Link to: Full Program Preconference Events Keynote Sessions Solution Sessions   TLG Virtual Sessions   Case Studies   Alachua County and Sarasota County, FL  City of Allen, TX City of Ankeny, IA Village of Bannockburn, Illinois, Manatee County, Florida and City of Sierra Vista, Arizona City of Boulder, CO Cities of Decatur, GA, Montgomery, OH, Palo Alto, CA & Peak Democracy City of Durham, North Carolina City of Independence, MO City of Las Vegas, NV City of Montgomery, OH City of Olathe, KS City of Roanoke, VA City of Salt Lake City, UT City of San Jose, CA Larimer County, CO City of Southlake, TX   City of Virginia Beach, VA Washoe County, NV Panel A: Village of Glenview, Illinois, City of Las Vegas, Nevada, City of San Antonio, Texas  Panel B: : Cities of Olathe, KS and Southlake, TX, and Pitkin County, CO  Join our Facebook Page  Follow us on Twitter Alachua County and Sarasota County, Florida  Population: 241,364 and 372,057, respectively Presentation Title: Relationship Building with our Citizens – How to Make Citizen Engagement Meaningful   Alachua County, FL developed the highly interactive and engaging Community Conversations program as a means to increase civic education and awareness about budget funding sources and services, describe the impact of voter approved tax revenue caps, and to provide an outlet for the citizens to voice their opinions on program prioritization and share ideas concerning the current economic climate and its anticipated impact on the upcoming fiscal years. The program was non-confrontational and since it wasn’t in front of the lights and cameras of a board meeting, more citizens were inclined to stand up and be heard. The Community Conversations’ budget simulation activity was developed by in-house staff and presented in numerous meeting formats at a minimal cost with the results being reported back to the Commission including citizen opinions, prioritization of core services, and recommendations regarding service cuts. This program is highly adaptable to any jurisdiction and will be filled with many concrete take-aways, techniques, and tools that can be modified to meet your community needs. Presentation take-aways: • How to achieve greater citizen understanding in balancing a county budget • Samples of information provided to management and board members as a result of Community Conversations meetings • Real world advice on how to engage the community and help build support in times of financial stress • Peter Block techniques to engage the community to help participants share their community perceptions through conversation Sarasota County, FL When governments talk about investments and their "return on investment", they are usually discussing their financial portfolio or analyzing a capital project. It is easy to understand these types of investments as they are calculated in a common currency, dollars. A less common currency and less well understood investment is the return on community interactions. In modern American culture, one can easily identify the customers, but less easily the citizen. Citizen engagement programs stimulate participatory decision making and the ownership, in part or in whole, of the process and the outcome. Sarasota County is ready to discuss recent community engagement efforts and their results. Presentation take-aways: • Show that people value their role as citizen, care deeply, and are ready and willing to work together to create a better mousetrap, a better community, a greater future • Encourage you to innovate and develop new and different community engagement models and to accept the risk of embarrassment and failure that often happens when trying something new • Identify an evolving metric - the return on investment in community interaction   Click Here to View Alachua County's Community Conversations Video! Click Here to View Sarasota County's Case Study Video! City of Allen, Texas Population: 43,554 Presentation Title: Virtual Emergency Command Training for Operational Readiness – A New Approach to Training Firefighters Firefighters pay an incredibly “high tuition” to attain the level of expertise necessary to perform their dangerous and difficult jobs. It traditionally takes years of on the job experience, countless hours of training, and great risk to life and limb for a firefighter to become proficient at his/her job. What if there was a way to “lower the tuition”? What if you could increase the capacity of your community’s firefighters without putting them at risk of death or injury while they gain this essential experience? What if there was a way for new firefighters to perform at the level of a seasoned professional in a fraction of the time? What if your fire department could quickly develop new skills for your long-term firefighters to manage developing risks to your community? What if fire professionals in small and volunteer fire departments had access to training resources comparable to the largest fire departments in our country without the cost? For the men and women of the Allen Fire Department (AFD) in Allen, Texas, this scenario is a reality. Well, it is a ‘virtual reality’. City of Ankeny, Iowa Population: 36,161 Presentation Title: Teachers and Tractors – A more engaging approach to economic development Can a high school teacher impact economic growth in a community? Can a John Deere human resources employee influence a high school sophomore’s career decisions? It may seem like a stretch, but citizens who may not be involved in the day-to-day activities of economic development can play a key role in the long term success of a community. Their unique perspectives can be tapped and leveraged into strategies that expand a local workforce and provide career opportunities. Learn how staff of the City of Ankeny’s economic development department uses citizen engagement