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Despite the title of city manager, Mary K. Suhm functions as the chief executive officer for the City of Dallas, Texas. She oversees the day-to-day operations of the municipal organization, including managing a $2.18 billion budget and some 13,000 employees.

Some of her job challenges could make some corporate CEOs run for cover. A year before Suhm was appointed to her role, a report, Dallas at the Tipping Point, showed that the city was performing worse than its peer cities on residents' concerns, such as public safety, education, and economic development. Also, a Booz Allen Hamilton analysis, called a Road Map for Renewal, reported that Dallas's elected officials had not provided the leadership to fuel such a turnaround.

Suhm, working with the City Council, put together a strategic plan to define key areas of focus for the city, the services that needed to be offered in each of those areas, and the results that should be achieved. "We had not been doing a very good job of providing day-to-day essential services our citizens needed," she says.

She also established a permanent efficiency team to look at ways to generate more revenue, cut costs, and improve services to citizens. For example, a centralized collection unit, for everything from delinquent water bills to taxes, brought in more than $3 million in one year. Outsourcing the maintenance on sanitation trucks has already saved the city about $900,000. And, numerous customer surveys have helped her make changes to improve city services, such as extending court hours. In 2007, Suhm plans to have the streets department be ISO 9001 certified, to have consistent processes in the way things are done. Also, by moving to a central, online procurement system, the city has reduced the costs of goods and services by $5 million a year.

While Suhm has greatly improved the quality of life for residents of the City of Dallas, she still faces the task of updating a 30-year mainframe IT infrastructure and putting the latest technology in the hands of emergency personnel, such as police. However, before she can present any technology budget items before the City Council, she requires IT to explain the purpose and the reason for the products. Then, she must translate this information into non-technical language that the City Council can understand. Says Suhm, "It's tough for some public officials to understand why we need to spend $6 million for a piece of software. That's why it’s important for IT to get it right. Everything we do and say can wind on the front page of the newspaper."

New technology services on the agenda include wireless remote water meter reading, using document imaging to make more public documents available to citizens, expanding Web technologies to communicate more effective with citizens, and putting in a reverse 911 system to provide information to a large calling body if a disaster occurs. But along with the new ideas and technologies, this city manager-CEO is not afraid to use old-fashioned common-sense to make life in Dallas better for all of its citizens, at a price they can afford.

Resources

City of Dallas Web Portal

Dallas at the Tipping Point

Bio

Mary K. Suhm is city manager for the City of Dallas, Texas, overseeing the day-to-day operations of the municipal organization, including 13,000 employees and a $2.18 billion budget. Her leadership has been instrumental in a variety of the city's key programs such as Citizen Police Academy, the Office of Intergovernmental affairs, and citywide volunteer program. During her five years as the first assistant city manager, Suhm was responsible for the daily operations of key city departments, including financial services, business development and procurement, housing, sanitation, and water utilities. Since joining the city in 1978, she has served as executive assistant director of the Dallas Police Department, director of court services, and assistant to the mayor. She is actively involved in mentoring mid-level female managers in the City of Dallas.

Production Credits

Elizebeth Ferrarini, Producer
Dana Farver, Executive Producer, Communities Editor-in-Chief
Tom Parish, Audio Producer, Show Host
Kimberly Stone, Web Development Manager
Scott Ebner, Web Developer