Valley Benchmark Cities GFOAz – August 10, 2018

This morning we will cover Valley Benchmark Cities This morning we will cover What is Valley Benchmark Cities (VBC)? History Process Results and Lessons Learned What’s Next for Us Questions

Valley Benchmark Cities What is VBC? Benchmarking consortium 11 largest communities in Maricopa County (Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler, Gilbert, Glendale, Scottsdale, Tempe, Peoria, Surprise, Avondale, Goodyear) Alliance for Innovation, Arizona State University and International City/County Manager’s Association (ICMA) Context and apples-to-apples comparisons matter Collect and examine data relevant to the group and our communities

AzCentral City Comparisons Guide History AzCentral City Comparisons Guide Misinformation Unclear what is in the data Comparisons were not apples-to-apples Level of service being offered Data without context

History How we got here Scottsdale announced they were joining a performance consortium in 2009 Brent Stockwell of Scottsdale What consortium?

History Other cities joined in Impromptu conversations at ACMA with Mesa and Tempe to get support Additional conversations with Peoria and Gilbert got them to join Subsequent invitation to additional cities followed Who should you invite and how?

How formal do we want this to be? History How formal do we want this to be? North Carolina or Florida formal models We settled on monthly meetings between the cities Took 2-years to get to the format it’s in now Key leaders, partners, sponsors, trust and collection

Potential Fears you may have History Potential Fears you may have We might not look very good to our elected officials Our peers might get a poor impression of us  The news media might publish the information to make us look bad It’s a lot of work and the information might not be very valuable

How we get from Point A to B every year Process How we get from Point A to B every year Meet monthly September – June Create a work plan Subsequent months data review, assign new metrics, collection/special assignment Draft report in April with edits in May City Manager meeting at end of year

Process General Demographics Fire Police Library Parks and Rec Service areas General Demographics Fire Police Library Parks and Rec Water, Sewer, Trash, Utilities Finance and Administration

Reports and dialogue the team could take back Results Reports and dialogue the team could take back First report issued in FY14 First 3-fiscal year trend report issued through FY16 Latest report has trend data from FY14 – FY17, format changed to min, median, max

FY14 Report Our first report!

Third Published Report Trend Report FY16 Third Published Report

From Flintstones process to Jetsons! Software From Flintstones process to Jetsons! Previously used Excel and PowerPoint Now we use GovBenchmark, an Envisio product Previously displayed each city as a bar, now we use min, median and max trend lines Display your own city and other favorites in custom reports Less time fiddling with graphs

Online Fourth Published Report Trend Report FY17 Online Fourth Published Report

Online Fourth Published Report Customized for Each City Trend Report FY17 Online Fourth Published Report Customized for Each City

Goodyear Used the Data for budget process Example of Use Goodyear Used the Data for budget process Supplemental Process A sob story is one thing Data is another

Example of Use Drastic reduction Less resident calls Goodyear Used the Data Drastic reduction Less resident calls

Lessons Learned This was a City Manager led initiative Tips from the VBC This was a City Manager led initiative MOU wasn’t needed Stop trying to be perfect! If you want to measure it, just measure it You don’t have to publish everything Difficult topics Trust amongst members is key

Lessons Learned Tips from the VBC Know what you are trying to measure (you can talk about parks all day) A software or tool to capture data rocks! Write down who tracked or pulled the data and how Great learning opportunity Any agency could replicate this

What’s Next Deeper Dives in Sustainability and Social Services What’s Our plan in FY19? Deeper Dives in Sustainability and Social Services Correlation studies with data More discussion on differences in data and operations You always find something after the fact!

Here is how you can find the data Where is this report? Here is how you can find the data https://transformgov.org/valley-benchmark-cities https://app.benchmark.envisio.com/reports/custom/public/3069

Questions?