to build the community and strengthen its business base. Hear from a teacher and human resources employee on what it is like to be invited into the economic development arena and contribute to their community’s well-being. Join your colleagues in an interactive presentation/discussion on engaging diverse stakeholders. Participants will: • Hear a variety of perspectives on engaging stakeholders to build local economies and address community issues • Learn about the best techniques for citizen engagement • Walk away with a personalized list of opportunities and actions to take back to their own communities Presentation take-aways: • The seven key strategies of a 21st Century economic development plan • How to employ these strategies and tailor them for their communities • How to engage local stakeholders, build strategic partnerships and strengthen their communities Village of Bannockburn, Illinois, Manatee County, Florida and City of Sierra Vista, Arizona Presentation Title: Backyard Sustainability in Water Conservation To improve water quality within the watershed, the Village of Bannockburn has integrated Best Management Practices (BMP) into the Villages’ zoning, development, and storm water management policies. Manatee County Government has initiated a personalized service assisting residents with irrigation system evaluations that identify water loss. Residents learn to calibrate and control their irrigation system, receive a list of adjustments that need to be made, and better understand the relationships of plant material with water needs. Although not the largest water user in the sub-watershed, over the past 10 years Sierra Vista has developed partnerships with other governmental and non-governmental agencies to address the issue of water conservation on a regional basis. Learn how these three jurisdictions have made a significantly impact on water use reduction and sustainability. Click Here to View the Village of Bannockburn's Water Conservation Video! City of Boulder, Colorado Population: 103,100 Presentation Title: Value Based Service Delivery: Creating a culture of service through Inclusion and Diversity Heightened awareness in the community raised the question of the need for a higher level of understanding and tolerance of diversity in order to more effectively serve the Boulder community. And in order to better serve the community, staff needed to ensure the highest level of inclusiveness and diversity within our own organization. The outcome of these discussions was Council-directed training for City of Boulder staff. As a result, we decided to slowly build a foundation that would be sustainable for a welcoming and inclusive workplace and community and build our efforts through a multi-year plan. As we convened a multi-department team to begin our efforts, we heard personal stories, which reaffirmed the city’s commitment to inclusion and diversity as it now had a face. Click this link to hear an employee’s story: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wO3ny4w0q6g Cities of Decatur, GA, Montgomery, OH, Palo Alto, CA & Peak Democracy Presentation Title: Online Citizen Involvement in Community Decision Making – A Leading Practice? The world wide web has been suggested as a venue that promises to broaden citizen involvement in community decisions beyond the usual few who participate in city council and other government meetings. However, online public forums frequently look more like the wild wild west than the order and decorum required of a government meeting. Is it possible to maintain the required formality online without violating free speech rights? This case study describes how the cities of Decatur, GA, Montgomery, OH and Palo Alto, CA have formally incorporated online forums into their city council and other deliberative processes using the Open City Hall service developed by Peak Democracy. It will present the method Peak Democracy uses to maintain order and decorum online, and will describe the kinds of decisions being facilitated by the online discussion. The case study will also present the process city staff uses to select topics for on-line discussion and to provide feedback to the participants, as well as the plans for future use of the Open City Hall service. Presentation take-aways: • With proper comment monitoring and verification of user identity, online community forums are constructive and civil adjuncts to formal government meetings • It is possible to incorporate an online component to city council meetings with negligible additional staff time • Residents love it City of Durham, North Carolina Population: 223,284 Presentation Title: From DurhamFirst Stars to Culture of Service Champions – a Journey The City of Durham began an initiative in 2003, called DurhamFirst to help create a high performing organization. A highly successful aspect has been to identify the organization’s core values and to recognize employees for demonstrating these values. Other important components of DurhamFirst have involved developing leaders at all levels of the organization and building on the strengths of employees and the organization. Shortly after Tom Bonfield accepted the position as Durham’s City Manager in 2009, he challenged the steering team of DurhamFirst to create a “Culture of Service” in the organization. When Tom talks about Culture of Service, he speaks about the choice to work in public service, the ability of every employee to make a difference in the lives of citizens and the community, and the opportunity we have to look back at the end of our careers and realize that what we did matters. The steering team accepted Tom’s challenge and has built the Culture of Service initiative on the foundation of DurhamFirst. The initiative provides varied and numerous pathways for employees to connect their idea of “service” to their life’s purpose at work. Presentation take-aways: • Engagement Based on Strengths • Recognition of Positives - Core values and STARs Ice Cream Social to Tell your Story of Service • Leadership Development and Learning  City of Independence, Missouri Population: 121,212 Presentation Title: Increasing Your Community’s Disaster Resiliency by Taking a Leap of Faith The Faith Based Partnership Program (FBPP) reaches out to leaders in the faith community and partners with them to revolutionize emergency communication, preparedness, response, and recovery. The entire premise of the program is to utilize existing, trusted relationships to communicate warnings, activate shelters, utilize volunteers and get results. The program is free and growing rapidly as new organizations join the network regularly. The ultimate goal is to create “Extensions of the Emergency Operations Center” and increase citizens’ window of resiliency through several objectives – communication, sheltering, and networks. Presentation take-aways: • How FBPP benefits emergency communication • How FBPP increases sheltering capacity and capabilities • FBPP’s network and how it benefits Community Organizations Active in Disaster (COAD) • How FBPP makes communities more resilient. • How FBPP benefits the faith community • How to develop a FBPP in your community. It’s Free!   Click Here to View the City of Independence's FBPP Video! City of Las Vegas, Nevada Population: 599,087 Presentation Title: Consumer Driven Healthcare, The Next Generation: The City of Las Vegas Boldly Goes Where No Municipality Has Gone Before In 2004, after many years of double digit inflation in its group healthcare costs, the city of Las Vegas in partnership with its largest bargaining unit, implemented a consumer driven health care plan. They were the first municipality in the United States to do so. The goal of the new plan was to achieve long-term, stabilized, financially sustainable healthcare costs through a program that encouraged employees to be more conscientious in their healthcare spending, as well as facilitated their engagement in their own health, leading to healthier lifestyle choices. As of the end of Fiscal Year 2009, after five years of utilizing the consumer driven model the city has effectively reduced escalation in spending from 15% a year to approximately 3.2% a year, a trend which has continued into Fiscal Year 2010. This has been with a slightly higher employee base, and without reducing benefits or increasing employee coinsurance costs. As an organization they have seen a climate change in how employees view their health, their healthcare and their health insurance. Representatives from the city of Las Vegas will share how the program was structured, how they achieved the results they have, and the plans they have for the future. The presentation, structured on a "Star Trek model", will be both entertaining and informative. Presentation take-aways: •Learn the do's and don'ts of a successful Consumer Driven Healthcare implementation •Learn how Consumer Driven Healthcare Plans can work in a collective bargaining environment •Learn how an integrated on-site Wellness Program can propel your organization to healthier employees and lower healthcare costs •Finally, learn whether Kirk or Picard was the best starship captain! City of Montgomery, Ohio Population: 10,458 Presentation Title: LEAN, Mean Innovation Machine Click Here to View the City of Montgomery's LEAN Video! How can we improve service to citizens and increase efficiency without adding additional cost? Can employees do more without working harder? Is it possible to save thousands of dollars with just a few hours of collaboration among employees? In a climate of limited financial resources, it is critical that local governments create a culture of innovation, stewardship, and continuous improvement. The City of Montgomery has established a clear mission of “Taking Responsibility Together to Provide Superior Services” with values, employee expectations and an organizational leadership philosophy that emphasize a commitment to responsive, high quality service, employee leadership at all levels of the organization, decision making based on creative problem solving, continuous improvement, stewardship of the entire organization and collaboration among employees from various departments to solve problems and improve work processes. The City’s pursuit of innovation and collaboration with a system of continuous improvement utilizing LEAN process improvement methods has yielded significant financial savings and improved quality of service without spending more money or hiring more employees. Presentation takeaways: • Elements that support a culture of innovation • Increase process efficiency and customer service through the reduction or elimination of waste • Example of service enhancements, financial savings and employee productivity utilizing LEAN City of Olathe, Kansas Population: 118,034 Presentation Title: Creative and Sustainable Solutions to the Health Care/Retirement Burden Crisis Due to rising healthcare costs and growing numbers of retirees covered under the City plan, sustainability of the medical insurance plan was in question. Accordingly, the City reviewed the current plan design and eligibility to identify steps to sustain the plan and provide quality benefits to employees. The health plan model was extremely rich, and included two plans, neither of which had been redesigned for over a decade Learn how the City designed a multi-level health insurance plan with the goal of curbing expenditures, maintaining quality benefits and ensuring high employee morale; while mitigating the 15%-20% annual cost increases. Each of the problems identified was addressed and resolved with a validated return on investment (ROI).  