Council Memorandum
November 14, 2024
To:
From:
Re:
Honorable Mayor Blackburn and Me~ers of the City Council Geoff Patnoe, Acting City Manager ~
City of Carlsbad Award Recognition (Districts -All)
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Carlsbad
Memo ID# 2024083
The City of Carlsbad was recently recognized with several awards recognizing excellence in technology and communication.
Background
In addition to identifying priority projects that advance the key elements of the Carlsbad Community Vision, the City Council's City Council's 5-Year Strategic Plan emphasizes the importance of being "brilliant at the basics." This means we strive to excel in the day-to-day services that often happen behind the scenes to make Carlsbad the great place it is today.
Discussion
The City Council has prioritized IT investments, recognizing that our digital infrastructure has become as important to city operations as our physical infrastructure. Staff has followed a methodical, thoughtful approach to ensure our current systems remain operational as we work toward an integrated, modern technology ecosystem.
Excellence in IT Practices, Municipal Information Systems Association of California I am pleased to see these efforts recognized with the top state award for excellence in IT practices. The Municipal Information Systems Association of California requires the submission of a detailed questionnaire that examines IT practices across 12 different subject areas and a complete audit of operations. This information is then analyzed by a panel of three industry experts.
Top 10 Digital City, Government Technology Magazine
Carlsbad was recognized earlier this month by Government Technology Magazine as a Top 10 Digital City in our population category. This recognition honors cities that excel in digital services and transparency, cybersecurity, digital privacy rights and digital equity, as well as those finding new solutions to challenges facing cities today.
Communication & Engagement
1200 Carlsbad Village Drive I Carlsbad, CA 92008 I 442-339-5352 t
Council Memo -City of Carlsbad Award Recognition (Districts -All) November 14, 2024
The map below shows that the 10 recognized cities are from throughout the country, with Carlsbad being the only one in California.
2024 Government Technology Digital Cities Survey
75,000 to 124,999 population size winners
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In recognizing Carlsbad, Government Technology Magazine cited Carlsbad's focus on "fundamentals" of IT -expanding municipal fiber, instituting an audit process for cloud backups, modernizing legacy servers and storage and virtualizing phones.
Communication & Engagement
The City Council has long stressed the importance of communication and engagement with our community. I am happy to share that the City of Carlsbad was recognized earlier this month with five awards from the Public Relations Society of America.
While we are fortunate to have won many awards over the years for city communication, we are especially proud when we are called the best when compared to public and private sector programs. Specifically, Carlsbad was recognized with four Awards of Excellence, the top honor, and one Award of Merit, second place.
• Robertson Ranch Park Planning Community Engagement, Award of Excellence • Weekly e-News (City Manager's Update), Award of Excellence • Internal/Employee Communication Program, Award of Excellence • Employee Update Video Series, Award of Excellence
• City Matters column, Award of Merit
Council Memo -City of Carlsbad Award Recognition (Districts -All) November 14, 2024
City staff appreciate the City Council's commitment to prioritizing technology and communication. We are proud to share this recognition as yet another example of Carlsbad's leadership role in setting the standard for excellence among public agencies. cc: Scott Chadwick, City Manager
Cindie McMahon, City Attorney
Laura Rocha, Deputy City Manager, Administrative Services Maria Callander, Information Technology Director
Kristina Ray, Communication & Engagement Director