jan-2018

30 31 Football League (UFL),when two of the UFL teams used the facility as their training and practice home. Four Major League Soccer teams have also trained at the CGPI,with more teams expected. The state-of-the-art, 59,000 square-foot sports complex—which includes six football and soccer fields—houses an 11,200-square-foot weight-train- ing exercise area, eight semi-private therapy centers, and enough classrooms, locker rooms,meeting rooms, and laundry facilities for four teams. The importance of the project and the com- pressed construction schedule demanded the involvement of an executive level decision maker, and Deputy CityManager Larry Rains stepped in to guide the design, development, and implemen- tation of the project by overseeing construction details that would normally be reserved for a proj- ect foreman or on-site developer.Without Rains’ direct involvement and supervision, the CGPI could have faced delays that would have had catastrophic effects on the city’s relationship with the UFL and threatened the success of the project. MERCED COUNTY, CALIFORNIA To reduce capital its budget costs, in 2001,Merced County, California (pop. 266,353) partnered with Siemens Industry, Inc., on a county-wide lighting and major mechanical energy performance project. Through the improvements, the county achieved uneven. During 2016, states sawmoderate im- provement in their fiscal condition,with general fund spending on track to grow at a modest pace during 2017 for the seventh consecutive year based on states’ budgets. Despite these improvements, 32 states spent less in FY2016 than the pre-recession peak in 2008. At the same time, local governments are demonstrating leadership to increase infrastruc- ture investments. Professionally-managed U.S. local governments of all sizes are particularly well equipped to assess their deficiencies and then put into place and maintain the kind of P3s that can address those challenges. In light of their track record of efficient, cost-effective operations, professionally-man- aged communities are more likely to succeed in developing and implementing P3 projects.The IBM Global Business Services report,“Smarter, Faster, Cheaper” found that cities that operate under the council-manager formwith a pro- fessional manager are nearly 10 percent more efficient than those that operate under the mayor-council form.The Equipt to Innovate initiative created by Governing magazine and Living Cities found that top-performing cities in all but one of seven key elements employ a professional manager and operate under coun- cil-manager government. Likewise, two-thirds of Moody’s Aaa-bond-rated cities benefit from having professional local government managers at the helm. Examples of successful P3 projects taking place among professionallymanaged commu- nities abound. Following are two case studies from the compilation of success stories posted on ICMA’s Life Well Run website and another focused on the recipients of one of ICMA’s 2016 Community Partnership Excellence Award. CASA GRANDE,ARIZONA The Casa Grande Performance Institute, a public-private partnership between the city of Casa Grande,Arizona (pop. 51,478), and the Francisco Grande Resort & Hotel,was complet- ed in just 119 days.The accelerated schedule was required to complete the project in time for the start of the inaugural season of the United INTERNATIONAL CITY/COUNTY MANAGEMENT ASSOCIATION