Back Alley News...

One of the reasons I jumped aboard the blog train was to offer the insights of a City Manager on the comings and goings around Kent.

Based on the questions I get asked and the expressions on the faces of the people that ask them, I’ve realized that there’s a sense that behind the curtain of city government there must be a trunk full of exciting news.

I hate to be a whistleblower on myself but I’m far more boring than I get credit for, and most of what we’re working on is hardly the kind of info-tainment that people think can be founded walking through City Hall.

Mundane is the realm where the City Manager most often finds himself — and I’m OK with that.  I hate to demystify the profession but mundane in City business is a good thing.

Don’t get me wrong, Kent has been on a roll of late and that’s been remarkably exciting but before everyone rushes out to get their degree in public administration from Kent State University, keep in mind that most of what we do brings much less adrenaline.

For example, while it may seem small in comparison to all the grand openings we’ve had recently, it’s big news in my office that that the alley next to Ray’s Place has been power washed clean and Ray’s Place & Water Street Tavern have installed a trash containment system to help keep it that way.

Mother Nature Not Cooperating...

I admit that I have a personal bias that favors spring over winter but the finger pointing that I’m intending with this blog is aimed squarely at Mother Nature and is strictly for work purposes. 

My exasperation is not the typical city concerns for plowing and salting city streets — this is a cry for help on behalf of the PARTA parking deck which weather permitting was planned to open this week, but that opening date literally went south with the warmer temperatures leaving us stranded up here in the great white north with a parking deck in need of a stretch of 40 to 45 degree days to seal the concrete and paint the parking spaces. 

There’s still plenty of collateral work that will continue on the building over the months that follow, particularly for the retail stores being built along Erie Street, but until we get the right temperature the parking spaces are stuck in neutral.  PARTA’s leadership is appropriately stressed over the late cold temps but there’s not a lot of options for them other than to sit and wait with the rest of us.

PARTA looked at trying to heat the building from the inside but being a parking deck with each floor open to the elements that’s just not a realistic option.  Two cheers for trying to get creative.  

The PARTA folks did a little meteorological homework and they said that over the last 5 years temperatures for this late March were well above the necessary 40-45 degrees.  Remember those 75 degree days last March?  So much for global warming when we really need it.   Forgive me the indiscretion of wishing for global warming, I don’t really mean it, it’s just the stress of the situation.

In the meantime functions that were planned for April in the downtown that were relying on the opening of the deck are now scrambling for plan B.  There’s still plenty of parking downtown but it’s spread around and invitations for events at Laziza — including our own Mayor’s luncheon planned for April 11th with Mayors and State representatives from all over northeast Ohio coming to see for themselves what all the Kent buzz has been about –  that included directions to park in the PARTA deck are now having to hold their breath (that would be me) for some sunny days to arrive ASAP.

The logical part of my brain recognizes that warmer weather will be here any day but at this point that part of my brain is being ambushed by the emotional centers of that same brain that are screaming for some cooperation around here.  Hopefully Mother Nature is listening.

March 9th, Passport Day...

One of Kent’s best attributes is it’s global sensibility for such a small town.

We have a University full of foreign born educators, researchers and students to thank for a lot of that but you’d be surprised how many of Kent’s businesses are full of international employees too.  It’s a small world after all.

Just in the last month the Mayor and I hosted 2 groups of international delegates visiting Kent from the Ukraine, Turkey, Moldova, Austria and other worldly destinations.  The groups wanted to learn more about Kent, our government, our businesses and our University.  We were happy to oblige.

Here was a nice follow up from one of our newest friends in the Ukraine.

Dear Dave Ruller,

Thank you very much for interesting and nice talk with you. I was very happy to meeting you during my visit to USA.  I hope that our meeting was only first but not the last.

 

Have a nice day!

 

Best regards,

Bogdan Aleshchenko

Open World delegate

from Ukraine

www.omelnik.org.ua

With all this international travel going on all around us, it’s no surprise that the City of Kent is one of the few local governments that provides passport services.  The City Clerk saw the need, added it to her job duties and the rest is travel history.

