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Strategic Plan Photo by Darren Huski Strategic Plan Public Safety Economic Development Clean, Healthy Environment Culture, Arts & Recreation Educational Enhancements Effective, Efficient, Economical (E3) Government Dallas City Council Mayor Mayor Pro Tem Deputy Mayor Pro Tem Tom Leppert Dwaine Caraway - District 4 Pauline Medrano - District 2 Delia D. Jasso David A. Neumann Vonciel Jones Hill Steve Salazar District 1 District 3 District 5 District 6 Carolyn R. Davis Tennell Atkins Sheffie Kadane Jerry R. Allen District 7 District 8 District 9 District 10 Linda Koop Ron Natinsky Ann Margolin Angela Hunt District 11 District 12 District 13 District 14 Table of Contents Dallas’ Strategic Plan 3 Introduction and Background for Dallas Strategies Plan from Mary Suhm 4 Mission, Vision, and Core Values 6 City Council Key Focus Areas 7 Key Focus Area: Public Safety 8 Key Focus Area: Economic Vibrancy 11 Key Focus Area: Clean, Healthy Environment 14 Key Focus Area: Culture, Arts and Recreation 19 Key Focus Area: Educational Enhancements 23 Key Focus Area: Efficient, Effective and Economical Government 25 Dallas’ Strategic Plan Tom Leppert Dallas Mayor I am pleased to introduce the City of Dallas’ Strategic Plan covering the 2010-11 timeframe. Now, there are plenty of good plans sitting on the shelves of City Hall, corporate boardrooms, and university libraries that haven’t seen the light of day since being written, either because they read like scholarly publications or because the plans were never tied to actions. So we have written this small work to tell a simple and clear story about where this organization – your City of Dallas – is headed and how we intend to get there. More than 12,000 City of Dallas employees, including your elected and appointed officials, are covered by this document. In fact, they wrote it. It all began with a simple idea. My colleagues on the City Council and I committed to identifying a handful of shared priorities that cut across district boundaries. We call them our Key Focus Areas, or KFAs. City Manager Mary Suhm then drafted up a game plan for bringing our KFAs to life. She delivered a set of innovative strategies and a sensible funding package that Council adopted as the FY 2010 Annual Budget. You will find the results of our work in the following pages of this Strategic Plan, but it can be boiled down to a series of commitments we are making to you, our stakeholders in the Dallas community: Dallas is committed to: • Strengthening Public Safety. • Fostering Economic Vibrancy. • Maintaining a Clean, Healthy Environment. • Promoting Culture, Arts & Recreation. • Offering Educational Enhancements that will help us achieve all of our other commitments. • Becoming an Efficient, Effective and Economical Government. As you read through the pages of the Strategic Plan, understand that it is a snapshot in time – our perspective of the future from where we stand in the present moment. View the Plan as a living document that we will need to update frequently as new information becomes available and as the City adapts to changing conditions. I want to thank my colleagues on the City Council for having the foresight and dedication required to develop a shared vision and to thank the City Manager and her staff for rising to the challenge we have given them. Finally, I want to thank you, the Dallas community, for supporting our efforts and for doing your part to make Dallas the finest city in America! 3 Introduction and Background for Dallas’ Strategic Plan Mary K. Suhm City Manager Simply stated, the City of Dallas’ Strategic Plan is a blueprint to drive decision-making and produce actions that determine what kind of an organization the City is (and wants to be), what it is that the City does (and should be doing), and why the City does it. BACKGROUND The current strategic planning process was initiated in 2004 with the City Council’s establishment of community goals, known as Key Focus Areas (KFAs). In July 2007, under the leadership of newly-elected Mayor Tom Leppert, the City Council confirmed six Key Focus Areas for the City of Dallas. Council directed City staff to achieve progress in the areas of Public Safety; Economic Vibrancy; a Clean, Healthy Environment; Culture, Arts & Recreation; Educational Enhancements; and an Effective, Efficient, Economical (E3) Government. To ensure that each of the Council’s priorities is reflected by and supported within the organization, City government has been restructured so that each KFA is managed as a portfolio by an Assistant City Manager. In addition, the annual budget is no longer organized by department, but has been reorganized to indicate funding and staffing levels allocated to each Council Key Focus Area. The City of Dallas