Minchin Lewis

Spring

PAI 744  Metropolitan Government and Politics

Continuing a commitment to community development and financial management, Minch is teaching a course at Maxwell in metropolitan governance. He is also writing quarterly articles for PA TIMES Online and researching local economic, social and political issues.

Lewis's experience includes political office, private financial management and social services. His first political office was representing a city neighborhood on the county legislature. In 1993, Minch was appointed to fill a vacancy as councilor-at-large on the Syracuse Common Council. He was elected three times to the position of Syracuse City auditor, an office he held until the end of term limits in 2003.

As a project manager for the NYS Urban Development Corporation, he was responsible for developing and managing several supported living communities, including Madison Towers. His computer consulting company designed a financial management system used by 70 public housing authorities, private businesses and nonprofit agencies across the country. After Maxwell, Minch ran a children’s program at Huntington Family Center on Syracuse’s west side, one of the neighborhoods in the country with the highest concentration of poverty. 

Lewis completed his undergraduate work at the University of Notre Dame in 1966. He and his wife, Judy, migrated to Syracuse from Chicago to earn a master of public administration from the Maxwell School. They have lived in Eastwood, a Syracuse city neighborhood since 1966. Their two daughters are in academia. Kristin is teaching at the University of Notre Dame. Cara is doing nationally recognized research at Boston University in Kinesiology.

Researching the impact of consolidation on federal and state aid to local governments.

Analyzing the sources of local government finances in relation to strategic policy.

Preparing a case study on the politics of economic development decisions.

Significant Projects

As Syracuse City Auditor, Minch issued reports leading to an investigation by the Securities Exchange Commission described in a New York Times article, “Syracuse and S.E.C. settle a case alleging bond fraud,” Kirk Johnson, October 1, 1997.

An audit report issued in December 2003 presented a cost-benefit analysis of Syracuse’s Police Department. It concluded that the war on drugs was ineffective. It received national attention in a Washington Post article by Neal Peirce, “Can one city impact America’s drug war madness?”

Book Chapters

Can Millennials Revive the American City. In Joaquin Jay Gonzalez III, Roger L. Kemp and Jonathan Rosenthal (eds.), Small Town Economic Development, 228-230. Jefferson, NC: McFarland & Company (published originally in PA TIMES Online, July, 2016).

Articles

“How Do Our Budgets Measure Up?” PA TIMES Online, May 19, 2017

“Where is my Silver Parachute?” PA TIMES Online, February 17, 2017 

“A Slow Death for Water Systems” PA TIMES Online, October 14, 2016

“Can Millennials Revive the American City” PA TIMES Online, July 8, 2016

“Can Smokey Bear Survive a Forest Fire?” PA TIMES Online,  April 8, 2016

“Emergency Financial Management Planning,” PA TIMES Online, January 15, 2016

“Collective Bargaining, Irate Taxpayers Drive Public Policy,” PA TIMES Online, December 15, 2015

“Urban Schools of Choice for Students Left Behind,” PA TIMES Online, September 1, 2015

“Shared Services: Myth, Mirage, or Magic” PA TIMES Online, May 22, 2015

“Strengthening Social Equity: Robin Hood Joins ASPA” PA TIMES Online, February 27, 2015

“How to Measure the Performance Measurements,” PA TIMES Online, November 25, 2014

“State-sponsored Tourism: Consequences under the Radar,”  PA TIMES Online, Aug 22, 2014

“Budget Dilemma Meets Fiscal Responsibility,” PA TIMES Online, May 23, 2014

External Presentations and Service

Century Club
Manlius Senior Citizens
Executive Education—Destiny Seminar
Binghamton Police Merger study
Dunbar Center 990 Project
SBJSA Tax Exempt Status review
TNT Financial management advisory
Thursday Morning Roundtable
Institute of Internal Auditors