In that spirit, the City Clerk shared the following press release announcing March 9th as Passport Day and I’m happy to share it.

Press Contact:
Linda M. Jordan
Clerk of Council
City of Kent, OH
Tel: 330.678.8007

The City of Kent is hosting a special passport event in Kent, Ohio on Saturday, March 9, 2013 from 10:00 am until 3:00 pm to provide passport information to U.S. citizens and to accept passport applications. No appointment is necessary. The City of Kent is joining the Department of State in celebrating Passport Day in the USA 2013, a national passport acceptance and outreach event.

U.S. citizens must present a valid passport book when entering or re-entering the United States by air. U.S. citizens entering the United States from Canada, Mexico, the Caribbean and Bermuda at land borders and sea ports of entry must present a passport book, passport card, or other travel documents approved by the U.S. government.

Information on the cost and how to apply for a U.S. passport is available at travel.state.gov.

U.S. citizens may also obtain passport information by phone, in English and Spanish, by calling the National Passport Information Center toll-free at 1-877-487-2778.

Event:
Passport Day in the USA 2013

Date:
Saturday, March 9, 2013

Time:
10:00 am – 3:00 pm
Where: Kent City Council
217 E. Summit Street
Kent, OH 44240

On-Line Citizen Questions and Answers...

It’s been 5 years since we added the “Citizen Action Center” to our City website and some 62,000 viewings later, it seems to be stonger than ever.

The number of clicks on our Frequently Asked Question page were up 59% from 2011 and 373% from 2010.  It’s great to see that we’re trending up. 

The Citizen Action Center was born from a desire to give residents a place to find answers to the most common questions that come in to City Hall. 

It turns out that Kent residents have a lot in common, including their most frequently asked questions, so we thought we’d try to save them the time of having to track us down and wait for our answers by posting those questions and answers on line where they can access them at their convenience 24-7, 365 days a year. 

The database of online questions and answers currently includes 41 of your favorites but it can expand as we find certain questions getting asked and answered.  Of the most frequently asked questions, the 2 most popular questiond have been pretty consistent from year to year:  “Can I have a fire in my backyard” and “Does the City provide garbage pick-u?”    

Residents can also submit unique questions that might not make the list.  Those questions are sent to the appropriate staff for response.  We’re averaging about 2 days to receive, process and reply to the question.  

Lastly, residents can submit service requests directly on line too.  The majority of the service requests relate to things like overgrown grass, excessive trash, potholes, etc. which end up being sent along to the Public Service Department for attention.  I’m pleased to report that the time it takes us to respond to the service request has dropped from 8.4 days in 2008 to 2.3 days in 2012.    

In 2012 we also added a new mobile phone City app which also provides direct access to your City for questions, answers and referrals so I wasn’t sure if we’d see a drop off in the on-line usage but the on-line numbers ended being up in every category so I’d say the on-line service is here to stay.   

2012 City Council Activities...

For the past 5 years I have tracked the issues that City Council has deliberated upon in Committee and work-sessions to make sure that we stay focused on those items that are most relevant to the achievement of the City’s strategic priorities.

I use a quarterly tracking framework that is uploaded on the Kent360 site (under the Strategic Planning section).  Here are the quarterly reports for 2012:

With so many responsibilities potentially falling within the reach of the City’s mission, the tracking framework offers a way for Council and the administration to check for mission creep and ensure that the majority of the City’s resources are staying focused on the primary goals of the community.

In this way, the tracking framework serves as a tool to manage the direction of City affairs consistent with the strategic trajectory desired by the community.  If the community or Council expectations change, the staff can use the continuity of the framework to change activities right along with them without disruption.

The City’s Vision and Mission Statements provide a context for everything we work on in the City:

From that starting point, City Council has adopted the following Strategic Priorities:

Here are a few excerpts from the 2012 Council Activity Report that illustrate the amount of time spent working on the respective strategy areas.