Annual Budget can be viewed at www.dallascityhall.com The City has more than 300 services allotted across City department. Departments monitor the services they provide to customers through performance indicators that give relevant and objective data to decision makers so they can make better-informed choices. Performance indicators are also an accountability tool for ensuring that departments continually seek ways to become more efficient and effective in meeting customer expectations. (Dallas Measures) BUDGETING FOR OUTCOMES To provide a cohesive structure to its decision-making process, the City of Dallas links its strategic plan to the annual budgeting process, termed “Budgeting for Outcomes.” The integration of strate- gic planning and budgeting is accomplished through a judicious funding strategy that allocates resources to select City services that hold the greatest potential for achieving the results our citizens want at a price that they are willing to pay. In the Budgeting for Outcomes process, the City Council determines up front the total “price” of government that residents are willing to pay. City staff builds a budget around the outcomes that the Council and residents want at the established price. City departments submit “bids” to provide services at a particular price that support the goals of the City, and those bids are ranked in descending order as to their effectiveness until available funds are allocated to the desired services. CITIZEN SURVEY In a further endeavor to hear our citizens’ voices about their priorities, the City conducts a biannual citizen survey. City residents are surveyed regarding their perceptions about Dallas, the quality of City services and the customer service they received from the City of Dallas. The 2009 citizen survey also asked residents to prioritize the City services they receive. These priorities serve as an additional guide to our strategic planning and budgeting processes. (Citizen Survey) 4 DEPARTMENTAL PLANS Several City departments have strategic plans or master plans that guide their priorities and perfor- mance, such as the Aviation Master Plan, Dallas Fire-Rescue Plan, Forward Dallas!, the Library Master Plan, Economic Development Strategic Plan, Trinity River Corridor Project Plan and Water Supply Strategy. These plans fit within the Key Focus Areas and support the City’s overall direction. ACTION PLAN The City’s tactical plan, known as the Citywide Action Plan, outlines specific activities outside of day-to-day operational services that the City pursues to carry out the Strategic Plan. As with the budgeted services, Action Plan activities support strategies for achieving Council’s priorities and objectives so that all of the major guiding documents for the City of Dallas are aligned. The tactics in the Action Plan are specific, focused on major departmental activities, measurable, on a timetable, and assigned to a lead agency/individual. The Action Plan covers a 3-5 year planning timeframe and includes quarterly reporting on progress towards completion of the specific activities. STRATEGIC PLAN This Strategic Plan lays out the City of Dallas’ mission which describes the purpose of the organi- zation; the City’s vision which outlines what the City aspires to be; and the City’s values which detail the shared set of principles to which the City is committed. These values are the foundation of the leadership competencies used to evaluate the performance of city staff. The Strategic Plan also reports the specific, measurable objectives within each Key Focus Area that the City Council uses as a measure of progress. 5 Mission Vision Values MISSION To enhance the vitality and quality of life for all in the Dallas community This statement speaks to the nature of public service. The City’s every action should be geared towards serving the public in a way that seeks to promote the common good for a society comprised both of individuals (residents, workers and visitors), as well as organiza- tions (businesses and community-based groups). VISION The City That Works: Diverse, Vibrant, Progressive From an internal perspective, a “City That Works” implies not only that processes and procedures are in place allowing for smooth functioning of day-to-day operations, but also that the organization is flexible enough to meet new challenges. Perhaps more important is the external implication that reflects the public service orientation of the City’s mission. A “City That Works” is one in which challenges are met with a common purpose. Diversity of background, experience, and point-of-view is welcome in the City of Dallas and helps to maintain balance in decision-making. Vibrancy says that the City is vigorous and spirited in nature and seeks to help people get the most out of life—both in their