1996 public services implementation report

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JACKSONVILLE COMMUNITY COUNCIL INC.2434 Atlantic Boulevard, Suite 100

Jacksonville, FL 32207(904) 396-3052 Fax (904) 398-1469

JACKSONVILLE PUBLIC SERVICES:MEE.TINGNEIGHBORHOOD NEEDSFINAL IMPLEMENTATION REPORT

to theJCCI BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Decernber20, 1996

The JCCI study on Jacksonville Public Services: Meeting Neighborhood Needs was releasedin June 1994. An active implementation task force with 16 members was chaired by Ron Salem,who had been a member of the management team for the study.The task force's strategy was to meet one-an-one with k,ey city officials on each of therecommendations. After initial meetings with the city's chief administrative officer, task-forcemembers worked directly with department heads and their staff in Public Works, Parks andRecreation, Fire and Rescue, and the Sheriffs Office. In aU,task-force members participated in 22meetings as a part of this effort. A few were planning and status-report meetings of the task force,but most were meetings with city officials to discuss implementation of particular recommendations.In addition, task-terce members monitored progress through an ongoing series of informal contacts.This study was conducted during the administration of Mayor Ed Austin, and implementation beganunder his administration. However, the implementation effort has come to fruition during thesubsequent administration of Mayor John Delaney. In particular, the Delaney administration'sexpanded support for the Citizens Planning Advisory Committees (CPACs) and its initiative onneighborhoods have underscored the importance of and increased support for assessing theperformance of city government in relation to its geographic subareas, such as planning districtsand neighborhoods.Jacksonville government's growing interest and activity in performance assessment parallels alarger, nationwide trend. Through the Internet and contacts at national conferences, JCers work inassessing geographic equity in the delivery of services by Jacksonville govemment has receivedattention and commendation throughout the country.The sections which follow assess the degree of success of the JCCI task force in its quest tofacilitate implementation of the recommendations in the Public Services Study. Eachrecommendation is printed in italics, followed by comments about the implementation effort. In thestudy report and here, the recommendations are divided into several categories. General ones arelisted first, followed by those directed to particular departments of city government.

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GENERAL

1. City government should more formally involve neighborhood organizationsand usetheir input in planning and making decisions on the distribution of public services,so that neighborhood needsare recognizedand equity improved.

The Austin administration created six CPACs, one for each of the planning districts within thecity (excluding the Beaches and Baldwin). These have quickly matured during the Delaneyadministration and have practically taken on a life of their own. Many CPAC members areleaders in neighborhood associations, so there is a natural linkage between the CPAC leveland the neighborhood level. The CPACs are becoming more effective in advising about publicpolicy and service-delivery issues, especially as these relate to their planning districts andconstituent neighborhoods. This learning process is continuing.In September 1996, the Delaney administration sponsored a citywide Neighborhood Summit.This provided an invaluable opportunity for neighborhood leaders and activists to network andto learn in a series of workshops about how to work more effectively with city government. Itseems clear that this administration is committed to working with and listening toneighborhoods as it seeks to improve public services throughout the community.While JCCI certainly cannot take full credit for this remarkable evolution of neighborhoodawareness and involvement, the JCCI study did provide a frame of reference for the newadministration's neighborhood initiative. Task-force members know from their contacts withcity officials that the latter took notice of the study and used it to inform their efforts to reachout to planning districts and neighborhoods.

2. The Jacksonville Planning and Economic DevelopmentDepartmentshould publishannual "report cards" by neighborhood on equity in the distribution of publicservices by City government Information in the report cards should include keyindicators of the levels df geographically based public services in eachneighborhood. City officials should rely heavily on indicators in the report cards toguide decisions on the distribution of specific services.

