Since its inception, CCA has worked to make Chicago’s local government – the City of Chicago and Sister Agencies – more effective by improving the services provided and more efficient in its operations by reducing the cost of providing those services.
Beginning in 2005, CCA worked continually with the Mayor’s Office and Office of Budget and management to develop and implement a City-wide performance management system: Chicago Performance Management (CPM). The City estimated the budgetary value of the first twelve months of this joint effort at $22 million. The effort was expanded in 2007 with the development of the 21st Century Commission on the Future Scope and Structure of City Government.
Under its efforts to reinvent government for the 21st Century, CCA was also instrumental in launching the Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP), a merger between the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission and the Chicago Area Transportation Study.
Chicago Metropolitan Agency for Planning (CMAP)
In August 2005, the Illinois General Assembly passed the Regional Planning Act which established the Regional Planning Board (RPB). One of the core recommendations from the original Metropolis 2020 report, the RPB’s purpose is to coordinate land use and transportation planning in Northeastern Illinois. It is the intent of the Act to consolidate the functions of the Northeastern Illinois Planning Commission (NIPC) and the Chicago Area Transportation Study (CATS) under the RPB.
Immediately following the legislation, and for the subsequent year, CCA and its partners helped the Board search for, and hire, an executive director; define an organizational strategy for integrating the boards; draft by-laws; and begin the process of integrating staffs, all critical steps towards making the intent of the Act a reality.
Once the new agency was launched, CCA and its partners helped create the new name (CMAP); conducted an employee survey to help the new Executive Director set priorities; facilitated the Board’s development of a strategy for the agency and drafted new legislation defining CMAP’s functions, governance, responsibilities and funding.
Partners
- Edward W. Kelly Partners
- Mayer, Brown, Rowe, and Maw LLP
- Mercer Human Resources Consulting
- McKinsey & Company
- United Way Metropolitan Chicago
Department of Buildings
In early 2006 CCA worked with the City’s Department of Buildings to improve performance of the City’s department charged with ensuring building safety. This work has led to approximately 40% increase in inspector productivity and about $3 million in new revenue.
Partners
- Bain & Company
- Boston Consulting Group
Troubled Buildings Initiative
Over the summer of 2006 CCA and its partners developed the City’s first approach to inter-departmental performance management, developing a taskforce to fight gang houses. As a result, processing time for inspection of gang houses fell from 128 days to 8 days.
Partners
- Graduate School of Business at University of Chicago
Department of Revenue
During the spring and summer of 2006, CCA and its partners helped restructure, introduce managed audits, and revise performance measures for the Tax Division of the Department of Revenue, responsible for administering $1 billion in tax revenue and auditing business. As a result:
- Assessments increased in 2006 to $23 million, from $21 million in 2005
- Taxes audited increased in 2006 to 312 from 298, with a higher portion resulting in favorable results for the City
- An additional $4 million (25%) in revenue was budgeted for 2007
Partners
- Graduate School of Business at University of Chicago
- KPMG
Real Estate Optimization
During the fall of 2006 CCA led an effort to reduce the cost of real estate for the City of Chicago. The work led to a new strategy for consolidating approximately 2 million square feet of real estate, and a new organizational structure to manage the City’s roughly $1 billion real estate portfolio.
Partners
- Mercer Human Resource Consulting
Business Advisory Council
In late 2006 CCA convened a Business Advisory Council to involve civic leaders and shape the “next level” of Chicago Performance Management.
Partners
- McKinsey & Company
Taxi Inspection Station
During the first half of 2007, CCA helped the Department of Consumer Services reduce wait times at Chicago’s Taxi Inspection Station. As a result of our work, wait times decreased by 50 minutes per taxi, saving about 13,000 hours/year for the city’s taxi fleet.
Partners
- ComEd
21st Century Commission on Future Scope and Structure of City Government
As we move further into the 21st Century, Chicago’s local experience mirrors many well-documented national trends: demographic shifts with an increasingly diverse and aging citizenry; new challenges and opportunities for business through globalization; greater reliance on our natural assets and built infrastructure; technology that offers new possibilities; and a limited resource pool that requires creative deployment of technology and talent.
Within this challenging context, Chicago continues to thrive as a city known for its quality of life, diversity, business community, cultural offerings, and natural beauty. But to remain a leading global city and to provide critical services to its citizens, now and in the future, Chicago must respond to these trends with a long-range view – one that may demand a new definition and new roles for City government.
The 21st Century Commission, formed by Mayor Richard M. Daley in August 2007, has taken as its year-long charge to understand how these changes are affecting Chicago, what role the City of Chicago should have, and how it should direct its resources. As Mayor Daley said when he announced the creation of the Commission, "Are we providing the services people will need in the years and decades ahead to assure their ongoing progress, and our City’s?"
The Commission believes that, to lead in the 21st Century, the City of Chicago must:
- Transform the delivery of services to residents, using an effective customer-centric approach
- Educate and prepare students and workers for opportunities that exist now and in the future
- Serve its business community seamlessly to ensure that businesses of all sizes and types can develop, thrive, and compete
- Protect and manage Chicago’s physical assets, both natural and built
- Identify, attract and retain leaders and managers with exceptional talent and vision
- Drive continuous improvement in its own operations by setting and meeting high standards for efficiency, performance targets, and outcomes
Partners
- KPMG
- Deloitte
- O-H Community Partners
- Lloyd Consulting