteria of a competent mayor? It’s hard to tell. There sure seems to be a lot of Northampton families seeking alternatives to the city schools, but there generally just is too little information from which to draw a clear conclusion.

Marc Warner

Northampton