Even Mayor Mike Rundle has had a hard time deciphering city reports and determining how well Lawrence government is doing in accomplishing its goals.

That’s why he invited a Texas-based consulting company to give a two-hour presentation to city commissioners recently on beginning a new “performance-based” management system at City Hall.

“I think people sometimes don’t really have the details they need to know about their government,” Rundle said.

Theresa Cummings, a consultant with Weidner Consulting, told commissioners and city department heads that the management structures of many governments should put more emphasis on measuring benefits residents receive from their governments.

Cummings said a performance management system would require the City Commission and each city department to create more measurable goals. For example, instead of the Public Works Department having a broad goal of providing reliable transportation systems, it would have more specific goals, such as every new street lasting three years before requiring repairs for potholes.

In addition, the new management system would create more resident-oriented mission statements and simpler-to-read budgets and documents.

“For example, budgets do a pretty good job of saying this is how much we’re spending for office supplies or salaries or this or that,” Cummings said. “But to me, that is a big ‘so what.’ It really needs to say what this department is doing for the citizens of Lawrence.”

Rundle said he hoped such a system would make it easier for commissioners and residents to evaluate the job city government was doing.

“I think if we had a system of clear performance standards, you could read our reports and things would jump out about how far we have come,” Rundle said. “As it is now, I’m always struggling to determine how far we’ve gotten on an issue. It’s clear that there is a lot going on, but it is not always clear how far we’ve come.”

City commissioners agreed to further discuss a possible change in management systems and may receive presentations from other consulting companies. No deadline for a decision was set.

Some commissioners also urged caution in making changes. Commissioner Sue Hack, a retired teacher, said she feared the system might add too much bureaucratic work to already taxed staff members, much like the federal No Child Left Behind Act for education has done to teachers.

“I absolutely agree that the citizens need to be at the top of the city’s flow chart,” Hack said. “But I don’t want to create a burden that strangles our staff with all these new reporting tasks.”