In 2012 City Council had a fairly balanced allotment in time across its strategy areas.  Just like 2011, Planning and Community issues led the way (32% of Council’s time) with a significant amount of discussion occurring around the Wells Sherman House relocation and Fracking.

In 2012 City Finances accounted for 20% of the hours spent in Committee which included the passage of the 2013 CAP Plan, 2013 Operating Budget, the Multi-Year Utility Rate Plan, and the passage of a Fund Balance Policy.   A framework was also presented for the concept of a Multi-Year Operating Budget Strategy.

Approximately 1 of every 5 hours spent in Committee was devoted to various Economic Development matters in 2012.

For a look at the full report, click here.

And The Survey Says...

When a business puts a product on the market, sales are often a good indicator for whether that product is serving its customers well or not.

If customers like it, they buy more of it — if not, not so much.  And if they ain’t buying what you’re selling, you’re not going to be around long. 

Granted, that’s a gross overstatement but it makes the point that businesses can have some sense of the pulse of their market by watching their sales trends.

City government doesn’t necessarily have a lot of sales figures to analyze so it’s often hard to get a good read on how the City is doing in the eyes of the customer.   Sure, we have plenty of anecdotal data from calls, emails or letters we get but reading too much into those can be a mistake because they usually only capture data from the less happy sector while the silent majority may be satisfied and they never feel compelled to write or call.

To get that bigger picture, cities try to use survey instruments to gather data and observe trends.  In Kent I’ve seen survey data that goes back 20 years and while the technology has changed, the intent to get input from residents remains the same today.

The City just completed a round of phone surveys that covered the gamut of city issues — what are you most proud of in Kent?  what’s our most important issues?  are you satisfied with Fire & EMS?  how do you get information on city issues?  do you vote? etc.  The list goes on but I think you can get a better flavor for our effort by scanning the results.

Here’s a couple of the highlights from the September 2012 telephone survey compiled by a local survey firm (for full results, click here) :

I thought it would be interesting to look at some of the earlier survey results to see what’s changed and what’s remained the same.

Here’s some findings from the 2006 resident survey (for full survey results, click here):

The questions were not set up exactly the same in the 2006 and 2012 versions of the survey so it’s hard to draw too many firm conclusions from the data.  However, it would seem that residents are generally encouraged by the progress experienced in the community on some of the longstanding development issues that are taking shape downtown.

That’s great, but there’s lots of work to do in keeping up our aging infrastructure, particularly streets and sidewalks.

We plan to do more analysis of the data in the months that follow as we prepare for some strategic planning updates with City Council early in 2013.

Kent K9′s On The Podium...

The cross-town rivalry between Akron University and Kent State University sports teams inspires a lot of cheering, chanting and passionate gestures.

It turns out that same competitive fire has gone to the dogs, and Kent’s K9′s came out on top.

On May 19th, local law enforcement personnel held the 2nd Annual K9 Competition at Lock 3 in Downtown Akron where the officers/handlers had a chance to put their K9 skills to the test for tracking and catching bad guys.

Akron’s 2nd Annual “K-9 Challenge” was sponsored by the Akron Police Department and included 20 teams of dogs and handlers from Summit, Portage, Stark, Tuscarawas and Wayne Counties.

The Olympic-style competitions started at 10 am and continued until about 2 pm.

“The purpose of the K-9 Challenge is to let the public see the benefits of using dogs in specialized law enforcement tasks,” says Sgt. Dale Dorn, the Akron Police Department’s K-9 Commander. “We all train together, and usually, only the Police Olympics have dog team events. Our handlers like the competition, and this is a way for us to have some fun at the same time.”

Dogs were judged on obedience, agility and criminal apprehension – following criteria used in state certification tests. In addition to trophies being awarded in various categories, there will be one “Top Dog” award given to the K-9 team that scores the most points.

