Altamonte Springs, Florida

new charter changed the form of government and established a professional manager to run all operations of the city without political influence. Because of that direct and complete control, there have been very few city managers; Martz is only the third. He believes that the ability to develop innovative ideas and see them through without political interference is the number one reason Altamonte Springs has been so successful. The second reason is the extremely stable City Commission. No incumbent has lost a city election since 1986, and there have always been citizen representatives; people truly interested in doing what’s right for the residents. It’s never been about politics. It’s about being fiscally responsi- ble and robustly innovative. Employees are the third reason for success. Martz elaborates, “Twenty years ago, we began doing merit-based evaluations.We budget a typical merit of three per- cent based on employee scores. At the beginning of the year, employees sit down with supervisors and do their own performance plan; what they’re intending to accomplish this year, over and above what they did last year. Every employee, supervisor, and department director has a mid-year review. At the end of the year, if they met or exceeded their goals, that’s a good thing. And we reward those em- ployees by taking money away from people who didn’t meet their goals. It’s truly merit-based, you get paid for performance.” ALTAMONTE SPRINGS, FLORIDA By being inclusive, having wellness programs, ensuring freedom from political interference, em- ployees have an incredible feeling of being vested in the goals of the city. They want to deliver good service and are proud of what they do. Most su- pervisors have grown from entry level employees; Martz started in 1991 as an intern and is now City Manager. The city also provides internal manage- ment development programs such as PRIME–Pro- gressive Reinforcement of Innovative Management Experiences that teach how to do things “The Altamonte Way”- how to recognize opportunities, communicate with each other, the importance of collaboration and customer service. “The fourth pillar is that we’ve been aggressively self-sufficient,” says Martz. “We don’t rely on grants to fund our operations. Our millage rate is lower