06-01-11 CC WS Mtg MinCITY OF SHOREWOOD
CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
MONDAY, JUNE 1, 2011
MINUI`ES
1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION
5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD
COUNCIL CHAMBERS
3:00 P.M.
Mayor Liz6c called the meeting to order at 3:09 P.M.
A. Roll Call
Present. Mayor Lizee; Council memhers Hotvet, Siakel, and Woodruff; Administrator 7Ieek;
Planning Director Nielsen; Director of Public Works Brown; Finance Director DeJong,
Engineer Landini; and Deputy Clerk Panchyshyn
Absent: Councilmember Zerby
B. Review Agenda
Siakel moved, Hotvet seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 4/0.
2. STRATEGIC PLANNING
Administrator Heck indicated since the last meeting he provided the revised Strategic Planning document
for review and discussion. He noted that he, Mayor Lizde, and Director of Public Works Brown attended a
Leadership and Performance Management Webinar held on May 25, which discussed the importance of
setting clear and concise goals, objectives and priorities. The webinar presenter discussed the need for a
"piercing clarity of mission in defining the outcomes and the measures." Heck noted we should strive to
apply this practice to our goals and objectives, so we all understand what this means. heck noted,
according to the Performance Measurement and Management in a Nutshell document discussed in the
webinar, the first step is to establish your clarity, the second step is to assemble the evidence, which staff
would do on the measure side of it to collect data, and then come back to evaluate how we did or if
anything was missed. Heck stated that Finance Director DeJong and he discussed the need for the
priorities to be tied to the budget.
Councilmember Siakel agreed and stated she believed this is what Council has been saying. She gave an
example of the recent discussion around Goal No. 1, and the signage as being one of the means for
identifying, or branding, Shorewood as a South Lake Community. However, at the last council meeting,
requests to approve signs for the parks, City Hall and the Southshore Center appeared on the agenda,
somewhat randomly, and Council then had to discuss cost. She questioned if this is an issue with the
process or lack of project timeline. She gave another example about the issue with the installation of the
park swing sets.
Heck stated he believes it is a combination of planning, communication and coordination. He noted that the
Capital Improvement Plan (CIP) is a 5-year outlook and some of the projects may not come to fruition,
depending on financial priorities. Regarding the swing set installation, the quote was put together with the
intention that the public works crew would install it; Heck noted there is an expectation that we can fall back
on public works to do all the work, but depending on their workload and priorities, this is not always possible.
Heck noted that the park signs were planned and in the budget. The Southshore Community Center sign was
not planned, fully discussed or budgeted for this year; it was an item that just came up and happened.
CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES
June 1, 2011
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Siakel stated she understands items may just come up; she indicated she was trying to get a better
understanding of the process in order to assist Council with the preparation of the Strategic Plan
document. She stated it is her understanding that the work Council is charged with in putting the
Strategic Plan document together is to know why we are doing it, what our objective is and what the plan
is, and then go through the timeline and how to measure it.
Heck concurred, and indicated he is not aware of Council doing this type of exercise in the past.
LizBe noted that the allocation of time or resources is an important consideration in preparing the
Strategic Plan and CIP.
In response to a comment by Councilmember Hotvet, Heck confirmed that the Strategic Plan document
would tie back to the budget and CIP.
Heck stated that at the last meeting, the group reviewed and prioritized the goals and Goal 1 is Foster
Greater Community In volvement/Engagement.
Hotvet suggested dropping the words "Foster Greater" from the heading of the Goal, and changing the
current word "Goal" to "Strategy" and to change the current word "Strategy" to "Plan ".
In response to a question from Siakel, Heck indicated he wants to review the first Goal (now called
Strategy), to make sure it is clear and that everyone understands what each item means. In reviewing the
goal, he noted we should be able to tie it back to a specific activity and identify a way to measure it. The
Strategy (now called Plan) should be clear and not have too many elements to it.
Council agreed that the information provided under Strategy 1 does capture what was discussed at the
previous meeting.
Heck asked if Greater Community Involvement/Engagement is a clear statement, and if not, how can it be
more clearly stated.
Siakel asked what is the desired outcome of the first Strategy - Greater Community Involvement/
Engagement. What are the reasons we want community involvement?
Some of the reasons suggested included level of services provided by city; educate citizens on current
events/ happenings; and volunteer opportunities which helps build a sense of community.
Discussion ensued on various objectives that fall under the strategy Community Involvement/
Engagement.
Siakel provided an example:
Strategy 1: Engage community and build citizen participation
Objective: Create and brand an identity for Shorewood as a South Lake Community. The objectives spell
out why it's a strategy.
Objective: Update existing signs
Plan: Update signs for City Hall, the Southshore Center, boundary signs, water towers, vehicles,
letterhead, newsletter, website - update all graphics.
Action /Tactic: Put on council agenda
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June 1, 2011
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Siakel noted that she sees the community survey being created in sections, and one section could be
around branding the community, and we could ask what does this mean to residents, and is it a priority.
Finance Director DeJong asked if the survey should be conducted before many of the identity changes are
made.
Siakel indicated that the Council made a decision to go forward with the border signs, and the question is
how in depth we want to go with establishing this identity.
