CITY COUNCIL COMMUNICATION: 00-566 AGENDA: DECEMBER 4, 2000 SUBJECT: CITY PARTICIPATION IN THE CITIZEN INITIATED PERFORMANCE ASSESSMENT PROGRAM TYPE: RESOLUTION ORDINANCE RECEIVE/FILE SUBMITTED BY: ERIC A. ANDERSON CITY MANAGER

ITEM ____ OFFICE OF THE CITY MANAGER CITY OF DES MOINES, IOWA SYNOPSIS - Approving the City of Des Moines' participation in the Citizen Initiated Performance Assessment (CIPA) program, which is a modified approach of performance measurement that involves citizens in the design, implementation, and usage of performance assessment and is administered by the Sloan Project Team, consisting of representatives from the University of Iowa's Institute of Public Affairs, the Iowa League of Cities, and Iowa State University's Department of Political Science. Upon the demonstration of sufficient interest from Iowa cities, the Sloan Project Team will apply for a multiyear grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to work with selected cities in building and implementing the CIPA. FISCAL IMPACT - None. RECOMMENDATION - Approval. BACKGROUND - The Council is being asked to approve the City's participation in a program entitled "Citizen Initiated Performance Assessment" (CIPA). Three organizations joined together to apply for funding to build a citizen-initiated performance assessment project for Iowa's largest cities. The organizations (referred to as the Sloan Project Team) represented are: · University of Iowa's Institute of Public Affairs · Iowa League of Cities · Iowa State University's Department of Political Science, Office of State and Local Government Programs The purpose of the CIPA is to empower citizens to assist elected officials and administrators in policymaking and budgeting. CIPA's goal is to rebuild the sense of belonging and citizenship involved in local governments. The Sloan Foundation will work closely with Iowa city governments to enhance citizen participation in performance assessment. The Sloan Foundation has stated the philosophy that no single approach will fit all Iowa cities. Therefore, flexibility to work with individual cities is retained. Individual cities will be able to implement a plan that can accomplish the best results for that city. The Sloan Project Team successfully received initial funding from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to implement the project. Phase I is designed to articulate the interest on the part of Iowa's largest cities in participating in the implementation of the CIPA process. If sufficient interest is demonstrated, the Sloan Project Team will apply for a Phase II grant which is a multiyear grant to work with selected cities in building and implementing the CIPA. Phase I will be completed by December 2000, and Phase II is anticipated to begin in the summer of 2001. The Sloan Project Team will work with selected cities to build and implement CIPA. It is anticipated that the project will take 2-4 years to complete. The expectations for participating cities are: · Generate departmental support for implementing CIPA. · Openness to change current administrative practice and willingness to innovate. · Committed support by elected officials, citizen groups, and administrators to experiment CIPA. · Staff time to work with the project team. · Necessary data support for implementing CIPA. The support from the Sloan Project Team includes: · Education and training of involved parties. · Assistance in information gathering and dissemination. · Assistance in getting citizen participation and building the bonding between citizens and officials. · Necessary information technology support.