Management Development Associate Program
City-wide Ventures

The City of Dallas has many exciting city-wide initiatives that are positively changing the organization and the city. Below are a few examples of projects that are changing our city’s future. A MDA may have the opportunity to take part of these projects during their tenure.

Succession Planning
Today, the average City employee is 44 years of age, and the overall average years of service is 13.1 years.  As of October 1, 2006, 10.3% of civilians and 37.9% of uniformed employees are eligible to retire (20.7% overall).  That means 2,588 employees are eligible to leave the City with critical institutional knowledge today!  As experienced employees retire, the City will need a considerable number of new people to join our workforce.  In order to attract employees with the skills necessary to serve our citizens, we must continue to develop workforce development strategies to remain competitive. Offering competitive pay, maintaining a good benefits package and training staff to be fully proficient are all imperative strategies for the City of Dallas to meet service demand.

In addition, Succession Planning is one of the strategies the City is employing to minimize the impact of losing key personnel in critical positions.  Succession planning, in essence, incorporates planning and visioning to ensure the City’s on-going viability and ability to meet customer demands and expectations with the right people and resources.  Establishing and maintaining an available pool of talented and skilled employees who are capable and ready to assume the roles and leadership responsibilities of these key positions is a critical component of Succession Planning. 

The City initiated Phase I of the succession planning process during the summer of 2007. Throughout Phase I, departments identified key positions that exert critical influence on the organization’s activities strategically and/or operationally. During Phase II, all City personnel are updating their knowledge, skills, and abilities in the Human Resource Information System (HRIS).    This data will assist the City in identifying recruitment, selection, and hiring strategies.

Find out more about our succession planning methodology…
For information concerning workforce characteristics…

Strategic Planning
The Strategic Plan for the City of Dallas  presents the overarching goals and objectives the City is to achieve in fulfilling the City’s Vision, “the City That Works: Diverse, Vibrant, and Progressive.”  Tied closely to the City of Dallas’s Vision is our Mission, “to enhance the vitality and quality of life for all in the Dallas community.”  The goals, objectives, and strategies laid out in the Strategic Plan strive to meet this mission by directing the City’s work activities for the common good of our residents, workers, businesses, and community-based groups.

Thus, the Strategic Plan gives a blueprint for Dallas to be efficient in day-to-day operations and adaptable to the changes of the external environment.  We have become outcome focused by aligning our strategic plan, annual budget, organizational structure, city work activities, and employee performance evaluations.

View the FY06/07Strategic Plan…
View the strategic alignment of our city work activities…

Green Initiatives
The City of Dallas has implemented Green Initiatives in several key areas to improve the environment and the quality of life for our citizens.  These key areas include:  Air Quality and Transportation, Facilities and Infrastructure, Purchasing, Planning and Urban Development, Recycling and Waste Management, and Water Conservation.

To improve the quality of air for our residents and the region, the City is converting our fleet to run on alternative fuels and are proud to state that 41% of the City’s fleet is now alternative-fueled or hybrid. In 2003, the City Council passed an ordinance that all facilities over 10,000 square feet must be designed and built to meet the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) silver standards. Out of 38 LEED buildings in the Dallas area, 16 of them are City of Dallas facilities.  The City has also developed a policy which gives preference to the purchase of “green” products over conventional products. As a result 20% of office supplies for the City are made from recyclables and the City has decreased the use of aerosols and certain hazardous chemicals. Furthermore, 40% of the power the City purchases are from renewable energy, mostly from wind.  Recently, the City published a comprehensive land use plan “Forward Dallas”. The plan incorporates smart growth policies to protect the environment, enhance transportation systems, and create strong and healthy neighborhoods.  In 2007, our recycling program changed from picking up recyclables in blue bags at homes to a single stream of recyclables in blue cans. As a result, the amount of residential waste recycled has increased from 9,000 tons to 304,061 tons.  The City has implemented several water conservation programs including extensive public education, audits/inspections, retrofits and replacements, and water restrictions. Since 2001, these conservation strategies have saved 34 billion gallons.

The City is also active in implementing other important green initiatives.  The City of Dallas will be the first U.S. City to implement an Environmental Management System (EMS) across 14 City departments. The City is using its EMS based on the International Organization Standard (ISO) to promote and manage its sustainability programs and to exceed environmental legal requirements.