Task-force members worked long and hard to convince city Officials about the importance ofthis recommendation. It became the keystone of the task force's efforts. The result is acommitment by city government to publish an annual Equity Index document with indicators ofpublic-service delivery and performance by neighborhood.Key to JCel's success on this recommendation was the strong, steady support given it by thecity's chief administrative officer. Initially, some department heads were skeptical. Manymonths of talks and almost negotiations were required to persuade all of them to cooperate indeveloping an initial set of indicators. Then additional talks were required to persuade the cityto publish the results.The first Equity Index document was published in November of 1995, with indicator data for1994. It presented only a few key indicators, with data only for planning districts, not forneighborhoods. The document that was published contained indicator pages provided byJCCI and a cover letter from the mayor. The cover featured a large JCCI logo and a smaller

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city logo. The intent clearly was to make this look like a JCCI effort, not a city effort. Althoughthe city's printshop produced the document, the city did not distribute it in bulk to the public.Most of the copies printed were delivered to JCCI.Task-force members were grateful for this initial success but were not yet satisfied. They wentback to the department heads for commitments to expand and improve the document in itssecond annual edition-and received welcome support, reflecting the new administration'ssensitivity to neighborhood concerns.The 1996 update, which is reportedly in the printshop, will contain much more data and willreport it for more detailed geographic units, including transportation analysis zones and policebeats. This is no longer a JCCI project and product, so the task force does not know in detailwhat the update will look like or how it will be distributed. However, the task force can takecredit for getting the city to take on and institutionalize this new way of measuring equity andproductivity of city services in differing geographic areas.An anecdote illustrates how the Equity Index has gained recognition and importance in citygovernment. Mayor Delaney has been holding town meetings with the CPACs around the city.When he asked his staff to prepare "talkinq points" for these, the staff reportedly found thattheir best source of basic service-delivery data was the Equity Index. From the perspective ofJCCI implementation, making the connection between Equity Index indicators and theincreasingly sophisticated CPACs is critical. So is the administration's increasinqunderstanding of the need to assess service delivery in relation to its geographic subdivisions.Through JCCI contacts, the Equity Index has gained a good deal of national attention duringthe last year. Nationwide, a strong movement is emerging among city administrators to findmore effective ways to measure productivity in the delivery of public services. To bemeaningful, productivity cannot always be measured only in the aggregate; it must bemeasured at the level where people live and establish their identities-at the neighborhoodlevel. This movement has led to interest in is happening in Jacksonville.JCCI's connections on the Internet have brought a number of inquiries about the Equity Index.In addition, JCCI staff have had several opportunities at national conferences to shareinformation about this implementation effort with governmental and civic leaders from all overthe country. Gaining national attention was not among the goals of the implementation effort,but the fact that it has occurred illustrates that this implementation task force has been on thecutting edge of important trends in American local government.

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3. The administration of the City of Jacksonville should ensure that departmentsproperly enforce legal mandates and technical standards which can improve equityin the geographic distribution of City services. TheCitizenAdvisory Committees inthe six Planning Districts should monitor equity in service delivery and reportproblems to the administration. In addition, departmentsshould report annually tothe administration their progress toward achieving equity, and the administrationshould release the results to thepublic.

The study report identified important legal mandates and technical standards that, if enforced,tend to increase equity. Some of the mandates come from the state's growth-managementlegislation, and some of the standards are contained in the 2010 Comprehensive Plan. Thecurrent concem about growth management suggests the possibility of lax enforcement ofmandates (or of inadequate mandates) and of recognition of the need to make improvements.The CPACs are increasingly becoming involved in assesslnq service delivery in relation tothese mandates and standards. The Equity Index provides a vehicle for city departments toreport service-delivery results and progress toward ensuring equity.The task force sought implementation of this recommendation primarily through its work on theEquity Index. It seems likely that the recommendation will be implemented, unless growth-management concerns are not resolved or unless a future city administration abandons itscommitment to the CPACs and neighborhoods.

4. In its decision making on the distribution of City services, the Jacksonville CityCouncil should adhere to and support the implementation of mandates andstandards which can improve geographic equity.

