Date:  July 2, 2009
Subject:  Cape Coral’s “Lean Government System” Program Receives International Recognition

The City of Cape Coral’s “Lean Government System” has received the Strategic Leadership and Governance Award from the International City/County Management Association.  Cape Coral was one of 10 local governments receiving recognition for outstanding programs. 

“Being a recipient of the ICMA award for strategic leadership is one of the highest honors a local government can receive,” said City Manager Terry Stewart.  “This award recognizes that Cape Coral is leading the way in reforming how government operates, and is focused on finding efficiencies and improvements in all of our operations.”

In August 2007, the City of Cape Coral implemented the Lean Government System and hired a consulting group to assist in training.  A cross-functional team of City employees is established to map and dissect existing processes, eliminate the unnecessary steps and redesign the process to allow service or information to flow more efficiently.  All employees (front line, managerial and executive) are included in the evaluation, planning and implementation of the Lean processes, which ensures that all employees have a voice in the changes.

“We have conducted 18 events in seven City departments resulting in about $2 million in cost savings and/or cost avoidance,” said Stewart.  “The goal in every event is to increase productivity and reduce cost without sacrificing quality and the service to our citizens.”

Some of the many successes include:

·        Team reduced the time to obtain a permit for construction from 21 days to eight days. 

·        Time required to hire a firefighter went from 66 days to 30 days.

·        Lot mowing time was reduced from 52 days to 19 days to mow the grass once and send a notice of violation to the property owner. 

·        The cycle time for first reviews in Site Plan Development initially decreased to five days from 28 days.  The time currently is eight days.

The City of Cape Coral is working with other local communities to share and assist in implementing a Lean initiative in their areas.  In October 2008, the City partnered with the Florida City/County Management Association, the Center for Florida Local Government Excellence and the John Scott Dailey Florida Institute of Government to offer a Lean Government workshop to surrounding municipalities.  Participants included Marco Island, Collier County, Punta Gorda and Palm Beach County. 

The ICMA 2009 Annual Awards Program will honor all of their award winners during the 95th ICMA Annual Conference, which will be September 13-16.

The ICMA advances professional local government worldwide.  Its mission is to create excellence in local governance by developing and advancing professional management of local government.  ICMA provides member support to more than 9,000 city, town, and county experts and other individuals and organizations throughout the world. The management decisions made by ICMA's members affect 185 million individuals living in thousands of communities, from small villages and towns to large metropolitan areas.

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