In January, 2008 Dallas officially launched www.GreenDallas.net, a new Web site dedicated exclusively to green initiatives.  Visitors to the site will find tips on how to save energy and water; recycle; clean the air; and have a green home and lawn. City’s environmental initiatives, accomplishments and awards are also prominently featured.

For further information, please visit our new website at www.GreenDallas.net or contact the Office of Environmental Quality at 214-670-1200.  

Process Improvement Projects
From August 2007 through October 2007, six teams of City employees were trained and worked to address hiring, from initial requisition to distribution of first candidate list; 311 Customer Response (with a focus on Code service requests); Fire Protection Plan Review and Inspection; Fleet Procurement and Make-Ready; Grants Solicitation; Permitting at the Oak Cliff Municipal Center.

Teams of City staffers, facilitators, and executive sponsors gathered baseline data; analyzed current processes; identified causes for unnecessary costs, time delays and/or errors; and brainstormed solutions for improvement.  Assumptions, such as “that won’t work,” “we’ve always done it this way,” or “we tried that before” were not allowed.  Every proposed change was tested in a simple way to see if it would work.

Examples of improvements made by the teams:

• Applying for vehicle registrations in person at the local tax office instead of via through Austin can save four weeks.
• Using a date and signature stamp can save a plans examiner 45 minutes per set of blueprints.
• Eliminating a signature can speed up a process by two days.

Based on the positive results of these pilot projects, the City is tailoring and developing training to roll out the approach, to be known as ZIP, through City University in early 2008.  This training will be offered to departments as the City-wide standard for process improvements.  New teams will be trained, launched and empowered to make improvements!

Trinity River Corridor Project
In 1998, a plan was presented to the voters of Dallas, in the form of a $246 million bond program, to do what had been talked about for almost 100 years – transforming one of Dallas’ greatest natural resources, the Trinity River, into the City’s centerpiece of activity and development.  Included in this program were the establishment of flood protection, recreational amenities, transportation improvements and environmental restoration/mitigation.  Voters approved this plan in May of 1998, and thus began one of the largest public works projects ever undertaken by the City of Dallas – the Trinity River Corridor Project.

Recreational amenities in the Trinity River Corridor Project include hard and soft surface trails, gateway parks, four boat launches, access points to the Great Trinity Forest, a Trinity Interpretive Center and two equestrian centers. In addition, two off-channel lakes would be constructed near the East Levee (downtown side) between the Continental St. Viaduct and the Corinth St. Viaduct, while the river channel would be relocated towards the West Levee (Oak Cliff side) of the Dallas Floodway to bypass everyday normal river flows around the lakes. The northern lake (called the Urban Lake) is about 90 acres in size, while the connecting southern lake (Natural Lake) is about 60 acres in size.  Such uses and limitations include boating/sailing, paddleboats, fishing, but no swimming. The Urban Lake would include a promenade and have an emphasis on aesthetics. The Natural Lake would have wetland and natural edge treatments. The transition between the two lakes would occur through a three-foot elevation difference, which would facilitate a water feature (water fall, etc). The reverse flow of the two lakes (south to north) will allow for a user-friendly four-mile boat loop that will eliminate the need for transportation back to vehicles.

For further information, please visit our website at www.trinityrivercorridor.com

2006 Bond Program
In 2006, residents of the City of Dallas approved a $1.3 billion bond program with the intended purpose of making a strategic investment in protecting the City and creating the future of Dallas.  These simultaneous objectives served as the framework for the programs and initiatives funded through the bond program.  Services such as providing 100-year flood-level protection for areas that previously did not have it; continued investments in street and transportation network; investments in City buildings through upgrades and roof repairs; and the enhancement of public safety facilities to improve response to new areas of high growth all work together to achieve the objective of Protecting Our City.  To meet the objective of Creating Our Future, the bond program makes strategic investments such as additional infrastructure for the inland port facility; additional retail and residential development in the Southern Sector; and transit-oriented developments in order to promote tax base growth in the City of Dallas.  The City is also committed to using the bond program to engage and solicit minority and women owned businesses for the construction and architectural projects involved in achieving both objectives.