RNR Consulting was engaged in an initiative with the City of Cleveland, Ohio to conduct a City-wide management and efficiency study. The purpose of the Phase One was to examine and analyze performance of General Fund Departments and its Divisions and to recommend strategic and operational improvements for the City, leading to budget realignment and achievement of long-term financial stability. In order to accomplish this task, RNR Consulting, along with a team of experts from partnering firms, undertook a comprehensive evaluation of City operations with the goal of rapidly generating cost-cutting and efficiency recommendations for the 2010 City budget.

The study was aimed at identifying at least three areas of impact:

• New, implementable initiatives that could be included in the 2010 budget;
• Organizational issues related to core competencies, required and desired services to the public, and service delivery methods across departments and governments; and
• Candidates for detailed investigations of departmental practice, best practice and process review.

As part of this initiative, RNR Consulting was assigned evaluation of the Department of Public Services, Department of Parks, Recreation and Properties and the Division of Information Technology and Services. Due to the large number of Divisions to examine within each Department, RNR Consulting strategically assigned smaller groups to various Divisions within each Department to effectively cover all areas. All departments and associated divisions reviewed by RNR Consulting Team are listed below:

*Department of Public Services:

• Division of Architecture
• Division of Streets
• Division of Waste
• Division of Engineering and Construction
• Division of Traffic Engineering
• Division of Collection and Disposal

*Department of Park & Recreation:

• Division of Parks Maintenance and Properties
• Division of Recreation
• Division of Convention Center, Stadium and West Side Market
• Division of Property Maintenance
• Division of Research and Development
• Division of Parking Facilities

*Division of Information Technology & Services

During the project RNR Consulting Team interviewed Divisions’ Commissioners and key personnel, and was also responsible for reviewing internal documentation and reports, which included the City’s budget, the Mayor’s annual report, the Mayor’s Operations Efficiency Task Force (OETF) report and other related documents from each assigned Division. RNR Consulting also collected additional information related to labor productivity, services, unions, staffing, ancillary services, maintenance, vehicles and energy consumption, and regional best practices. This information was analyzed helping the team to develop a clearer understanding of the qualitative, operational, and policy dynamics that impact management and efficiency within the City.

Using the knowledge of the operations of the City of Cleveland and prior extensive experience evaluating municipal governments, RNR Consulting’s developed final report sections, which provided comprehensive and action oriented Management Improvement Plan for the evaluated departments. The final report included prioritized recommendations focused on cost savings, departmental consolidation opportunities and enhanced operating efficiencies. As of March 2010, based on the initial set of recommendations the City of Cleveland was able to realize over $22M from implementing the proposed cost cutting initiatives and additional revenue sources discovered by consultants.

RETURN TO SERVICE AREA: STRATEGIC PLANS, ORGANIZATIONAL ASSESSMENTS AND VISIONING SESSIONS