Mountain Brook receives Leading the Way award for government services

The city of Mountain Brook this month received a “Leading the Way Award” from a Kansas-based institute that helps local governments gather data from residents to enhance community planning.

The award, announced at Monday night’s City Council meeting by City Manager Sam Gaston, was given because Mountain Brook scored in the top 10% in terms of delivery of services to residents among the local governments that participated in the ETC Institute’s DirectionFinder survey between January and May of this year.

Mountain Brook had the No. 1 rating in 29 categories of the survey and was in the top 10% in 12 other categories, according to a letter from the institute.

Mountain Brook scored first place in the following categories:

• Overall quality of city services (tied for first)
• Overall value received for city tax dollars and fees
• Customer service provided by city employees
• Leadership provided by elected officials
• Effectiveness of department heads and staff
• City as a place to live
• City as a place to raise children
• Overall quality of life in the city
• Public safety
• Effectiveness of communication
• Enforcing codes and ordinances
• Library services
• Emergency preparedness
• Police services
• How quickly police respond to emergencies (tied for first)
• Efforts to prevent crime
• Enforcing traffic laws
• Overall feeling of safety
• Feeling of safety in your neighborhood during the day
• Feeling of safety in your neighborhood at night
• Feeling of safety in retail areas
• Feeling of safety in parks
• Fire services
• Mowing and trimming along streets and public areas
• Maintenance of city parks (tied for first)
• Quality of park facilities
• Enforcing cleanup of trash and debris on private property
• City social media
• Appearance of the city

Mountain Brook also ranked in the top 10% in the following areas:

• Maintenance of streets and sidewalks
• Traffic flow
• Visibility of police in neighborhoods
• Emergency medical services
• Condition of major streets
• Condition of sidewalks
• Cleanliness of streets and public areas
• Walking and biking trails
• Animal control services
• Level of public involvement in decision making
• City’s website
• Image of the city

In order to rank in the top 10%, a city had to a have a composite score of 210 or more, which means the city scored an average of at least 70 points in all three primary areas (overall quality of services, customer service provided by employees and the value residents think they receive for local taxes and fees).

The threshold of 210 was established using survey results from more than 400 communities that participated in the DirectionFinder survey over the past two years. Mountain Brook’s composite rating was 273, which was 101 points above the average composite score of 172 for all cities.

Gaston said this is the fourth time Mountain Brook has participated in the ETC Institute’s surveys and said the city has been very blessed with the outstanding results.

He also noted that 84% of survey respondents in Mountain Brook indicated they were satisfied with the leadership provided by elected officials in the city.

“In this cynical world we live in and social media, scoring 84% is a testimony to your leadership and dedication and also the engagement you have with your citizens,” Gaston told the City Council and mayor.

He thanked the council and mayor for their support of city employees and for giving city employees the tools they need to do their jobs. He also thanked city department heads and employees.

“We do have very professional employees,” Gaston said. “They’re dedicated to their jobs and their profession, and they are committed to excellence.”

Council President Virginia Smith also commended Gaston for his leadership in the city.

The complete list of Leading the Way award winners for cities that completed the surveys from January to May was not yet listed on the ETC Institute’s website. However, two other Alabama cities — Pelham and Vestavia Hills — received Leading the Way awards for surveys completed between May and December of 2022, according to the website.