Agenda - Council Work Session - 09/11/2012

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Important Considerations CPM 101 Annual Report: FY 2011 Introduction • Identify Comparable Jurisdictions Jurisdictions may want to compare their performance with that of a subset of jurisdictions on the basis of certain criteria such as population, weather conditions, or method of service delivery. If the jurisdiction's performance level is substantially below that of the comparison group, it can use the higher levels of performance in other jurisdictions to establish its own targets for future improvements. The jurisdiction should also seek explanations from higher - performing jurisdictions as to the practices and procedures contributing to high performance (e.g., equipment, training, organizational processes and structure, resources). • Set Goals and Targets Many jurisdictions use comparative performance information to set targets of performance for specific departments and agencies. Working with their city manager or county administrator, department directors may use measures from comparable jurisdictions and combine them with the priorities established by their council to set performance targets for future years. These targets then serve to focus the efforts of each department in achieving its goals and, in so doing, helping the city or county achieve the broader goals set by the council. Furthermore, this information can be used to identify departments that show consistently positive outcomes or substantial improvement over time, and it serves as a basis for providing recognition to the employees of those departments. • Communicate with Stakeholders Jurisdictions should consider providing annually to their citizens performance information similar to that contained in this report. This information can be provided through special reports and /or community newspapers that communicate comparative measures of performance for the government (e.g., response times for fire and EMS, participation rates in recreational programs, patronage of public libraries). These reports should focus largely on what the jurisdiction does rather than solely on what the local government spends. These reports, flyers, and community newspapers can provide citizens with a more complete picture of the activities and performance of their local government. • Review the Suggested Applications section in each service - specific section of this report Staff will find both general and service - specific ideas on how to use the data to: o Communicate with staff, elected officials, and the public o Find improvement targets o Boost performance o Discern and celebrate successes Readers are reminded that the data displayed in this report comes from volunteer participants, rather than a representative sample of local governments. Thus, normative statistics and other figures shown should not be interpreted as standards or recommended performance levels. Although they have proven helpful to local governments seeking to set performance targets based on peers' performance. Additional service - specific considerations appear in each section; these considerations they should be reviewed carefully because they provide context for the data. Please keep them in mind as you use the report. Please contact CPM staff with any questions or comments regarding the report or other CPM 101 activities (cpmmail @icma.org; 202/962- 3562). OICMA Center for Performance Measurement'"