Jenny Durda

Why did you join city government?

I had the opportunity, over 20 years ago, to join public service. In public service I know that my dedication to using data could have a real impact on the people around me and the community I’m in. I came to Glendale when I saw a job posting that said they were looking for a data evangelist. I said, “That’s me. Someone’s calling my name.” I saw what a great opportunity it was to make a really big difference. I’ve been happy and excited to be here ever since.

What keeps you going on tough days?

Our department has only three people. But I have Jeff Bratcher, who’s the Organizational Performance Program Manager, and Stephen Gushue, who is our Business Intelligence and Analytics Officer. When there’s just three of you, you’re really tight. If I’m having a rough day, I can go to them. We talk through a problem, we come up with a solution together.

What makes you most proud when you think of your city’s use of data?

I think my absolute favorite project was one that came out of COVID, out of a really difficult time. During COVID, Glendale’s Community Action Program (the City’s financial assistance program) had paper applications, and people would need to come for in-person appointments to get assistance for rent and utilities, which so many people desperately needed during that time. We did a process improvement project and an analytics project where we launched a digital application. Then we started looking at the workload and where it was getting hung up. From that we were able to reallocate resources to alleviate those bottlenecks. At that time, that program typically provided about $1 million in direct support each year. Once we made that change, they were able to do $1 million in a quarter. Then more resources were added to the department, and they’ve been able to provide even more support. That project is really close to my heart because of the great community impact.

How did data help you solve a specific problem in your city?

The project that comes to mind is our GlendaleOne app. Every single city gets requests from residents for non-emergency services. They usually come in phone calls or emails, and that makes it very difficult to track exactly what the resident needs and make sure that everything gets followed up on. That’s why we implemented our GlendaleOne system, which is an online way for residents to request non-emergency services. Then we have a set of performance dashboards so that everybody in the leadership team can see where these requests are. If a request isn’t able to be handled in a specific time frame, it automatically gets sent to another person. It gives us this great view into what our community members need and how we’re responding and keeping our commitments to our residents.

What lessons have you learned that other city leaders might find helpful?

We have a fantastic data culture here in Glendale where we empower our employees to use data in their everyday work and to bring solutions to the problems that they have. It starts with building trust. We did individual projects with teams who needed help and support, and we showed them how the data was there to help support them, to help make their lives better as they make the lives of the people they serve every day better. And that’s our purpose here in Glendale, is to improve the lives of the people we serve every day. So we had those little wins with teams. Then we created things like the Data Analyst Networking Group, in which we welcome anyone across the city who works with data, not in an IT way, but an analyst, and we bring them together to problem-solve. We have had some great and unique solutions that we probably wouldn’t have had if we didn’t have that embedded data culture and that empowerment culture for employees to suggest improvement and changes.

What would surprise people about your city government?

I think people would be really surprised at the volume of work and the quality of work that we do with so few employees. We’re really proud to be a lean city and to work very mindfully. I think people would be impressed with everything that we get done. It comes down to data. We are able to do that because we have data backing up our choices and we’ve got good processes that we evaluate and improve.

What’s next for your work — and how do you hope to keep using data?

My department has strategic planning, process improvement and data analytics, which all work together and support each other. You can’t do process improvement or strategic planning without data and vice versa. In our strategic planning area, we’ve been successful in having KPIs and evaluating the data and having strategic plans at a citywide level and a department level. This year we’re working on strategic plans at a division level. Then for the process improvement piece of our department, we just launched what we call our Ignite program. It’s a way for any city employee to suggest a process improvement across any area. It doesn’t have to be in their own work area. Lastly, we have exciting datasets coming out in our open data portal this year, and a refresh of our public-facing KPIs. I’m really excited about that.

What did achieving What Works Cities Certification mean to you and your city?

What Works Cities Certification validates that the work we’ve done is something that will last. It’s got foundation behind it, best practices behind it, so that we know it can sustain and move this forward.

Where should people visit in Glendale?

We’ve got a historic downtown area where you can see a lot of the roots of Glendale and how that’s moving into the future with us. We also have our Sports and Entertainment District, where there’s lots of experiential opportunities. We have a very unique city in those two personalities that blend together.