TOPEKA, Kan.- The City of Topeka is being recognized nationally as a new silver level city.
The 2020 What Works Cities Certification celebrates the strength a city has in effectively managing a city. The certification measures the city leaders and their decision-making. Topeka is the 16th city to be awarded at this silver level.
“Even though we are a political institution, that we take feedback from our constituency,” said Topeka Mayor Michelle De La Isla. “It is also extremely important for us to have access to proper data so that we are able to serve our citizens better. By doing that, it improves the information that our governing bodies are able to receive.”
Some area where Topeka has shown progress in include:
●Increase in transparency efforts.
●Increase in reporting to the Governing Body.
●Increase in tracking of responsiveness to the community.
“We may not always agree on everything, but it’s important for our constituents to know how dedicated this team is to ensuring that we are working on evidence-based management of every, single thing,” said De La Isla. “It’s not about how we feel but what the data is telling us and being extremely transparent with everything that we do.”
There are almost 200 U.S. cities that have completed a What Works Cities Assessment and only 24 cities have met the What Works Cities national standard in achieving Certification.
