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01-23-12 CC WS Mtg MinCITY OF SHOREWOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MONDAY, JANUARY 23, 2012 MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 6:00 P.M. Mayor Liz& called the meeting to order at 6:00 P.M. A. Roll Call Present. Mayor Lizde; Councilmembers Hotvet, Siakel, Woodruff and %erby; Administrator Heck; Finance Director DeJong; Planning Director Nielsen; Director of Public Works Brown; and Engineer L,andini Absent: None B. Review Agenda Siakel moved, Zerby seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 5/0. 2. STRATEGIC PLANNING Administrator Heck read the City's current mission statement "The City of Shorewood is committed to providing residents quality public services, a healthy environment, a variety of attractive amenities, a sustainable tax base, and sound financial management through effective, efficient, and visionary leadership." Council and staff developed this mission statement in February 2012. He asked Council if the mission is still accurate. There was Council consensus that the mission statement is still accurate. Administrator Heck stated Council and staff also developed a list of major internal and external factors that impact the City's ability to provide quality services last February. A copy was included in the meeting packet. For example, back then Council and staff stated they wanted better Council and staff alignment, shared goals, and teamwork. He asked Council if it wanted to expand on any of those things. Mayor Lizee stated she would like an intranet to make it easier to share information between Council and staff about projects and project status. Director DeJong asked if that type of system would conflict with the open meeting law statutes. Administrator Heck stated the City can have an intranet that allows for the sharing of information, provided there isn't any type of decision making or polling of Councilmembers. Councilmember Hotvet asked if the plan is to work on identifying objectives for the goals identified last February or is it to determine if the issues align with what was identified last year. Administrator Heck stated from his vantage point Council and staff is reviewing internal assets that will help in achieving the goals. The internal factors identified last February are barriers that could stand in the way of achieving the stated goals. Councilmember Siakel stated from her perspective there hasn't been much change in the outcome from the two strategic planning sessions Council and staff had last February when a number of goal were identified.. She suggested picking up where things left off in 2011. She stated one component of strategic CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES January 23, 2012 Page 2 of 4 planning discussed last February was priority based budgeting. Council and staff discussed that police and fire are the City's top priorities. She then stated by focusing on that component and implementing it, Council and staff can flesh out the priorities for the City. She went on to state the the resident survey will also help in setting priorities and establishing objectives. She suggested focusing on priority based budgeting would be more beneficial at this time. Administrator Heck stated it makes sense to do that only if Council believes there are not any additional internal or external issues that should be discussed and added to the lists. He then stated implementing a means to make communication between Council and staff more efficient is new; it wasn't talked about last February. He noted the document titled City Service Prioritization -- General Services included in the meeting packet identifies, by department, the various services the City provides as well what staff thinks the priority of those services is. Councilmember Siakel stated she found that document to be helpful. Councilmember Siakel stated she thought the planning and communication pieces are missing. For example, in the Prioritization document Recycling (under Administration) identifies Julie Moore as being responsible for coordinating recycling activities for the City. In 2011, the City applied for and received a grant to conduct an organics recycling pilot project. It doesn't say anything about that project or the status of it. She expressed interest in wanting to know what is being done. Councilmember Hotvet stated the prioritization document should include a measurement component, noting Council and residents would like that information. She then stated the intranet piece could be as simple as using Google Does. Administrator Heck stated that is too detailed for this point in the process. He noted he did not think solid goals have been identified and agreed upon yet. He acknowledged that providing measurement information is important. He suggested Council first focus on solidifying the goals and priorities. He noted the GreenStep Cities Program project is very extensive and he asked Council if achieving all of the steps required for the City to be classified as a GreenStep City is a priority over ever everything else. He stated that Councilmember Hotvet sent him something about transit oriented development. He asked what that priority should be. He suggested Council first focus on solidifying goals. After that is completed, specific objectives can be identified. Councilmember Zerby state he thought Council and staff identified goals last February. He suggested Council quickly review the goals identified last year and decide if they are still valid. Administrator Heck stated he thought it prudent for Council to reach agreement on what the goals mean. He commented that if he asked each Councilmember one on one what they thought each goal meant he would get five different answers. Councilmember Siakel stated it appears that Administrator Heck is frustrated and she noted that she is also frustrated. She noted that strategic planning is not an easy process. She stated she and the other Councilmembers understand that it is their responsibility to set the goals. She then stated she wants to know what some of the key issues are for the City. She doesn't want to find out in June that the City is going to be over budget because the focus has been on goals. She went on to state if priority based budgeting and being fiscally responsible is not one of the goals it needs to be added and that is where this process should start. She noted that she wants to gain a better understanding department needs and issues. She used the Equipment Replacement CIP as an example. Administrator Heck said he is not frustrated; He explained what he hears Councilmember Siakel wanting to do, is to go into