Click Here to Download the City of Olathe's Video Presentation City of Roanoke, Virginia Population: 92,967 Presentation Title: Quantifying Healthier Communities The regional Roanoke greenways effort has been enormously successful and well-received by the public. Through their volunteer network of 500+ members and over 23,000 cumulative man-hours, this trained volunteer catalyst provides the backbone of our greenways & active-transport system. In fact, greenways and walking/biking trails ranked first among regional citizens for park facility needs in a survey of Roanoke residents conducted for the Roanoke Parks and Recreation Master Plan Update (2007). The City of Roanoke understood early in the process of examining the actual health of the community, that the process of creating a tangible active living change model that that included both environmental change as well as programmatic educational and skill building tools would not only provide the means to help our customer base become healthier but also provide an economic catalyst for future residents and business that are looking for active and healthy environments to reside, play, and work within. In an effort to bring to the table the critical knowledge necessary to enable this phenomenon, Roanoke Parks and Recreation partnered with the Regional Greenways Commission, the local Health Department, the private health providers, and both the University’s of Virginia Tech and Appalachian State University. The presentation will explain how at essentially no cost to the City, the various partners contributed their respective resources as engaged partners in this effort. City of Salt Lake City, Utah Population: 181,698 Presentation Title: Dissolving Barriers and Increasing Transparency in Development Processes Need a building permit? Want to be environmentally sound and avoid printing multiple copies of your plans for submission? Want to know which city departments have reviewed your plans and what their comments are? Want to see the changes your architect made to address the city’s comments on your building plans? Want do it all from the comfort of your home office? Then you’d better be developing your project in Salt Lake City, Utah. Salt Lake City is the only city in the world where development customers can submit their project plans online, pay for building permit(s), monitor the plan review process, instantly access review comments, see architects’ changes to submitted plans, and be notified the instant a permit is issued all without using a single piece of paper or visiting a single city office. After taking the concept of an integrated review process to new levels by incorporating 10 different modules into a single accessible and transparent database, Salt Lake City has pushed e‐development to new heights by fully integrating project review software with project tracking software. When people said it couldn’t be done, Salt Lake City didn’t listen. City of San Jose, California Population: 1,006,892 Presentation Title: Generating Revenue and Creative Income Strategies To Reduce Service Eliminations In Good Times And Bad This session will equip municipal professionals with proven techniques and strategies to increase their agency’s financial position. Participants will learn dynamic approaches to pricing services and revenue generation, methods to establish true cost of service, and ways to identify and obtain alternative funding for services outside of user fees. In addition attendees will obtain a new language which to help facilitate internal and external conversations on this topic. Using a case study approach from the Parks and Recreation field, we will explore the steps necessary for successful implementation. Finally, participants will form teams and participate in a simulation to generate ideas on how to maximize revenue in their municipalities. Presentation take-a-ways: • Possess a solid understanding of revenue generation strategies • Have mastered the essential techniques for making pricing decisions • Understand how to apply outreach and engagement processes to increase the program success • Obtain a course CD Rom with tools assist in the implementation of the methodology presented Larimer County, CO Population: 293,000 Presentation Title: Development and Successful Implementation of Vote Centers Vote Centers were conceived of as a way to bring voting into the 21st century. Precinct voting was developed during a time when people lived where they worked and everyone knew everyone else – before technology and commuting. Vote Centers eliminate the need for voters to find their precinct polling place and instead allow them to vote at any one of many conveniently placed locations throughout the county. This means fewer polling places that are all ADA compliant and equipped to efficiently serve higher volumes of voters. Not only are financial and practical efficiencies realized, but the process is made more convenient for each and every voter. City of Southlake, Texas Population: 26,595 Presentation Title: Cutting Edge Service With a Virtual Sabre Request a book, DVD or audio book from your local library and have it delivered to your desk the next work day, and then send it back with your office mail. It is just that easy with the Southlake Public Library’s Sabre Virtual Branch. Sabre is the operator of Travelocity and the largest airline reservation systems company in the world with their world headquarters in Southlake, Texas. The Southlake library was able to devise a way to provide this excellent service to the largest employer in town at negligible cost, utilizing the Sabre mailroom to deliver items directly to the library’s customers as they work. Library staff pulls items that are requested – place them in a delivery tote and drop them off and pick up returns in the Sabre mailroom. A simple process