City of Cincinnati Team Honored With Navigator Award for Government Innovation

PITTSBURGH – The City of Cincinnati Innovation Team received special recognition at the inaugural Navigator Awards Wednesday night for their cutting-edge efforts to improve local government operations.

City Manager Harry Black and team took the stage at the Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh to accept the prize for State and Local Executive Leadership. Event host Route Fifty – an independent news organization that aims to connect the people and ideas that are advancing state and local government across America – handed out 10 overall awards in five different categories.

The Navigator Awards aim to celebrate individuals, agencies and organizations deemed to have implemented innovative ideas in state and local government.

The City of Cincinnati was one of 50 overall finalists this year.

"We are pleased and proud to be recognized. With strong support from the Mayor and City Council we are working hard to improve service delivery effectiveness, customer service and transparency," said City Manager Harry Black. "Technology is an integral part of this and our overarching efforts to become the best managed big City in the U.S."

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Among the game-changing ideas Route Fifty is the City’s new consolidated permitting center that is, “not only making it easier to access services but is also helping the city reduce the amount of time needed to review permit applications.”

The news outlet also highlights the fact the City has saved $300,000 in capital requests through improved information technology (IT) governance, part of the overall performance management effort that’s led to $2.8 million in annual impact.

Other innovations include the working being done by the Office of Performance & Data Analytics (OPDA) including a new data-driven community policing strategy, expanded open data offerings and improved blight abatement efforts, “which completely transformed a previously inefficient paper process into an all-digital process, leading to immediate improvements throughout the City and improved revenue collections.”

Another improvement noted by Route Fifty is the City’s new and improved public services app, Fix it Cincy!, which launched last year and has made it easier for residents to report problems and request services. 

“It’s a sleek and handy tool and part of the overall package of improvements that Black has helped drive since he arrived in Cincinnati,” Route Fifty writes.

“There’s a lot of impressive work going on to improve the city’s government and it’s making Cincinnati stand out among its municipal peers when it comes to management.”

Some members of the City’s delegation remained in Pittsburgh on Thursday to be honored by the Center for Digital Government (CDG) which recently recognized the City of Cincinnati as one of the most innovative and technologically advanced big cities in the country.

CGD highlights the work being done by OPDA to improve various services and processes as well as the City's use of GIS technology to enable City staff to respond to data in real-time.

Both awards ceremonies are taking place this week in Pittsburgh as part of the annual National League of Cities conference.