NC LG Performance Measurement Project
Institute of Government at UNC - Chapel Hill

The North Carolina Local Government Performance Measurement Project (NCLGPMP) was initiated in September 1995, providing a comparative basis for local governments to assess service delivery and costs.  It allows cities and counties to compare themselves with other participating units and with their own internal operations over time.  This benchmarking process includes compiling service and cost information, cleaning the data for accuracy, calculating the selected performance measures, and comparing the results. Thirty-five cities and counties have particpated in the project, and five performance and cost data reports have been published as of June 1999.

Auburn Student Public Safety Program
City of Auburn
Auburn, AL

Starting with our fire division in 1989, we have established a program to supplement our career staffing with university students, trained and certified to career firefighter standards.   They have allowed us to open two additional stations and fully staff our fire apparatus with 4-5 firefighters in a time when many fire agencies are experiencing staffing cutbacks.  These young firefighters bring energy and enthusiasm to the job and work under the close supervision of career firefighters.  They are required to be full-time students for three of the four academic terms in a school year and are required to maintain a "C" or higher average.  The program was expanded to the communications division in 1997 and the police division in 1999.

The Auburn Student Public Safety Program (ASPSP) provides supplementary full-time emergency services staffed by trained college students, led by a career supervisor/team leader.  The students perform tasks in the division (police, fire, and communications) to which assigned. Fire Division students serve as firefighters. Under career leaders, students staff our engines and ladder companies. Police Division students perform traffic control duties and assist with community services.  Those assigned to the Communications Division receive, dispatch, and control the emergency service communications and E911 services.  All ASPSP members must receive professional level training and/or certifications for the division tasks to which they are assigned.

              The innovative aspect of the program is that students provide half of the City's full-time emergency staffing while attending university full-time, maintaining a 2.0 GPA, and meeting training requirements for their position.  Students are paid for hours worked, equipped with gear, may live in firehouse rooms, and are reimbursed for tuition pending a 2.5 GPA.  Shifts allow full-time class attendance.  This is the only program in the country incorporating these features. It has been described by Gene Carlson of Oklahoma State University's International Fire Service Training Association as "Unique, innovative, ...the premier program in the US ... fundamentally changing the way we operate."

 Firefighting is a physically demanding operation requiring assembling enough firefighters to execute operations.  The ASPSP provides a cost-effective method of full-time staffing companies to fight fires and maintain its excellent ISO Class 2 rating.  The fitness and energy of these students result in superior performances. 

         Communicators require intelligence, articulation skills, multi-tasking capabilities, diplomacy, and ability to manage stressful situations.   These students have exceeded expectations, accomplished training faster than many career dispatchers, and are proving their ability to meet operational needs while maintaining their university grades and activities.   The Police Division program targets bright, articulate, disciplined, mature, and diplomatic candidates.   They perform duties not requiring sworn officers, thus freeing those officers for more exigent requirements.

         An unintended result has been the diffusion of the ASPSP graduates. They have performed in demanding tasks.  They have a sense of accomplishment in helping finance their own education.  Each has acquired professional certifications and training they may use later.  A few will go on to Public Safety careers. All of them have gained a view of successful government in action and are imbued with an understanding of the positive aspects of governmental services. 

Vallejo Economic Development Information System
City of Vallejo Economic Development Div.
Vallejo, California

The Vallejo Economic Development Information System (VEDIS) is an economic development tool for site selection using Internet Geographic Information System (GIS) technology.  The Web-based program provides prospective businesses access to on-line data about available commercial properties in Vallejo.  VEDIS generates user-defined dynamic demographic and business reports for any location in Vallejo at any market report radius. Using this technology substantially speeds up and simplifies the business site-selection process. Vallejo is the first city to implement Internet GIS technology for this use.  VEDIS is accessible to the public through the City's Web Page at http //www.ci.vallejo.ca.us/ed.html.    

The program immediately provides the initial site-selection information businesses need when considering a new site for expansion or relocation  availability of property, supportable demographics, and competition/synergy.  Businesses can enter their site requirements and the application displays sites meeting the above-mentioned criteria.  Then the user can perform user-defined demographic market.  Real estate professionals update the database of available buildings on-line.  This system benefits from centralization of data on the Internet server and decentralization of information access. Therefore, businesses looking for space receive immediate access to updated properties. 

Most cities use the Internet to make limited and static economic and demographic data available to assist and attract businesses. VEDIS surpasses this typical strategy by providing interactive information controlled by the Internet user.  VEDIS is not a web page; it is a web application.  Users customize their own experience.   Implementation is a public (City), private (real estate professionals) and non-profit (Business Improvement District) collaboration.

Productivity Improvement Program
City of Fullerton--Maintenance Services
City of Fullerton, California

The Productivity Improvement Program of the City of Fullerton Maintenance Services Department integrates cost analyses, performance measurement, customer surveys, and employee involvement in a continual process of review and improvement. The program's purpose is to help the department meet the needs of  residents in the most efficient manner possible by directing the department's resources to its most important functions, and by involving management, employees, and residents in the decision-making process. Over the past seven years, the program has saved the City more than $1 million, and has led to significant productivity improvements in many areas. 

