Page 27 - Hurst Budget FY21

completion of our animal services center and the city’s first dog park in 2021. While infrastructure
does support successful economic development projects, it’s important to acknowledge that
infrastructure is the foundation for public safety. Without safe, reliable, and quality infrastructure the
abilities of Police, Fire, and EMS to respond in an emergency and reduced. For this reason, Council
continued to prioritize their investment in our infrastructure in the FY 2020-2021 budget.

Leadership and Innovation: After establishing the Code of Ideals in 1999, and fully permeating the
organization with the meaning of the Code, we are now focusing our efforts on “Honoring the Code.”
At my first employee conference as City Manager, I challenged Team Hurst to Honor the Code in all
things. At the second conference, we are building on Honoring the Code, by doing so “The Hurst Way”.
This idea is based on one of the principles from Jim Collins’ book “Good to Great” and is the “scorecard”
we use to deliver services to Hurst citizens. The Hurst Way includes three components. First Public
Service, we passionately serve the community while demonstrating level five leadership qualities within
our circle of influence. We are empowered to develop an exceptional quality of life for our community
through professional and ethical public service. Second, Customer Service, we do our very best to
serve our customers selflessly, no matter what title we hold or whom we are serving. We are committed
to providing exceptional service while being responsive to the needs of the community. Third, Financial
Sustainability, we responsibly manage our resources allowing the city to provide a desirable level of
programs and services to the public now and in the future. We employ the Hurst Way as the lens we
use to evaluate and deliver programs and services.

Under this framework and following the retirement of our Deputy City Manager I reorganized our
executive team and promoted two Executive Directors into the role of Assistant City Manager in 2018-
2019. I have adjusted their responsibilities to align with their strengths and allow me to focus on
expanding our cultural initiatives through leadership and innovation. With the assistance of our
Executive Director of Human Resources we revamped our employee orientation and recognition
programs last year. This year, the city will continue to develop programs encouraging employees to
apply The Hurst Way to their daily work lives through process improvement efforts and storyboarding.
These programs will support City Council priorities in leadership and innovation coming directly from
Team Hurst members through the newly formed Hurst Way Advocacy Team. The senior leadership
team is championing these efforts under the guidance of two Assistant City Managers.

Unfortunately, limitations on gatherings and face to face meetings have slowed some or our recent
plans and progress. In early 2019 we refined our customer service philosophy under the “Positively
Outrageous Service” model and developed plans to roll this out across all city operations. While the
pandemic caused us to temporarily suspend the trainings, we fully anticipate moving this forward in the
near future. Additionally, the realities of the pandemic led to creative and innovative ways to adapt to
the needs of our customers and employees. Virtual programming, meetings, and trainings have all
been expanded. One particular example was the partnership of our parks and library staff to create a
“story book trail” at the library park. This gives our citizens a chance to experience their favorite books
as they enjoy a socially distanced stroll through the park. I am proud of the leadership and innovative
solutions implemented by our team as we adjust and respond to the conditions of the pandemic.

Public Safety: Public Safety continues to be widely supported in our community and a high priority for
the City Council. Our focus under the public safety priority is to ensure positive community awareness
and well-being. We will continue to provide community based programming and services which
contribute to high citizen survey responses. Our annual survey also continues to reinforce that people
feel safe in Hurst. In the Police Department we recently implemented new crime reporting standards
under the National Incident-Based Reporting System (NIBRS). While the NIBRS change was required
by the State of Texas and the FBI, it will improve crime reporting and improve incident related details.
The Fire Department transitioned to a 48-96 rotating shift which has helped reduce fire fighter leave
and increase recruitment as the department continues to provide high levels of fire and EMS services.

15