There’s a saying: “if you don’t know who to call, call the fire department.”

Calls to 9-1-1 by Upper Arlington, OH, residents were not always emergencies, and many came from the elderly, who made up a third of the city’s population. These calls placed a burden on the city’s fire and EMS services and personnel, who were not trained to handle “social service” calls, and whose time responding to emergencies could have been delayed by them.

The city created “STAY UA” (Services to Age in Your Upper Arlington) in 2009 to reduce the burden on the city’s emergency services and to connect elderly residents to the help they need. The ultimate goal of “STAY UA” was to make it possible for residents to be able to remain in their homes regardless of their needs or disabilities.

The program featured a trained professional who provided social services and medical care to the elderly and walked them through their options. The service coordinator connected them to hospice care, the “Meals on Wheels” food program, and even pest control services. She also helped with in-home skilled nursing, prescription assistance, and financial counseling.

The program is working. The Upper Arlington Fire Division saw a decrease in EMS runs and the service coordinator provided assistance to more than 120 people during the first year. Elderly residents in Upper Arlington now have a valuable resource to get the help they need in non-emergency situations freeing the city’s emergency medical services to handle emergencies.

The city council originally proposed the “STAY UA” as well as explored and made recommendations on the best approach for establishing a long-term program. The city manager’s office and the fire chief put their efforts into designing and implementing the program.

When Leamon Brice arrived in Davidson in 1990, the town of 4,500 was directly in the path of a wave of growth advancing north from Charlotte.

A number of suburban towns already consumed by the wave had lost their identities and historic centers to unrelenting sprawl. They were marred by strip shopping centers, acres of parking lots, and cookie-cutter neighborhoods. Davidson was poised to be similarly devoured.

But 22 years later, the town of Davidson remains intact: its downtown is lively and viable; its streets and public spaces are alive with pedestrians, cyclists, and public art; and its residents, now numbering almost 11,000, know each other, many by name.

Town Manager Leamon Brice played a pivotal role in holding back sprawl, protecting Davidson’s soul, and engaging its citizens, all with little fanfare or notice.

Brice had a balancing act to perform, handling explosive growth while maintaining small-town values.

He had to introduce both elected officials and residents to innovative programs and as-yet-unheard-of-planning principles, and engage, encourage, and educate them every step of the way.

A “different” kind of community

In 2001, under Brice’s leadership, the town instituted the first affordable housing ordinance in North Carolina. It required that every new neighborhood include a mix of uses and housing types with sidewalks, connected streets, greenways, and open space. It demanded well-designed, minimum two-story commercial buildings to protect the historic character of the town. It also preserved 600 acres of contiguous, publicly-owned open space – a legacy for future Davidson citizens.

The result is a community that visitors immediately discern is “different.” The main entrance to town, an exit off Interstate 77, is the first clue. The exit deposits drivers in a real neighborhood, built for pedestrians as well as automobiles. Structured around two roundabouts, it includes housing, shops, schools, parks, and offices.

Development of the area stumbled slightly during the recession. Brice held fast to the town’s principles of planning and design during the economic downturn, and rejected projects that offered only short-term gain. He had the courage to know that the best interests of the town are sometimes served by waiting.

Tough decision pays off

Making that tough decision in a recession is the reason there was a site available for a new world headquarters building when the economy began its turnaround. The owners of the relocating company selected Davidson for its livability and quality of life, in addition to having a site ready for construction.

The success of Brice’s efforts is apparent throughout Davidson in the physical, social, cultural, and economic health of the town. The citizen survey affirms that citizens are supportive of his work: town departments consistently rate in the upper 90th percentile, and Davidson’s “sense of community” was ranked #1 in the nation in 2007 and 2012 by the National Research Center. His achievements were recognized nationally when the town received the EPA’s National Award for Overall Excellence in Smart Growth in 2004.

If you were to create a new city from scratch, where would you begin?

The city of Rancho Cordova, CA, was founded in 2003 and started by hiring one of the most innovative city managers in the country. Soon after its incorporation, Rancho Cordova hired Ted Gaebler, who had been city manager and/or CEO of seven local government agencies in five states and is an internationally-known author, consultant, and lecturer.

Gaebler worked closely with the city council, staff, and community to shape and nurture the new city. Under his leadership, the city has accomplished much, most significantly, achieving a positive financial picture early in its existence, while providing ever-increasing services—especially laudable amidst the budget deficits of surrounding cities, counties, and the state of California.

The key, according to Gaebler, was as simple as the right mind-set. He practices pragmatic, internally-driven change; decentralized authority; increased transparency and accountability; reduced management layers; and public/private partnerships—all to provide more efficient and cost-effective services. The results are civic pride, citizen engagement, and public trust. His goal was to create a government that delights its citizens by being community-centric, thinking first of its customers—the residents.

Gaebler strongly believes that ideas which delight citizens can come from the professional city staff. He taps their creative energy by developing ways in which they can contribute to the successful operation of the city government. He does this by encouraging employees to develop new ideas and methods to expand their thinking. For example, he has:

• Created the “Office of New Ideas” which encourages any city employee, without permission or advance notice to their superiors, to present ideas for employee-initiated projects, some of which may receive seed money from the city for further development or implementation of the idea.
• Borrowed a concept from the private sector by rewarding exemplary staff with city hall stock certificates. The stocks have actual cash value, are secured by $5,000 bonds from municipal debt offerings, and offer the same “ownership” in the organization as stocks do in corporations.
• Encouraged staff to take calculated risks to foster creative and innovative thinking, accepting mistakes as part of the learning process.

By empowering his professional staff and providing them with a sense of ownership, former City Manager Gaebler helped build a new local government that delighted residents, providing the inspiration for Rancho Cordova’s slogan: “City Life. Reinvented.”