SUNNYVALE RECEIVES PERFORMANCE EXCELLENCE AWARD

SUNNYVALE, Calif. – The coveted California Award for Performance Excellence (CAPE) has been awarded to the City of Sunnyvale. The award was presented on Tuesday, April 29, to Sunnyvale Mayor Julia Miller and City Manager Robert LaSala by the California Council for Excellence. Sunnyvale is 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.

In remarks at the Sunnyvale City Council meeting, Mayor Miller praised Sunnyvale City employees for their efforts. "This is another first for Sunnyvale," said Mayor Miller. "It is another award that puts us at the forefront of city government.

City Manager Robert S. LaSala also congratulated City employees for maintaining Sunnyvale’s high performance levels. "This award represents the incredible efforts of all of the City employees of the City of Sunnyvale," LaSala said. "It also acknowledges a commitment to greater excellence." 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," LaSala added.

Sunnyvale was selected to receive the CAPE Bronze 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 an extensive application describing how Sunnyvale addresses seven criteria for the award, including customer and market focus, business results, process management, and strategic planning.

"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, President and CEO of the San Diego-based California Council for Excellence.