i.1 Understand Your Public Agency

The purpose, authority, and structure of state and local agencies are uniquely designed to serve a specific constituency in order to promote its welfare.3 One way agencies do this is by financing, constructing, and maintaining capital facilities. Cities provide public facilities, roads, and water, fire, and police services. School districts provide educational programs at schools and colleges. Flood control districts protect homes and property during flood events and prepare for these through the development and maintenance of flood management systems.

Before diving into a public project, every public agency must address whether the project is an appropriate use of its authority. That means answering questions such as, “Does the law allow the agency to build it, finance it, and operate it?” Sometimes public agencies get confused about their responsibilities or mission. In their effort to be effective, agencies add on, expand, and diversify their programs and services, and consequently, the types of facilities they operate. This is known as “mission creep.” Imagine a school district that believes it can enhance operations by building a sports stadium and charging gate or rental fees for its use. With the best of intentions, the district may find that the challenge of staffing, maintaining, and operating the stadium begins to compromise its ability to meet its core mission of educating students. In an effort to be more effective, the district may have undertaken a project based on a distorted sense of mission. Mission creep such as this can over time make the agency less effective and cause it to compromise its core mission.

Public officials are very likely to find themselves pressured to expand their agency’s mission. Some proposals may offer long term benefits to the agency’s constituents and may deserve consideration. Other proposals introduce risks and systemic challenges. The agency must take the time to understand the difference by considering four questions.