Governing Magazine recently named Olathe as the top performer in the “Broadly Partnered” category, in its 2018 national survey of cities in the United States, known as the “Equipt to Innovate” survey.
The magazine says that “broadly partnered” cities collaborate freely, both externally and internally, in order to make lives better for their residents.
Such partnering includes taking part in cross-sector initiatives, no matter whether they originate within the city or not. It also empowers staff members to collaborate between departments, and with partners external to the city government. Finally, the city keeps its stakeholders updated on progress toward specific goals.
Olathe has a history of working with other municipalities for everyone's good. For example, the city was a leader in the Kansas City Regional Benchmarking Initiative, where 17 nearby cities agreed to share information on such matters as economic development and the local workforce.
In choosing a city to honor, Governing Magazine considers four criteria: that the city uses a number of different partnerships to meet its objectives, that it is a leader in building multi-partner alliances to work on issues that affect the whole region, that it shares best practices and data with other similar cities, and that it evaluates the success of the work based on outcomes.
Accomplishments like this deserve wide recognition, so officials might consider working with a flyer printing company to create a mailer for residents.
