1. Valley Benchmark Cities
GFOAz – August 10, 2018

2. 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

3. 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

4. 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

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

6. 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?

7. 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

8. 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

9. 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

10. 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

11. 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

12. FY14 Report
Our first report!

13. Third Published Report
Trend Report FY16
Third Published Report

14. 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

15. Online Fourth Published Report
Trend Report FY17
Online Fourth Published Report

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

17. 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

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

19. 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

20. 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

21. 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!

22. Here is how you can find the data
Where is this report?
Here is how you can find the data

23. Questions?