Sunnyvale First City in California to Receive CAPE Award

Sunnyvale, CA (01/07/03) – The City of Sunnyvale has received a 2002 California Award for Performance Excellence (CAPE) from the California Council for Excellence, becoming the first city in California to be given the award.

The CAPE award recognizes Sunnyvale’s innovative organizational effectiveness initiative and on-going efforts to deliver the highest quality services and programs.  The award is patterned after the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Award Program, which annually recognizes high-performing businesses, health care organizations, and educational institutions.

“On behalf of the City Council, I’m very proud that Sunnyvale is the first city in California to receive this prestigious award,” said Mayor Julia Miller.  “It recognizes the daily efforts made by employees throughout the City to better understand the expectations of our residents, businesses, visitors, and other community members, and the hard work that goes into both meeting and exceeding them.”

Sunnyvale was selected to receive the award following a three-day on-site review from a team of CAPE examiners in November, covering the City’s systems and practices.   City staff submitted a 50-page application describing how Sunnyvale addresses seven criteria for the award, including customer and market focus, business results, process management, and strategic planning.

Sunnyvale City Manager, Robert S. LaSala, said the CAPE program offers the City a valuable process to identify both its strengths and opportunities for improvement.  “The written feedback from the California Council for Excellence represents a gold mine of ideas that we will use to make Sunnyvale, which is already well-respected and a high-performance service provider, even better.”

There are four award levels for the CAPE program, of which Sunnyvale received a bronze award, recognizing organizations that have in place an established approach to performance excellence that meets the award criteria as interpreted by the CAPE Board of Judges.

“The CAPE program recognizes deserving companies, government agencies, educational institutions, and healthcare organizations that demonstrate excellent business results using the Malcolm Baldrige Award criteria,” said Thomas Hinton, CCE President and CEO of the San Diego-based non-profit organization.

City officials will be attending CCE’s 9^th Annual Education Council in Manhattan Beach, California, on April 29, where Sunnyvale and 10 other award winners will be recognized.