This recommendation dovetails with the previous one. The current City Council seemscommitted to supporting the mayor's CPAC and neighborhood policies. It also shares theadministration's concern about growth management.The task force did not make special efforts to meet with City Council members concerning thisrecommendation because such efforts did not appear to be needed.

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5. City department officials should make more concerted efforts to inform the publicthoroughly and accurately about public services and their geographic distribution.Specifically, officials should keep citizens informed about:

the process City government uses to make decisions about the geographicdistribution of public services;

mandates and standards that guide decisions aboutgeographic distribution; existing services available in various neighborhoods and improvements being

planned; and contacts in City departments that citizens can use to voice concerns about the level

of existing services, to gain access to services, and to becomeinvolved in planningfor improvements.Department officials should more actively and continuously reach out to the public,rather than waiting until they seek public support for particular proposed projects.Officials should take the initiative to meet frequently with neighborhoodorganizations, to obtain informative media coverage, and to use innovative meansof communication such aspubllc-eccese cable TVand computer terminals.

During the study, the city's outreach and public-information efforts were limited. With the newadministration, the situation has changed dramatically. The city is now making major efforts tocommunicate through the CPACs and directly to the neighborhoods about public services-howto get them when they're needed and how to ensure that they are provided equitably in allareas of town. The Neighborhood Summit was an outstanding example of the city's outreachto neighborhood residents and leaders. Much more is occurring through the ongoing efforts ofthe mayor's neighborhood initiative. CPAC meetings, the mayor's town meetings, the city'spublic-information show on cable TV, and the proposed "City Hall in the Mall" are otherexamples of what the city is doing in this area.The -task force emphasized the importance of this recommendation in many of its meetingswith city officials. While it's not yet clear that the city always communicates early enough withthe public about new initiatives, the volume and reach of its communications have certainlyincreased.

6. Individual citizens and neighborhood organizations should take a greater interest inkeeping informed about the distribution of City services and should pursue activeinvolvement in public decision making on the distribution of services.

Generally, people will get involved when they feel their efforts will make a difference. Manypeople around Jacksonville appear to be responding to the city's invitation to get involvedthrough CPACs and neighborhood-initiative activities. The Neighborhood Summit attractedclose to 500 participants.The task force did not develop a strategy to take this recommendation to the people. TheDelaney administration is trying to do so, with some initial success. If the administration

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perseveres, more and more citizens should begin to heed this recommendation and getinvolved themselves.

7. The media in Jacksonville should more actively investigate and report on thegeographic-equity implications of local news stories, helping to inform the publicmore accurately and completely about the current status of equity and how Citygovernment makes decisions which affect equity.

The media responded positively to the JCCI study and gave it effective coverage when it wasreleased. Over the months of the implementation process, invitations have continued, fromtime to time, for task-terce members to discuss public-service-delivery and geographic-equityissues on media talk shows. General concern over growth management has caused themedia to give more coverage to equity issues, especially in relation to roads and drainage.Despite their efforts, the media may still not have succeeded in informing the public adequatelyabout all the complexities of these issues.The task force did not pursue a specific implementation strategy toward the media except torespond to requests for information and appearances.

8. Whenvoting on the geographic distribution of public services, City Council shouldadhere to the principle of allocating dollars demographically and geographicallyaccording to relative need,so as tomaintain and improvegeographic equity.

Generally, the Council seems to be following this recommendation. However, politics beingwhat they are, Council members still cannot resist the chance to set aside pots with equalamounts of funding for special projects in each Council districts, regardless of the actualdistribution of need for such projects. This occurred again in a band-issue package recentlyapproved by the Council.The task force did not directly contact City Council members concerning this recommendation,feeling that such contacts would nat be very fruitful.

STREETS AND DRAINAGE9. The Public Works Department should give a higher priority than is currently

assigned to street and drainage projects which address the most severe andlongest-standing problems.

When task-terce members met with department officials, the latter offered evidence that thepriorities for these projects are set pretty much in relation to greatest need. The problem isthat many badly needed projects are waiting in line because insufficient funding is available todo them as rapidly as they are desired and needed. The city administration is now searchingfor ways to raise additional bond-issue revenue to support a much higher level of spending oncapital projects for streets and drainage.