that allows Sabre employees an added benefit, and allows the Southlake Public Library to serve a segment of their market that they would otherwise not have been able to, and do it very cost effectively. Presentation take-aways: • Identify collaborative opportunities with the private sector and community groups that satisfy each entities strategic and tactical goals • The library can provide great service delivery opportunities for the governmental entity of which it is a part • Working with the business community is not simply an economic development consideration for the entity – there may be any number of opportunities that present themselves, for the discerning City of Virginia Beach, Virginia Population: 431,451 Presentation Title: Success Through Diversity and Inclusion: Improving Your Government’s Minority Participation in Its Contracting Click Here to View the City of Virginia Beach's Video! There are no instruction manuals on how to increase minority business participation in city contracting. Still, the City of Virginia Beach has tripled its minority business participation in five years time. The program evolved with input from city staff and a Council-appointed board and its constituency. The organization broke department silo barriers, re-aligned resources and harnessed the power of partnerships with external organizations. The collective input has resulted in a multifaceted program that has shown positive results. As a result of this program, the amount of City expenditures paid to minority businesses has increased steadily over the last five years. This type of program reflects the nation’s values, and as such can be used by any community that wants to ensure that all demographic groups benefit from programs of diversity and inclusion and simultaneously increase the vitality of its local economy. The elements of this program can be replicated in any community. Presentation Takeaways: • How Virginia Beach harnessed community involvement to help shape this program • How Virginia Beach developed various approaches to increase diversity and inclusion with minority businesses without consultants and without set asides • How the entire organization has made diversity and inclusion with minority businesses a priority Washoe County, Nevada Population: 410,443 Presentation Title: Stop Fighting Like Cats and Dogs: How To Work Together To Create A Successful Animal Services Program For Your Community Do you get a lot of complaints about animal services? Does adversarial describe your relationship with animal advocates in your community? You can change that to a successful program through collaborative partnerships that meet public expectations and are cost-effective. This presentation shows you how it can be done! Washoe County, Nevada’s Regional Animal Services (WCRAS) has gained national attention for having one of the lowest euthanasia rates in the country--the result of collaborative relationships with local animal rescue groups, use of technology, public financial and operational support, and pet-friendly policies. County staff and their private sector partners will share with you how they were able to stop fighting like cats and dogs to make Washoe County’s animal services program one of the most successful in the country. Presentation take-aways: • Practical “how to” guide to create collaborative relationships with stakeholders • Proven strategies to meet public expectations that garner grassroots and financial support • Cost-effective ways to implement pet-friendly policies and operations that produce results Click Here to View Washoe County's Cats and Dogs Video! PANEL SESSIONS: Panel A: Innovation in the Budget Process Panel Member Jurisdictions: Village of Glenview, Illinois, City of Las Vegas, Nevada, City of San Antonio, Texas  Government organizations across the US are undergoing significant budget cuts, like many thought could never be possible. During this session panel members will discuss the innovative approaches taken to retool service delivery to reduce expenditures and focus on core City services—and it is changing how cities view and approach budget reductions in a positive way. The session will examine the specific changes made during the budget review process. It will outline some of the challenges faced in making these changes and describe possible steps other public sector agencies could take to follow a similar path.  Panelist’s Message To Include: 1. Why did you choose an alternative path to budgeting? 2. What did you hope to achieve? 3. How did the city/county go about implementing (what was the process?) 4. What, if any, outcomes were realized? For example:     -How has the change(s) prepared your organization for the future?     -What are the next steps of your initiative(s)? Panel B: Innovation Frameworks: How local governments create and nurture a culture of innovation Panel Member Jurisdictions: Cities of Olathe, KS and Southlake, TX, and Pitkin County, CO Moderated by: Katy Simon, County Administrator, Washoe County, NV Most local governments strive to be innovative, yet, before they are able to realize tangible innovation, they must first create and nurture a culture that encourages the process of innovation. How one builds that culture of innovation and creates the supporting framework can, and does, look very different across organizations. The Innovation panelists will share how their organization has worked to establish a culture of innovation.  Panelist's Message to Include: 1. Why did you choose a path of cultural change? 2. What did you hope to achieve? 3. How did the city/county go about implementing (what was the process?) 4. What, if any, outcomes were realized? For example:     -How has the cultural change(s) prepared your organization for the future?     -What are the next steps of your initiative(s)?