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his book has truly been a collaborative effort. Our colleagues at the Maxwell School and the Alfred P. Sloan, Jr. Foundation as well as many local municipal officials and more than 75 talented undergraduate students have played a major part in shaping this book. Early input was given by Robert Bird, Clyde Ohl and Frank Wilson. Salient reviews were provided by Vincent Palerino, Kevin Holmquist, Kathleen Rapp, Miles Ross and Karen Shultz. Judith Mower and Charlotte Holstein of Forging Our Community's United Strengths (FOCUS of Greater Syracuse) provided us with a forum of local leaders who gave us a reality check.We also wish to thank the functional experts who contributed suggestions for our checklists, they include Meredith Hellestrae of the Commission on Accreditation of Ambulance Services, Bill Hartz of Building Officials Code Administrators International, Dr. Betty van der Smissen of the American Parks & Recreation Society, Dennis Ross of American Public Works Association, Peg Gant of the Commission on Accreditation for Law Enforcement Agencies, Annie Aubrey of the Association of International Assessing Officers, Richard DeGroot of DeGroot Management Services, Bert Waisanen of the Government Finance Officers Association and Kristen Cormier-Robinson of the Council of State Governments.◆ Elected officials to monitor government managers

◆ Government managers to perform self-checks

◆ Political candidates who support government accountability

◆ Citizens to keep the politicians on track
From being in the political world and seeing how things are done, the draft is unrealistic... We had a situation where one of the board members decided to study the costs of a government service through a careful study. When the public found out about the study, the board member lost the next election even though the study would have helped save money and improve the service...

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