Government

Peter Brown is committed to making City government more efficient, accountable, and responsive. As a successful businessman who ran a national firm for more than thirty years, he knows how to keep track of the bottom line and manage costs. He’ll use those same skills to improve City government and save taxpayer dollars. As Mayor, Peter Brown will take a “business plan” approach to the city’s operations, coordinating efforts and developing efficiencies. And he’ll seek out real solutions for meaningful cost savings in the City budget. He’ll make government more accountable by improving transparency and access to information on city programs and expenditures. And Brown will work to make government more responsive by making city operations more accessible and he’ll enhance residents’ ability to communicate with the city and pass along relevant information to help the city do a better job of responding to problems, offering answers, and delivering results.

Every City policy, every City department, every employee and every dollar spent should fill a specific, necessary, and unique role, integrated into a broader plan to get the job done right. As a successful businessman, Peter Brown understands the need to keep a careful accounting of costs and activities in order to be successful. As an architect and urban planner he understands the importance of putting forward a structural blueprint so that you stay focused on achieving clear goals. As Mayor, he’ll lay out a comprehensive business plan for better city government and work hard to make every aspect and every operation more efficient and effective. It’s your government, after all. More »

A BUSINESS PLAN FOR THE CITY’S BOTTOM LINE
No successful business in Houston operates without a business plan. Our city government has a $4 billion budget but no clearly articulated blueprint for lowering its cost of operations or improving the services it provides. As Mayor, Peter Brown will work with local civic and business leaders to move forward with a comprehensive plan, tying City services to forward looking economic expectations. This will ensure that the City’s operations remain sustainable and that the City’s efforts are undertaken in the most effective and streamlined way possible.

DO MORE WITH LESS
As a City Council member, Peter Brown has been committed to more efficient government, encouraging City departments to cut costs and find ways to do more with less. He’ll continue to do the same as Mayor, developing innovative programs and effective policies that allow the City to reduce costs, find alternative revenue streams and save money for taxpayers.

TAP INSTITUTIONAL KNOWLEDGE
The City of Houston has over 20,000 employees. City employees are directly involved in the day-to-day operations of the City and they develop a detailed knowledge of their tasks – and how to do them better. We should leverage this institutional knowledge to continuously improve and streamline City government. As mayor, Peter Brown will establish an employee advisory council on productivity to provide an avenue for employee input.

STRATEGIES FOR LONG-TERM SAVINGS
Personnel costs account for far and away the greatest portion of the city budget. In order to achieve any meaningful savings and long-term budget stability, these costs must be accounted for. We need to ensure the long-term viability of our pension obligations by working with employees to expand retirement benefit options, which can help ease cost burdens while better serving the needs of employees. Because health care costs account for such a significant and growing portion of the City’s long term obligations, we need to find strategies to deal with those costs, such as creating pension-type trusts where both the City and the employees make contributions to pay for retiree health benefits.

REDUCE REDUNDENCIES
City government performs many of the same functions that other local entities such as Harris County do – often less effectively and at an added cost to taxpayers. Peter Brown will look to combine these functions where possible, getting better results, reducing costs and overhead, and saving taxpayer dollars. These areas may include local health departments, library management, parks, and housing and community development.

ONLINE, STREAMLINED PERMITTING
Peter Brown will make the permitting process easier and more efficient by allowing businesses to bundle their entire set of applications into one package, limiting redundant inspections and delays. He’ll allow all application processes to be handled simply and electronically, with online permitting and fast-track processing. And he’ll conduct a careful audit of all City permits to determine which are no longer necessary, redundant with other existing requirements, or no longer serve Houston’s best interest.

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The residents of Houston should be able to hold their government accountable for its use of their tax dollars and the services it ought to be performing. Empowering residents starts with providing them comprehensive resources and information about City government programs, and building a culture of openness that helps make government more responsive and more efficient – delivering better results for Houston taxpayers. More »

By bringing the operations of city government closer to residents, we can help make it more directly responsive to their needs and easier to navigate. Improving access and enhancing residents’ ability to both communicate with and hear from City departments will empower residents to help shape the right sort of City government for an even better Houston. A city government that does a better job of responding to problems, offering answers, and delivering results. More »

BRINGING CITY GOVERNMENT TO YOU
A newly organized Department of Neighborhoods in Houston will improve access to city government operations. Residents will have access to basic city functions, including permitting, neighborhood protection, and other services that would normally require a trip downtown. The Department of Neighborhoods will administer mini-city halls, better coordinating our existing resources around the city to improve service for residents and allow them to deal with people who know their neighborhoods and understand their specific needs. By bringing City Hall closer to residents all across Houston, we can customize city government to better meet the specific needs of our neighborhoods.

EMPOWER HOUSTON TO HELP
New technologies can enable residents to instantly alert the City of poorly maintained infrastructure – including downed lines, potholes, clogged drainage systems and other issues. This will help keep us prepared, keep electricity flowing, and keep our roads working and traffic moving. Streamlined notification processes using smart phone applications or even normal cell phones will allow residents to collect and share photographic evidence of disrepair or neglect directly to the appropriate city department. This will help save on the need for city departments to verify complaints, and greatly expand the City’s inspection capabilities.

CONNECTING, COMMUNICATING, AND SOCIAL NETWORKING
With residents increasingly adopting social networks like Facebook, Twitter, and others, the City should take advantage of these opportunities for enhanced communication and feedback. Each department should be specifically accessible via these tools of communication, in the same way that they have a specific phone number. To the extent that the City already utilizes these tools, they need to be applied to solicit more discourse and feedback, instead of simply serving as headline news feeds to distribute the City’s news and message. This will be more effective and help make city departments more responsive.

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