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10. If a street-improvement project is delayed beyond a reasonable time by pendingunder-street utility work, the Public Works Department should communicate withaffected residents and neighborhood organizations, explaining the reasons for thedelay and providing information about whenthe improvement project is expected tobe completed.

Without the need of specific encouragement from the task force, the department hasimplemented this recommendation. Timely communication is now provided in most cases toCPACs and neighborhood groups about the status of projects and about delays when theyoccur.

11. To facilitate needed street and drainage projects, the Jacksonville Public WorksDepartment should seek improved communication and coordination betlNeenit andthe Florida Department of Transportation and, the Jacksonville TransportationAuthority.

Task-force members have been aware of problems in this area. Citizens continue to beconfused about what projects are being done by the city and which are FOOT or JTA projects.Those who call the city about noncity projects get the run around, at least in some cases. Thetask force communicated with the Public Works Department, suggesting that departmentemployees who man the phones be given fact sheets with the proper contact people, in otheragencies like FOOT and JTA, for each project. The director of public works responded that hebelieves his department personnel do make the proper referrals and that their responsibilitydoes not properly go further.

PARKS AND RECREATION12. The Department of Parks, Recreation and Entertainment should revise the

geographic and demographic bases it uses to determine the distribution of parksand recreation facilities, in order to improve equity: Geographically, it should use neighborhoods, since differences in recreational

needs at the neighborhood level can be obscured by analysis that is focused onlarger geographic units such as planning districts.

Demographically, the Department should take into account those already served bya private recreational facility (such as a tennis court serving a private club orapartment complex) as one factor in determining the need for a similar publicfacility in the sameneighborhood (such as a public tennis court).

Task-force members discussed this recommendation with department officials. Thedepartment does not believe it can plan for parks based on neighborhood units. Many of itsparks are regional in scope, and the recent emphasis of the department has been to increasethe number and size of these. With this information in mind, the task force did not pursue thisitem further.

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After initial resistance, saying that private facilities were beyond the jurisdiction of thedepartment, officials came to understand the desirability for their own planning of knowing thelocations and capacities of private recreational facilities. The department is now compiling adatabase of private facilities and seems committed to taking these into account as it plans forfuture public facilities.

13. TheDepartment ofParks, Recreation and Entertainmentshould expand its efforts toarrange joint use of recreation facilities located at public schools, so that thenumber of recreation facilities available to thepublic can be increased.

When task-terce members first discussed this recommendation with department officials, thelatter were very much interested in getting JCCI help in opening up more public-school facilitiesfor public use. According to these officials, the roadblocks were particular principals whowanted to maintain control over their campuses and were reluctant to invite outside groups infor nonschool activities.When the task force asked department officials to provide a list of schools which they thoughtwere most important for possible joint use, and which JCCI might approach on thedepartment's behalf, officials never responded. Inquiries by task-force members led them tobelieve that the department was not willing to risk school-by-school confrontations over thisissue. In addition, the department's priorities were clearly more at the regional-park level.They already were having difficulty maintaining the many smaller parks in their inventory andapparently didn't want to add to their maintenance load.Under these circumstances, the task force did not pursue this recommendation further.

POLICE AND FIRElRESCUE14. The Sheriff's Office and the Fire and Rescue Department should make formalcommitments to implement geographically based standards of service delivery so

that geographic equity can beachievedandmaintained. Officials should research appropriate standards which are recognized nationally

and/or used successfully by police and fire/rescue departments in similar urbanareas.

Officials should not rely on response time standards alone because they may nottake into account differing service needsamongneighborhoods.

Once standards are formally adopted, officials should actively inform the publicabout the standards and about what the respective departments are doing toimplement them in all neighborhoods.