Kent Police Chief Lee proudly reports that Kent’s Aiko took first place in the apprehension phase and Kent’s Felo took second place out of 20 teams.

Congratulations to both teams who performed so well in this competition and represented the Kent community with pride.

$1.084 Million Starts a Week Off Right...

Living, working and learning in Kent is more than dollars and cents, but few things help those things go better than a pocketfull of cash.

This economy has emptied most pockets which is why it was great news on Friday to officially hear that the State of Ohio, under the Clean Ohio grant program, selected a Kent based project (the old Ametek site) to receive $1.084 million in the final round of the Clean Ohio funds.

On a beautiful Friday afternoon (May 18, 2012), Mayor Fiala and Dan Smith, City Economic Development Director, took a drive down to Columbus to attend the last round of Clean Ohio fund awards.  By mid-afternoon they called in to report their success — to the tune of $1.084 million — which will now be available for the City to use to clean up a few of trouble spots on the old Ametek building property and get it ready for re-use.

Those of you that follow all the moving parts of the downtown redevelopment project know that convincing Ametek to keep their 100 or so employees in Kent required the City being willing to buy the old Ametek building and the land that it sits on.  After a lot of wheeling and dealing, that deal was done, Ametek signed a 15 year lease to be in downtown Kent (with an expected move in date in September 2012), and the City took ownership of the old Ametek property.

The City had hired a roomfull of environmental experts to evaluate the old Ametek site for potential hazards, and like any good consultant, they found a few locations around the property would need some remediation prior to redevelopment.  The good news was that the areas in need of remediation were limited, nothing presented an immediate health risk to anyone on or off the property, and the types of problems found on site were treatable.

All we needed was about $1 million to get the job done right.  Thanks to the Mayor and Dan, we now have that money.

When the Governor announced late in 2011 that the Clean Ohio fund program was going to end, we knew we had to get this final application right because so much was riding on finishing what we started with the Ametek move and our plans to backfill the Ametek building with new jobs.  With the Governor’s announcement, we knew that competition for the final funds would be fierce, but fortunately we’ve had some experience with the Clean Ohio application process — you may recall that we secured $1.34 million to finish cleaning up the old RB&W site in 2011 — and we knew had a good project in our hands with the Ametek property.

It was great that we knew what a good project we had, but ultimately we had to pitch it to the State and convince them that it was better than so many other projects that were being filed in this last grant cycle.

Hundreds of little things that we did right in putting this project package together made the difference, but at the risk of oversimplifying I go back to our continued commitment to partnering and collaborating that seems to separate our recent projects from the pack of soloists.  It seems like everybody has good projects, so in making its choices the State tends to look for evidence of real partnerships (aka everyone has money in the game) between cities, businessess, universities, and anyone else that wants to sign on board, as being the difference maker.

Partly out of necessity and partly as a strategy, Kent has become a great partner to many and that has made all the difference in finding ways to finance the community’s aspirations during a difficult economic period.

More Progress on Credit Card Payments at City Hall...

Last week I posted a blog announcing the City’s first foray into accepting credit card payments at Parks and Recreation for summer programs.

This week the credit card roll out continues.

The City’s Finance Department happily announced that Community Development/Building Services has successfully implemented credit/debit card acceptance capabilities which means residents, contractors etc. can use their Visa, MasterCard, and Discover branded credit/debit cards for payment of their various construction fees and permits.

Additionally, the cashier function in Budget and Finance is now able to accept Visa, MasterCard, and Discover branded credit/debit cards for all City services currently being made at 325 S. Depeyster Street.

I know that accepting credit card payments is hardly leading edge but the delay has not been from a lack of desire, it’s been from having an out-dated City financial management software system that just was more comfortable accepting gold coins than plastic.

