Citygate assisted the City of San Luis Obispo, California, and its partners to study the opportunities and constraints in merging some of the County’s police and fire dispatch centers into one shared center located at the San Luis Obispo Police Department dispatch center.

Citygate conducted a review of Salt Lake City’s building services process as part of an effort to support economic development. Citygate identified ways to streamline the permitting and approval process; determined the appropriate timeline for permitting and approval of common project types; documented the permitting processes that occur in the City departments beyond Community and Neighborhoods; developed a process to achieve predictability with the private sector by improving consistency in staff responses to inquiries across multiple departments and divisions; and identified structural, technological, and ordinance barriers that create obstacles to a more streamlined, predictable, and transparent process.

Citygate developed a fire service consolidation implementation plan for the Placer County Department of Administrative Services on behalf of the County Executive Office. This study reviewed the adequacy of the current fire services system for not only service delivery, but for fiscal solvency over the long term.

Citygate was selected to assist the City on this two-phase effort. This project consisted of a review of the “Road Map for Implementation,” integration of the Public Works Department permitting processes, and identification of opportunities to improve efficiency of the City’s development review permitting process.

Citygate completed an organizational analysis and developed a Strategic Plan for the City of Salinas Community and Economic Development Department, including the Permit Center and Planning Division. The objective of this study was to review current conditions, evaluate future service demands, analyze opportunities for organizational changes and process improvements to further enhance customer services, and develop a strategic action plan with a prioritized implementation schedule.

Citygate completed an organizational and functional analysis of the Department of Planning and Land Use (DPLU) and associated land development services to ensure the most efficient use of staff time and resources, improve customer service, improve the quality and completeness of work, and ensure that the land development process promotes safe and livable communities. To accomplish these objectives, Citygate analyzed the policies, procedures, management, and operations of the programs and designed improvements for the future. Permitting processes included the provision of all utilities and also involved the engineering functions within the Public Works Department and the Land Development Division. As part of Citygate’s review, an employee survey was conducted, as well as a customer survey, and recommendations were made for improving the Department’s existing customer satisfaction survey forms. Many challenges affected the DPLU, including a need to streamline internal processes and provide seamless processing as permits moved between departments and agencies, create more reliable and predictable regulatory outcomes, improve staff productivity and accountability, and enhance relationships within the development community, with local residents, and with special interest stakeholders. Citygate provided nearly 80 recommendations to improve organizational capacity and clarify strategic direction; provide appropriate performance measurements to monitor productivity of customer service delivery, the organization as a whole, and individual staff; reorganize the structure to better align reporting relationships and decision making and to streamline processes; and identify opportunities to generate more revenue to offset operating costs. Citygate’s recommendations enhanced organizational productivity and prepared the Department for significant downsizing.

Citygate completed a performance audit of Sacramento County’s Planning and Environmental Review and Assessment departments. This study provided an independent, objective, rigorously analytical analysis of the policies, procedures, management, and operations of the programs and designed a constructive, forward-looking, and creative strategy for improvement. This project involved a standard performance audit, including how to support the Municipal Services Agency’s goal to decentralize planning functions and empower neighborhood involvement through the expanded use of Community Planning Councils and other methods. Extensive stakeholder, resident, applicant, and employee contact was achieved through interviews, focus groups, and internet-based surveys. Citygate also identified best practices in other communities, reviewed performance indicators, and developed recommendations for improvement. In addition to enhancing applicant and residential services, the streamlining, improved leveraging of available technology, and staff productivity enhancements prepared the Department for improved staff accountability and performance metrics, as well as reliably/predictably enhancing the quality of customer service goals.

Citygate was asked to conduct a performance audit of the City of Vista’s development review process. The scope of the study included the program areas of building, planning, engineering, inspection services, and other municipal functions that relate to the development review process. As part of Citygate’s review, a customer survey was conducted, as well as an employee survey.

Citygate provided an Interim Planning Director for the City and prepared an organizational assessment report of the Planning Division and the development review permitting process. The initial scope of this study was designed to have Citygate provide an organizational assessment of City’s Planning Division and a multi-year plan to rebuild the Division into a “best practices” organization. Early on in the assessment, it became apparent that many of the problems perceived as “Planning Department” problems were, in fact, interdepartmental in nature. As a result, the assessment was broadened to take in the overall development review permitting process. Citygate proceeded with the study with the following objectives: provide an independent, third party analysis of the policies, procedures, management and operations of the Planning Division, and design a creative strategy to improve organizational efficiency and effectiveness; discuss alternative operating models and make recommendations for changes in the Planning Division; examine the development review permitting process model and make recommendations for changes. The City Council enthusiastically embraced the findings and recommendations in Citygate’s report. The City formed a dynamic Development Review Team. This resulted in increased interdepartmental cooperation and coordination. Duties were re-assigned so that planners could focus on planning rather than administrative tasks. The City fully implemented their electronic permit tracking system (Accela) in both the Building Division and Planning Division. In a follow-on engagement, Citygate was asked to assist the City in improving its permit processing-related customer service. Citygate took the various departmental and functional leaders and participants through a character-building training set of exercises to establish common values, norms, vocabulary, and behaviors for positive customer outcomes.

Citygate conducted an organization analysis of Clark County’s Permit Services Division of the Community Development Department. The objective of the study was to analyze the policies, procedures, management, and operations of the Permit Services Division and to make recommendations for improving the development and permitting related services provided by the County to its citizens and stakeholders. To accomplish this objective, we evaluated the Permit Services organizational model and management systems, organizational relationships, allocation of employees and other resources, data management, personnel management and training, records management, communications, information systems, facilities and equipment, fiscal management, relationships with citizens, employee morale, and related aspects to determine if these are in alignment with the departments’ mission and policies.