TO: Mayor and City Council
THROUGH: Steve Powers, City Manager
FROM: Kacey Duncan, Deputy City Manager
SUBJECT:
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Authorizing a transfer of appropriation authority for the purpose of expanding the plan development and community engagement activities of the City’s current strategic planning initiative.
Ward(s): All Wards
Councilor(s): All Councilors
Neighborhood(s): All Neighborhoods
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ISSUE:
Shall the City Council adopt Resolution No. 2017-26 to transfer $37,500 of appropriation authority within General Fund, Non Departmental from contingencies to materials and services for the purpose of expanding the plan development and community engagement activities of the City’s current strategic planning initiative?
RECOMMENDATION:
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Adopt Resolution No. 2017-26 to transfer $37,500 of appropriation authority within General Fund, Non Departmental from contingencies to materials and services for the purpose of expanding the plan development and community engagement activities of the City’s current strategic planning initiative.
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SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND:
The City’s budget needs to respond to unforeseen changes. State law allows the City Council to approve transfers of appropriations within the limits established by the adopted budget.
City Council is being asked to approve a transfer within the General Fund that will allow for increased appropriation authority to fund additional activities not included in the original contract with ECONorthwest, the City’s consultant for strategic planning.
FACTS AND FINDINGS:
The first of three phases of the strategic planning project, the Situation Assessment, is complete. The Situation Assessment includes existing data and performance measures for City services; economic and demographic trends; results of a statistically valid survey to assess resident satisfaction with City services and interviews with community members and civic partners, Mayor and Councilors, and department heads; input from a well-attended January 31, 2017 Community Open House; and input from employees.
Initial findings from this work were presented to the Budget Committee at its November 16, 2016 meeting and further discussed by City Council at its January 30, 2017 work session. On March 6, 2017, City Council developed vision, mission, and value statements for the City and identified priority topic areas or services to pursue in the strategic plan.
With Phase I complete and Phase II underway, staff anticipate a similar level of effort in stakeholder and community engagement. While some engagement was envisioned for Phase II, staff and the consultant team are recommending a broader effort to support the development of the strategic plan. Engaging a broad range of perspectives strengthens the foundation of the strategic planning effort.
Moving forward, the recommendation is to use the next phase of engagement in a more deliberate and focused approach to build partnerships around priority issue areas as identified by City Council and the community in the Situation Assessment. With this approach, we plan to directly engage Council in focused conversations with existing organizations, subject matter experts, and staff who will rely on these partnerships to deliver progress on the Council’s goals.
Staff and the consultant team are also proposing two additional Council work sessions to support discussion and deliberations of the strategic planning initiatives.
The additional activities and costs to address a broader effort of plan development and community engagement include the below-listed items for a total cost of $37,500:
• City Council work sessions
• Community open house
• Support to strategic plan work groups
• Additional support to City Council and the executive management team for plan development and implementation
Staff will continue to provide updates to Council and the community along the way through:
• Council briefings, as well as website, social media and print communications;
• Additional engagement in the development of the Strategic Plan to include Work Sessions to discuss choices, agree on solutions, promote ownership of draft strategies and actions; and another Community Open House for input from the community in-person and in real time.
Kelley Jacobs
Budget Officer
Attachments:
1. Resolution No. 2017-26
2. Resolution No. 2017-26, Exhibit A, Contingency Status
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