So the bigger news is what’s behind our new credit card payment capability — and that’s a new financial management software system that is bringing us into the 21st century.  The days of turning the crank each morning to start the old main frame computer (ok, I’m exaggerating a little) are in the rear view mirror and we’re in process of implementing a much more powerful financial management software system that has so much more to offer the City book-keepers, service managers and (as illustrated by the credit card component) City residents.

Progress comes in many forms, including plastic.  Wahoo!

Sweating the Small Stuff Too...

It’s a great day when I’ve got some big City news to report on the blog, but most days, I’m chock full of small stuff that I’m never quite sure is newsworthy or not.

The truth is we sweat the small stuff just as much as the big stuff, so I figure it’s only appropriate to share some small stuff too.  Here’s a short list of items that may not make the headlines but we’re still proud to report.

1.  Credit Cards In Action — In celebration of Cinco de Mayo last weekend, the Finance Department is pleased to announce that the Parks & Rec Department has successfully implemented credit/debit card acceptance capabilities.  Effective last week Parks and Rec began accepting Visa, MasterCard, and Discover branded credit/debit cards for payment of their various programs and activities.  So sign up for a fun Parks and Rec summer program and don’t forget to bring your credit/debit card.  Credit card payments will gradually be expanded to any City office that receives public payment for services.

2.  Left Turn from Fairchild to Northbound 43 — We are still getting periodic requests to install a left turn arrow from eastbound Fairchild to northbound 43 so I thought it made sense to let everyone know that we continue to actively study the issue.  Last week the City’s Traffic Safety Engineeing team met and this item was once again discussed and their reasons for not (yet) installing an arrow were as follows:  1. The number of left turns from Fairchild to northbound Mantua has been reduced since it was no longer necessary to turn north to cross the bridge to N Water St.; 2. Although the amount of wait time seems longer, the new timing (without an arrow) actually provides less total time to clear the area due to the elimination of the second light at Crain Ave.  So although it may seem longer, most people who are turning are getting through the impacted area much quicker than they did prior to the beginning of the project when two signals were in use;  3. The inclusion of the turn arrow would result in the reduction of the green light time for all of the other traffic movements in the intersection.  This would reduce the overall improvements that are anticipated from the new traffic patterns.  At the conclusion of the discussion, the members of the Engineering Division assured the staff that their analysis of the need for the turn arrow is continuing.  This may take some time to complete, but this type of analysis is typically required before instituting a change.  This is especially true when the change involves a state route and a state-managed improvement project.

3. Police Web Site Expansion –  I wanted to bring to your attention that the Kent Police web site, www.kentpd.org , has been updated, and besides a fresher look, the Chief has also added a new series of daily incident logs that have been added and are available for the public to review.  One of the goals of the Police Department has been to make more information available to the public, and after the success of posting the accident reports on-line, adding the daily log sheets was a logical next step.

4. City To Receive Worker Safety Award — City Personnel Manager Liz Zorc reports that the City of Kent will receive the Achievement Award from the BWC Division of Safety and Hygiene Portage County Safety Council at their next meeting on May 10th. The Achievement Award is presented to a company that decreases its accident/injury incident rate by at least 25% from the prior year.  A safe workforce is a City priority and this is a a great recognition of a job well done.

5.  SR59 Signal Repair –  City Engineer Jim Bowling reports that the damage to the City’s fiber optic communication lines to the signal system on SR 59 from Willow Street to Horning Road has been temporarily repaired. We now have communications abilities back in place and the signal system is running with a progression timing and phasing plan in place. The final repair of the lines will be done in conjunction with roadway improvements that are part of PARTA’s project.  The final fine tuning of the SR 59 signal systems timing and phasing is currently being evaluated and we are hopeful to have them uploaded to the controllers in the next few weeks.

6. Citizen Police Academy — I am pleased to report that the second Citizens Police Academy concluded last week with a banquet and presentation of certificates to the 18 participants.  This marked another successful academy where participants and officers exchanged information and perspectives to enhance communication between the community and our City Police Department.  Thank you to all of the City personnel who assisted or instructed in the academy.