Asheville officials hope a new office sheds light on how city programs are doing and how they can be better.
The Office of Data and Performance was established in December. Officials said the goal is to empower the city to use data to improve outcomes, accountability and communication.
The city hosted an introductory meeting Thursday night. Officials said they aim to understand the impacts of city projects, establish benchmarks for progress and improvement and identify and respond to issues.
"What's the impact of the projects we're doing? Are we achieving the outcomes we wanted? And, if we're not, how do we have a disciplined, well-defined process of adjusting what we're doing and improving going forward," city of Asheville's Eric Jackson said.
The office will consist of three full-time employees. Officials said they reallocated about $200,000 from unused positions in the police department to fund the office. City employees from other departments will also collaborate.
