City: Vallejo, California

Reporting to: City Manager

The Challenge

Vallejo, a city of 125,000 in the San Francisco Bay Area, is one of the most diverse medium-sized cities in the United States. The city government experienced significant fiscal distress as a result of the Great Recession and structural budget challenges. In 2008, the city took the very unusual step of filing for bankruptcy, which enabled it to restructure financial obligations to achieve a more sustainable fiscal position. Nonetheless, the city has since operated on lean budgets and fallen behind in implementing modern best practices across departments. It has also provided some city services in ways that undermined community trust in city government. For example, the city has been inconsistent in the frequency and quality of providing certain services, such as road repaving, public facility maintenance, building permitting, and abating abandoned vehicles, and has provided public safety services in an inequitable manner.

Vallejo has several new city council members and, as of 2024, a new city manager. The new leadership shares an interest in rebuilding public trust and improving public services. Over the past two years, some departments have elevated their management by implementing best practices. The Finance Department has implemented a new enterprise IT system, the Planning and Development Services Department has instituted new online permitting tools and customer service procedures, the Police Department has created a new citizen oversight commission, and the Water Department has installed new automatic water meters. The city has also expanded public communication and community engagement through a variety of mechanisms, including broader use of social media, more frequent public updates on key projects and services, and periodic community meetings. However, some departments have not implemented modern best practices.

Next, city leaders want to implement something Vallejo has never had: a systematic program for measuring and reporting performance across local government. They believe setting clear performance goals and tracking progress will lead to better and more equitable services. At the same time, it would enable more transparent communication with the public about where the city has made improvements and where more work remains. They hope this will go a long way to restoring the public’s trust in government.

Key questions include:

• What can Vallejo learn from peer cities that have already implemented successful performance measurement systems?
• What key performance indicators would best convey the goals of Vallejo’s various departments and functions?
• What data do departments already have and what data would require new systems to gather?
• Can these data be updated and reported at a cadence that is both useful to managers and the public and sustainable in the long run?

What You’ll Do

The fellow will create a framework for Vallejo’s first performance measurement system, to be implemented by the City Manager’s Office at a later time. This will involve researching successful performance measurement systems working in peer cities, suggesting a suite of indicators for Vallejo to use across departments and functions, and assessing the city’s current capabilities and needs in terms of assembling and reporting this data. For example, the police department has robust data systems tracking calls for service, response time, numbers of community engagement events and contacts, and other data, while other departments have more ad hoc methods, with key data stored in spreadsheets. The fellow will collaborate closely with the city manager and assistant city managers, council members, all department heads, and the city’s communications team. External stakeholders include representatives of key community organizations as well as the general public.

Key deliverables will include:

• An assessment of best practices for performance measurement programs among peer jurisdictions.
• A draft of key performance measures for each city department and service area, based on best practices in other jurisdictions and extensive input from internal and external stakeholders.
• Presentation of a proposed performance measurement framework to city council.

What You’ll Bring

The fellow will be expected to possess the following skills:

• Data Analysis
• Design Thinking
• Marketing
• Policy Analysis
• Qualitative Interviewing and Analysis
• Stakeholder Engagement

Apply here

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