When Bill McDaniel interviewed for the City Manager position for the City of Plant City, he proposed a plan to the City Commission. The plan won the support of the Commissioners. Since McDaniel assumed the City Manager role in January 2018, the City of Plant City began to integrate his ideas. Today, these five pillars are the big philosophy behind that tiny window Plant Citians visit to set up their billing, and every subsequent interaction with the City of Plant City government. These five core strategies inform everything the City does. It is the framework around which City operations makes decisions, and its 457 staff function on a day-to-day basis.
Facilitating Economic Development is the foundation of the five core strategies. “In order to be a successful and thriving city, you have to have a successful and thriving economy,” McDaniel commented. “Part of our role in government is to create an environment where people can be successful.” Opportunities for financial success become evident when residents are trying to open a business, build a business, or try to build a house. Government is a regulatory authority, so, a city government can be an obstacle to moving forward, or it can support projects by being as responsive as possible. “We like to lean toward the latter and be as efficient as we can to make these things go quickly and smoothly,” McDaniel added. “And in turn that encourages other people because that word spreads. So, creating an environment for successful economic development is absolutely key to everything.”
Fostering Community Engagement drives city staff to interact with the community. City representatives show up at public events, or put them together, and otherwise take part in the life of Plant City. “Even this morning at our staff meeting, I was reminding the staff we serve the community. We work for the community. It is not the other way around,” McDaniel said. “So, we have got to be willing to go out there, engage, be involved, and be active—that is a big thing we do.”
Engaging in Effective Communication has both internal and external components. City management emphasizes thorough internal communication to make sure team members are clear on the direction of City government, and their roles and responsibilities to contribute to the City’s vision and goals. In terms of external, City communications have blown up (not literally). Social media is a cornerstone of the City’s public communications strategy. In 2017, the number of monthly interactions with Plant City media was counted in tens, now it is counted in thousands. “One of the things I think we are successful at is, whether you like the message or whether you don’t; whether you agree with what you are hearing or you don’t; at least you are hearing about it,” McDaniel commented. “We are being transparent. We are putting information out there. We are being proactive in our communications rather than just reactive. I am always looking for ways to raise that bar.” One way the bar raised is the My Plant City app. Using the app, customers can find links to the City of Plant City web site to pay a bill, among other things. Also, if users are out and about in the City and see something that needs to be fixed such as a pothole, they can report it using the app.
Empowering Outstanding Customer Service is the City of Plant City’s gold standard. “We try to make as positive an experience as possible,” said McDaniel. “I take citizens’ concerns very seriously. If someone tells me they had a bad experience….I actually go to parts of the organization to try to address that. Because if we are going to be delivering outstanding customer service, it has to be at every touchpoint, and it has to be all the time.” The City has set up internal mechanisms to make sure it is paying attention, and adjusting as necessary to make customer service better all the time.
Maximizing Organizational Effectiveness develops and enhances City operations in the now with an eye to the future. Team members adopt a culture of continuous improvement. “I see a big part of my role is, not only making this internal city government to run the organization of today, but also to build one that will be successful in the future,” McDaniel said. “You do that by making the organization as effective as possible. That can mean being frugal with our resources. It can mean being strategic about where we add or we change. But, everything we are doing is geared toward making this internal City government organization as effective as we possibly can.”