Task-force members met with the new sheriff and a new fire chief soon after the 1995 electionand found both to be very much tuned into the idea of implementing performance standards.Each has cooperated by providing data for the Equity Index document. For both departments,response times continue to be of primary importance. The Sheriff's Office has earned

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accreditation, indicating that it follows a set of nationally recognized professional standards.Also, police and fire/rescue dispatchers are now required to be certified.Although both departments are taking steps toward using standards, neither has providedclear, comprehensive information to the public about what those standards are. The closestthey come to accomplishing this is the publishing of their data in the Equity Index.Although progress still needs to be made in implementing this recommendation, the task forcebelieves that both departments are moving in the right direction.

15. The Sheriff's Office should move forward as rapidly as possible to replace its beatpatrol system with a new system with officer assignments by sector. With this newsystem inplace, it should take full advantage of the new flexibility to assign officersgeographically based on changing needs for crime control andprevention.

The Sheriff's Office is actively implementing this recommendation, despite a frustrating, lengthydelay caused by a malfunctioning new computer system. Task-force members discussed thisrecommendation with the Sheriff and received assurances that it will be fully implemented.The department now seems well on its way toward doing just that.

16. The Sheriffs Office should clarify to the public that its current experiment withsubstations is not equivalent to establishing neighborhood precinct stations andwill not changethe distribution of police patrol services.

Sheriff Glover has altered the Sheriff'S Office policy on substations. The few that were plannedunder the previous sheriff are being established, and the department is clarifying that these areessentially paper-processing sites and not the same as the precinct stations found in manypolice departments.Beyond this, the Sheriff's Office is now actively seeking to set up a large number of "stopstations" in storefronts. These also are not precinct stations. But they do providedecentralized sites for patrol officers to meet, to rest, and just to be present in neighborhoods.Businesses are donating the space for the stop stations so that the cost to the Sheriffs Officeis minimized.Task-force members met with Sheriff Glover about this recommendation and came awayassured that this recommendation is being implemented.

17. The Fire and Rescue Department should explore alternatives to fully equipped andstaffed station houses so that services could bemore flexibly located and deployedin relation to geographic needs.

When task-terce members met with department officials, the latter made clear that thisrecommendation is not consistent with the department's pollcles and that some seriousproblems exist with this approach. Although the flexibility of mobility sounds good in theory,mobile units are not very efficient, because, as often as not, they tend to be located in just the

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wrong location-a long distance from where they need to reach to respond to calls. Thedepartment's policy is to shift equipment around among existing, fixed stations as needed,when some are out in use, so that all areas of town continue to have coverage.The department had not made this matter so clear during the study. Under the circumstances,the task force did not pursue this recommendation further.

18. TheFire and Rescue Department should inform the public about existing mutual aidagreements with the Jacksonville Port Authority, the Navy, and adjacentmunicipalities and counties. Citizens should be kept informed about the serviceswhich can be provided through these agreements, the neighborhoods likely to beeffected, and the result on equity in the distribution of services.

The department took the early initiative to implement this recommendation soon after the study wasreleased (although officials did not admit to having responded this way because of the JCCIrecommendation). Previously unwritten, informal mutual-aid agreements were formalized in writingin the form of resolutions approved by City Council. These still are not communicated directly tocitizens, however they are available on requestSince the department seemed to be making progress toward implementation, the task force did notfurther pursue this recommendation.

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Recommendation to the JCCI Board ofDirectorsThe implementation task force recommends that the JCCI Board Officially close out theofficial JCCIimplementation process for this study.Task-force members believe that their implementation efforts have been quite successful on manyof the recommendations, thanks in part to the policy directions established by the new cityadministration in 1995.Most of the task-force members intend to remain active in their neighborhoods, CPACs, andcommunity, so that the implementation process will continue on an informal basis.Meanwhile, hundreds of additional Jacksonville citizens are becoming a part of the same informal,ongoing implementation effort. These are the local residents now being drawn into the growingnetwork of CPAC and neighborhood activists who are concerned about and directly involved in,among other things, issues of equity in the delivery of public services by the City of Jacksonville.

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1996 public services implementation report

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