Baltimore CitiStat director dismissed after brief tenure
Reasons for dismissal are not known. No announcement by mayor’s office.
Chad Kenney, director of Baltimore’s CitiStat program, was fired today, The Brew has learned.
Kenney was named director of the program – started by former Mayor Martin O’Malley to track the performance of city agencies and “hold bureaucrats accountable” – in August 2012 after CitiStat itself failed to perform.
For many months that year the agency had failed to post online reports and met infrequently with city department heads.
This followed the departure of Deputy Mayor Christopher G. Thomaskutty, who had run the program for years, and the subsequent resignation of his successor, Yolanda Jiggetts, reportedly for health reasons.
“Talented” Analyst
Described as “abrasive” but also “talented” and “committed,” Kenney had pledged more detailed analysis of agencies by CitiStat and more posting of on-line data about how departments were performing their jobs.
CitiStat director Chad Kenney was dismissed today. (socrata.com)
He specialized in analyzing the Baltimore Police Department and its response to 911 emergency calls.
He also was trying to understand better the workings of the Department of Public Works and how it performs water meter readings. “He’d go out with police and DPW crews to get a handle on how they work,” said a person familiar with his job.
CitiStat was started by Mayor O’Malley in 2000 as an analytic tool to internally measure the performance of key Baltimore agencies such as police, fire, public works, transportation, health, housing, and recreation and parks.
He appointed his young brother, Peter O’Malley, to oversee the program that won kudos from good-government groups, even though most CitiStat information was not normally available to the public.
The reasons for Kenney’s dismissal are not known.
His departure was not announced by the office of Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake. Spokesman Kevin Harris did not immediately return a request for comment by The Brew.
[UPDATE: Harris never responded to our inquiry, but told The Sun tonight that Kenney resigned after the mayor asked him to take another job in city government.]
A person who answered the CitiStat phone this afternoon said he had “no information” about the matter and could not speak further.