Tempe’s innovative efforts to keep the community healthy and to showcase its daily progress toward community-driven priorities resulted in national honors recently.

Tempe is one of only 13 cities nationwide that were recently awarded the City Government Project Experience Award, an honor recognizing efforts to create a more responsive government and improve community experience.  

Tempe’s Wastewater BioIntel Program and City Council Strategic Priorities and Performance Measures Hub earned recognition for innovative use of technology and data. The award was presented by the Center for Digital Government, a national research and advisory institute focused on technology policy and best practices in government. 

“These two programs are the result of years of collaboration, partnership and hard work to research, design, and establish solutions and strategies that make progress toward Tempe’s strategic priorities,” Mayor Corey Woods said. 

“I am proud that our biointel program and performance measures hub have achieved this recognition. It showcases our commitment to improving the community as whole through data-driven solutions.” 

Both the performance measures hub and biointel program play a role in improving transparency, operational efficiency and community engagement.  

Tracking goals 

Tempe City Council set five strategic priorities for the community: safe and secure communities, strong community connections, quality of life, sustainable growth and development and financial stability and vitality. To advance these priorities, performance measures are used to establish measurable goals.  

The Performance Measures Hub is a one-stop-shop for viewing the city’s progress. Community members are invited to dive into the open data available on this online dashboard.  

“The city of Tempe is deeply rooted in its commitment to be an inclusive, transparent, and high performing organization. This commitment is exemplified through the City Council Strategic Plan where the council's priorities and direction are clearly identified, measured and available for everyone to review,” Wydale Holmes, Director of Strategic Management and Innovation Office, said.

“The Performance Measures Hub reflects that effort by providing a central location for both the public and the organization to coordinate and track progress on these community priorities.” 

Testing waters 

The Wastewater BioIntel Program tests Tempe’s wastewater for community health information, such as COVID-19 trends or opioid use, to determine the consumption of, or exposure to, chemicals or pathogens within the city. 

The program was established in 2018, making Tempe the first city in the nation to utilize wastewater data to inform decision-making. Today the program tests over 21 biomarkers and continues to advance City Council priorities regarding quality of life and safe and secure communities today.

“Studying wastewater provides cities, emergency responders and health partners with actionable data for operations and strategies,” Holmes said. “Wastewater data can be an important early warning signal and is most useful when used alongside other community-level data.” 

Community members are invited to view the public dashboard for regular updates and learn about the emerging science. 

“In today’s connected world, it is more important than ever to deliver city information in an easy to understand, digital format. These two hubs show our commitment to making city progress and community health data easily accessible,” Chief Data and Analytics Officer Stephanie Deitrick said. “Tempe’s overarching goal is to use technology as an enabler for innovation and solving real-world problems.”  

Recognized for excellence in data-driven local government 

The city is recognized for its data-driven approach in more ways than one. Tempe is one of only five cities in the world to be recognized for achieving 2023 What Works Cities Certification at the Platinum level. 

The certification celebrates local governments for their exceptional use of data to inform policy and funding decisions, improve services, create operational efficiencies, and engage residents. Learn more. 

The above initiatives are led by Tempe’s Office of Strategic Management and Innovation and Tempe’s Data Enterprise & Analytics team. Those with questions on these programs can email strategic_management_innovation@tempe.gov or call Tempe 311 at 480-350-4311.