Springs Community Improvements Program (SCIP)
Office of Budget and Financial Analysis
City of Colorado Springs

The Springs Community Improvements Program (SCIP) is an innovative process where citizens select and prioritize which capital projects are to be constructed in Colorado Springs; and recommend the method and amount of funding necessary to build the projects.

            SCIP is led by 16 Council appointed citizens, to include a SCIP Chair and Vice Chair plus a Chair and Vice Chair for seven subcommittees. Five project subcommittees each develop rating criteria to evaluate and prioritize capital projects relative to their project category. The Finance Subcommittee reviews and recommends financing alternatives while the Public Relations Subcommittee organizes SCIP public communications and advertising.  The Chairs integrate the subcommittees' final recommendations into a total project/financing package presented to City Council.  This group has financial oversight of the approved program to ensure projects are implemented as envisioned by the SCIP committees. 

Texas Works Volunteer Services
Texas Department of Human Services
Texas/Region 03

The Social Service Assistance Module (SSAM)Multilingual Interview System is an innovative software program (CD).  It was designed to allow the user to verbally communicate with a client who does not speak English or is limited in his English proficiency.   SSAM has a selection of over 2,000 phrases dealing with social services.  These phrases are grouped in 45 categories that range from income information to welfare reform.  The phrases were constructed to obtain a yes/no type of response from the client.  Client information, instruction and case explanation are available in the dialog.  The user simply points and clicks to a desired phrase and the computer verbalizes the phrase in the language chosen.

Center Against Family Violence
Mesa Police Department
Mesa, Arizona

The City of Mesa Police Department established the Center Against Family Violence in February 1996 in response to a growing concern for domestic violence cases and the disjointed and othen abusive process of victim assistance.  By co-locating all service providers under one roof specifically designed to comfort the abused, the City has reduced a 12 hour investigation over many days and locations to 4-5 hours at one facility.  The Center has become a regional and national model for it's "victim" oriented design.  Overall domestic violence calls for assistance have been reduced 20% over the last three years

Opportunity Knocks
Department of Human Assistance, Sac. Co.
Sacramento, California

              Opportunity Knocks is a truancy intervention strategy focused on at-risk high school students in welfare families.  Opportunity Knocks provide part-time after-school employment at local welfare offices to truant students.    Students receive employment training, homework assistance and literacy tutoring, counseling and mentoring, school attendance and performance evaluation, and peer group sessions.  By providing a range of services at the worksite it allows us to help the student see the connection between education, school performance and completion, and their ability to take control of their future opportunities.  By creating a direct connection between school and work at the actual worksite, DHA staff, community organizations and local employers help truant teens make fundamental changes in their behavior and performance.

Children's Dental Health Program
Wichita-Sedgwick County Health Dept.
Wichita-Sedgwick, Kansas

 The Children's Dental Health Program provides free dental care for children from Wichita and Sedgwick Schools who meet eligibility requirements. To be eligible, children must be between the ages of 5 and 15, enrolled in school, unable to qualify for Medicare.  The Dental Clinic staff is also responsible for the  organization of the "Molardrama", a tooth fair during Dental Health Month, presented  to more than 5,000 second graders. The Wichita District Dental Society and several local businesses provide funding for the Molardrama. 

              The program is innovative due to the involvement of many partners from our community. Thirty-three dentists and oral surgeons  volunteer their time, Wichita State University coordinates with the Dental   Clinic staff the rotation of their hygiene students as part of the students' training, and school nurses from Wichita and Sedgwick County schools refer clients to our Clinic for  reatment. Various businesses and organizations such as the Wichita District Dental Society, The Boeing Company, Delta Dental Insurance Company of Kansas, the American Cancer Society, and Dillon's Grocery stores also contribute to the success of the Molardrama tooth fair each year. As a result of the cooperation of all these groups, more than 500 new children each year are provided with badly needed dental care and education. 

Citizen Efficiency Review Committee
City of Winston-Salem
Winston-Salem, North Carolina

In May of 1998, the Board of Aldermen of the City of Winston-Salem, North Carolina, approved a resolution creating a seven-member Steering Committee charged primarily with reviewing the efficiency and effectiveness of all city services.  The committee recruited over 100 volunteers from the community to serve on seven review teams:    Environmental Health, Public Safety, Transportation, Leisure Services, Interdepartmental Services, Community Development, and General Government.  Together, these volunteers made up the Citizen Efficiency Review Committee (CERC).

              Each volunteer attended orientation and training sessions.  Each team received an explanation of what the CERC was and how it would work. They were also given training on how Winston-Salem's city government is organized and operated.  Each team received performance measurement reports and budget information for their respective departments.   Any benchmarking and best-practices information that was available was also distributed to review teams.  As the evaluation began, volunteers used employee and citizen surveys, personal interviews with employees, and site visits to various facilities.

              Once the review teams completed their review, they each drafted a report that included preliminary recommendations.  Each recommendation was reviewed by the Steering Committee to ensure that they were in line with the adopted mission statement. About 6,500 hours were volunteered and over 300 recommendations were made. The Steering Committee developed five major themes that recurred throughout:  Issues in Information Services and Technology, Issues in Environmental Health, Issues in Community Development, Issues in Economic Development, and Issues in Organizational Design and Function.  The total 5-year economic impact that resulted from these recommendations was a cost savings of approximately $42 million.