Areas the city is being evaluated in
Code enforcement
Fleet management
Fire and EMS
Highway/road maintenance
Housing
Human Resources
Information Technology
Parks and Recreation
Permits and land use
Police
Purchasing
Refuse and recycling
Risk management
Sustainability
HAMILTON — The city of Hamilton will soon have a better idea of how it stacks up against its competition.
Around 45 city employees are preparing to report performance data in more than 10 realms of city business, including police, sustainability and human resources, said Adam Helms, the city’s Performance and Information Services administrator.
City staff will then be able to compare its data to other local governments in the state and nation through the help of the International City/County Management Association’s Center for Performance Measurement based in Washington, D.C.
ICMA is a nonprofit organization assisting local governments professionally. According to its website, performance management helps measure, compare and improve municipal service delivery.
“The idea is to work with staff in each local government by collecting and sharing data that matches other jurisdictions,” said Gerald Young, senior research associate at ICMA.
Helms said more than 15 Ohio cities, including Fairfield, Monroe and Dayton, take part in the performance measurement. This is Hamilton’s first time.
“We’ll use a query tool to filter the data,” Helms said. “So if we only want to compare ourselves to communities with a population of 50,000 to 70,000 and with the same climate we can.”
The city will complete the filing of its data March 15. Helms said as an example, in the area of solid waste the staff will report average cost for garbage collection per household, amount of recyclables collected, and net expenditures per ton of recyclables collected.
Young recently assisted Helms in the training of city staff on what to look for when reporting data.
“It went well, there’s a lot of information the staff already has,” Young said. “One thing the data will illuminate is whether the economic situation is affecting services and demand.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2179 or hpoturalski@coxohio.com.
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