Yesterday I met two ICMA members at the Esri Senior Executive Summit.  Steve Rogers, Town Manager of Yountville, CA and John Gillison, City Manager of Rancho Cucamonga, came to the summit to learn more about how they can use GIS technology in their respective jurisdictions to improve service delivery and engage their residents. 

They also have an important lesson to offer when it comes to shared services.  A few years back, Rogers wanted to be more accessible to Yountville residents. He began to explore the idea of an app that would allow residents to request services and provide information on town services. Because the vast majority of local government services are location-based, he determined that a GIS platform would be needed. With a population of roughly 3,000, however, Yountville didn’t have the personnel, resources or budget to start up a GIS program of its own to build an app.

Gillison has been a strong supporter of GIS in Rancho Cucamonga. Gillison and Rogers have known each other professionally, so Rogers approached Gillison about his idea for an app.  Rogers had spoken with several consultants about what it would take to build an app, but found that the consultants had their own ideas of what needed to be done.  They didn’t appear to understand the town’s processes and procedures, and also came with some high-end price tags.

Rancho Cucamonga has a population of about 175,000 and a very robust GIS program that has produced numerous apps for citizens and internal departments alike.  As the two managers spoke, it became apparent that Rancho Cucamonga in Southern California might be able to help Yountville in Northern California using GIS Web services. Rancho Cucamonga had the staff capacity to take on a few additional projects, but more importantly, their GIS team had a solid understanding of how local government processes worked and how that knowledge would need to be incorporated into an app.

Ultimately, Yountville contracted with Rancho Cucamonga for GIS services to build an app that won a 2015 ICMA Award. 

 

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