Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project … an investment in the future of Tennessee cities.

How do you answer these questions for your city: “How are we doing?”, “How do we know?”, and “ How can we get better results?” Since 2002, MTAS has facilitated the Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project to provide a process and product that assist cities in answering these questions. TMBP is a member-driven effort where performance and cost indicators are collected, benchmarks are calculated, and information is analyzed and discussed by members to identify best practices.

Contact

Frances Adams-O'Brien, Librarian, (865) 974-9842
Laura Ogle-Graham, Coordinator, (865) 974-7441
David Folz, PhD, Professor, Political Science, (865) 974-0802

News

How do you gauge your city’s success? Benchmarking can be your city’s dashboard!

Check out our new video on the value of benchmarking to both government and business. Hear from Steve Barbarick, President of Tractor Supply, Mary Maich of Nissan Group of North America, Jill Burgin, mayor of Brentwood, Tennessee and Eric Stuckey, city administrator of Franklin, TN.

Click here to watch the video
 

Lean Six Sigma

The TMBP is working with Bruce Berger to offer Tennessee cities Lean Six Sigma Classes (see below). We have had some interest from middle Tennessee cities, and we are working to gain more interest across the state. Lean Six Sigma flyer

Annual Members Meeting March 28, 2018

2017 TMBP Annual March Meeting was help on March 28, 2017 at Peterson Park Community Center in Murfreesboro. In addition to our usual business matters and service area committees, Bruce Berger, a management consultant, conducted a course in Lean Six Sigma (LSS) for members. All participants received their Yellow Belt in LSS. It was a very educational and productive day!

TMBP Reports

TMBP Annual Report FY2017
TMBP Annual Report FY2016
TMBP Annual Report FY2015
TMBP Annual Report FY2014

All other previous reports can be reviewed in MTAS' Knowledgebase.

Data in Action: Emerging Ideas and Best Practices From TMBP Members

• TMBP Data Helping to Move the Needle in the City of Knoxville (Russ Jensen, 311 Director, City of Knoxville)
• What Does the Data Say? The City of Athens Utilizes TMBP Data to Evaluate Service Delivery Effectiveness (Matthew Marshall, Director of Purchasing/Risk Manager, City of Athens)
• Knoxville Innovations in Property Maintenance Inspections Lead to Greater Efficiency (Shults, C., 2015)
• Emerging Practices in Property Maintenance Codes Enforcement (Crawford, J. & Young, S., n.d.)
• Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project: An Investment in Tennessee's Cities (Young, S., 2012)
• Performance Patterns Among Cities in TMBP: A Focus on Fire (Young, S. & Aitalieva, N., n.d.)

What is the TMBP?

The Tennessee Municipal Benchmarking Project began in 2002 with nine cities collecting data in three service areas: fire, police, and residential refuse collection. Today members collect data in eleven service areas:

• Building Code Enforcement
• Employment Benefits
• Finance
• Fire
• Human Resources
• Information Technology
• Parks and Recreation
• Planning and Zoning
• Police
• Property Maintenance Code Enforcement
• Refuse Collection and Disposal/Recycling (Residential)

Members report performance and cost measures to capture the whole picture of inputs and outputs.

The TMBP annual report provides a performance analysis of the service areas measured. Of particular value to participants in the project is the historical comparisons and trend analysis for targeted service areas provided in the annual report which are possible due to the long term commitment from our forward-thinking member cities. Complete data collected by participating cities is provided only to members of the project while the annual report is available on the MTAS website.

TMBP 2018 Brochure

TMBP Strategic Plan (2017 - 2022)

How Do We Join?

Each participant makes an annual investment of $4,000 in the project. Contact the TMBP staff or MTAS consultants listed on this page for more information on how to join.

Participating Cities

TMBP members cover the state geographically and vary in population.

• Athens: Seth Sumner, City Manager
• Bartlett: Dick Phebus, Finance Director
• Brentwood: Jay Evans, Assistant City Manager
• Bristol: Bill Sorah, City Manager
• Chattanooga: Brian Smart, Manager of Financial Operations
• Franklin: Michael Walters Young, Budget and Analytics Manager
• Johnson City: Pete Peterson, City Manager
• Kingsport: Judy Smith, Budget Officer
• Knoxville: Russ Jensen, Director of 311
• Lewisburg: Randall Dunn, City Manager
• Morristown: Tony Cox, City Administrator
• Spring Hill: Chuck Downham, Assistant City Administrator

MTAS Participating Consultants

• Rex Barton, Police Services
• Angie Carrier, Property Maintenance Code and Building Code Enforcement
• Al Major, Finance
• Warren Nevad, Parks and Recreation
• Justin O'Hara, Information Technology
• Honna Rogers, Planning and Zoning
• Sharon Rollins, Refuse and Recycling
• Richard Stokes, HR/Employment Benefits
• Dennis Wolf, Fire Services