Planning Director Nielsen suggested using the term establishing community identity instead of the term
branding; he felt this would help people to know they are in Shorewood and are part of the South Lake
Community. The term branding sounds commercial to him; he thought it sounds like we are trying to sell
something. He indicated the issue of establishing community identity is in the comprehensive plan.
Siakel suggested renaming the Objective to read: Establish a community identity for Shorewood as a
South Lake Community. She suggested the Plan would be to create a common tie through updating signs
in Shorewood. And under Action, the various signs and graphics to be updated would be listed.
13otvet stated the overall survey should come first as Objective 1.1; and this survey would include
questions from every Strategy area.
Heck stated that establishing a community identity for Shorewood as a South Lake Community would
then become Objective 1.2, and asked if there are any other items for creating the Plan for this Objective.
There were no further items at this time.
Heck indicated the next Objective 1.3 is to develop a community marketing plan and coordinate with
South Lake Partners.
Siakel asked for clarification on what this objective means.
Discussion ensued on what this objective means. It was thought to be related to coordination and
collaboration efforts with other communities in areas such as parks and recreation.
Planning Director Nielsen indicated he sees the Strategy being citizen participation, which has the
following three parts:
1) Awareness — this includes communications with residents and creating the Shorewood identity
through signs and graphics on the newsletter, water towers, legal notices, website, letterhead,
graphics /logos on vehicles, and items such as that.
2) Engagement — it is more difficult to get people engaged; this is where we want to get feedback;
the survey would fall under this, as well as the all -call system, serving as an information clearing house,
establish focus groups, citizen academy.
3) Involvement — this is getting people to serve on commissions and committees and getting a
volunteer pool. It would also include the master gardeners.
Discussion ensued on the process that Council is going through to establish the Strategic Plan and
acknowledges this is a difficult, time - consuming process that will not be easy, especially considering that
we are not using a skilled facilitator to help with the process.
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June I, 2011
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Discussion ensued on the objective Develop Community Marketing Plan and Coordinate with South Lake
Partners and how this relates to neighboring communities identifying with the South Lake Community.
Woodruff noted that a focus group could be used to pull together representatives from each city and
present the proposition of having a multi -city community identity to them and see what they think.
It was determined that the Plan for this objective would be to present this idea to the various
representatives of the focus group to get their feedback. This is something that could be done now, prior
to conducting a survey.
Discussion ensued on how and where to 'find people to serve on the focus group. Specific constituents
would be selected and invited to participate; it was suggested this would be good to do after the new
Shorewood signs are placed, which have the South Lake Community phrase on them.
Discussion followed on what the expected outcome is and what is being measured when looking at the
various Objectives. The example of people not knowing what community they live in was discussed. The
initial survey could ask a question such as "what community do you identify with." The results from this
question would establish a baseline to find out how many people identify themselves with living in
Shorewood. Then in a year or two, the question could be asked on another survey to see if the border
signs and other city identity signs have had an impact on what community our residents identify
themselves with.
Heck noted that some of the objectives will have a continuous measure, and some will have a specific
outcome to be measured.
Siakel suggested we target the date for mailing the survey to be around October 1
Discussion ensued on how to determine the survey questions, and flow to conduct and distribute the
survey, such as by mail, phone, on -line, etc. A consultant will likely be used to determine the survey
questions and assist with the best way to conduct the survey.
Siakel suggested we use a flip chart the next time the group meets to assist in keeping track of the group's
discussion on the various objectives, plan, action /tactic, measures, etc.
Discussion followed on what the citizen academy item is. Several cities have a citizen academy. In some
cities, the citizen academy is a program that residents can attend to learn about the various departments. It
includes the police department, as well as all other city departments such as planning, engineering, public
works, finance, etc.
Siakel indicated she thought a program like this would be timely, as it would bring residents in and help
them to understand the value of the services the city provides,
Lizee turned the meeting over to Administrator Heck as she had to depart the meeting at 430 p.m.
Discussion ensued on the All -Call System which is a recorded phone message for emergency situations.
This type of system is used in the school districts where it calls the database of phone numbers provided
by the parents and leaves a recorded message. It also can send a text message, if requested in that format.
Some police departments also have used this system for alerts. The city could use this type of system for
emergency announcements, project updates, and informational items. Staff would likely be assigned to
investigate the use of this system in other communities and options for sharing in the system with another
CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES
June 1,2011
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entity.
The next item discussed by the group was Clearing House for hlformation. This item involves the
coordination of a master calendar with other communities to identify the various events in the area.
Discussion ensued on the Volunteer Recruitment item. One current, existing use of volunteers are with the
Adopt a Garden program, where volunteers plant and maintain the gardens at the Shorewood parks; this
has been an on -going project for several years that is now well - established. It was determined that the
process for managing volunteers, identifying projects for volunteers, how to get people interested and
engaged in serving as a volunteer, and recognizing volunteers needs to be determined.
Woodruff departed the meeting at 4:45 p.m.
Heck provided a review of the group's discussion. It was determined that the item Develop a Community
Marketing Plan be removed from the list. Heck stated he would email an updated Strategic Plan document
to everyone for review and feedback.
3. ADJOURN
Siakel moved, Hotvet seconded, adjourning the meeting at 4:50 p.m.
RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED,
Jean Panchyshyn, Recorder
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Christine Lizee, Mayor
ATTEST s'
Brian H Xc�jm mstrator /Clerk
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