the budget and establish priorities for funding operations. That is different from a strategic planning process. During a strategic planning process, one of the first things that is done is establish broad goals that set the direction then the agreed upon goals can be prioritized. When that is CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES January 23, 2012 Page 3 of 4 completed staff develops the objectives and tactics for achieving the goals, which are then factored into the budget process. Councilmember Hotvet stated the cross reference with the resident survey results about what they think the City's priorities are is missing as are measurement tools. Councilmember Woodruff stated that he is hearing something different from what he thought Council agreed to during its January 9, 2012, work session about strategic planning. During that meeting, Administrator Heck presented an outline for this strategic planning process. Council agreed to follow the process presented. Fle hears some Councilmembers indicating they want to skip a few steps in that outline. He expressed concern that by going into the detail right away some of the higher level items will not be addressed. Mayor Lizde stated she agrees with Councilmember Zerby's suggestion to review the goals identified last February and verify if they are still valid. She then stated Council is looking forward to hearing the presentation on the survey results during its February 13, 2012, work session. Councilmember Zerby noted during the January 9`' work session Administrator Heck's timeline indicated that during this meeting Council would review the City's strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats developed last February and revise it as necessary. Council was also to be provided with a detailed list of City provided programs and services to review and refine. He stated he thought the goals have already been defined. They can be quickly reviewed to ensure they are still applicable. Administrator Heck stated planned for Council to validate / revise the outcomes from the February 2011 strategic planning sessions. He then stated what he hears is Council is comfortable with those outcomes and that it has a desire to discuss more of the details. He went on to state that priority based budgeting is not a goal in and of it self. It is a tool that will help Council and staff to get some of the detail of things. Councilmember Siakel stated that from her perspective, priority based budgeting and the results of the resident survey will help validate the goals identified in February 2011. Administrator Heck stated after Council has agreed to a specific goal it then needs to agree with what that goal means. Councilmember Woodruff stated objectives add specificity to the goals. Tasks are the action steps necessary to achieve an objective. He then stated he has no problem with revalidating the goals identified in February 2011. Councilmember Zerby suggested starting there, while noting six goals are identified in the document Council discussed during its January 9, 2012, work session. Woodruff suggested that per the suggestion of Councilmember Siakel there ought to be a goal that indicates Council and staff will use a priority based budgeting process for the 2013 budget. Administrator Heck stated an objective for priority based budgeting should be added. Woodruff stated there should be some financial goal and priority based budgeting could be an objective of that goal. Administrator Heck reviewed the goals identified last year. These goals are: foster greater community involvement through open communication and transparent decision making; respond to service needs, for changing community demographics; provide safe and diverse transportation options to meet the needs of the residents; provide and expand recreational opportunities for residents of all ages, address water quality and other natural resource challenges; identify city economic and redevelopment opportunities; identify options with other communities in the delivery of services. Councilmember Siakel suggested adding financial management goal. Councilmember Woodruff agreed with that because sound financial management is part of the mission statement. CITY OF SHOREWOOD WORK SESSION MEETING MINUTES January 23, 2012 Page 4 of 4 Councilmember Woodruff stated each component of the mission statement should have a related goal and Council and staff have to decide on the objectives to accomplish the goal. After discussion, another goal was added related to financial management. This goal statement is commitment to sound financial management through effective utilization of financial resources. There was consensus that priority based budgeting could be an objective of that goal. Councilmember Siakel stated it sounds to her as if Council agrees with the eight goals. She reiterated the need for Council to review the resident survey results to ensure the goals and objectives reflect what the residents believe is important to the City. She stated that from her vantage point the natural starting point is goal eight. She then stated that for the last few years Council has balanced the City's General Fund Budget by taking funds from other City funds to do that. She noted she does not want to do that every year. She suggested Council and staff discuss what needs to be done and that can be accomplished through priority based budgeting. Administrator Heck stated he interprets Councilmember Siakel to be suggesting that one of the 2013 objectives she wants considered under goal eight is to eliminate subsidizing the General Fund from other funds. Siakel clarified that eventually she would Like the City to be able to do that, but before that can happen she needs to gain a better understanding of what the various City departments do. Siakel stated Council and staff need to determine if the goals are reasonable and feasible. Administrator Heck stated after the results of the resident survey are presented to Council during its February 13 work session the results can be incorporated into the eight goals. The goals can then be prioritized. He reiterated it is staffs responsibility to identify the tactics for achieving the goals. Councilmember Woodruff commented the strategic plan is flexible. Councilmember Zerby stated at some point there needs to be an agreed upon plan that can be placed on the City's website. He commented that maybe goal zero should be to publish the strategic plan on the City's website by March 1, 2012. ADJOURN Woodruff moved, Siakel seconded, Adjourning the City Council Work Session of January 23, 2012, at 6:50 P.M. Motion passed 5/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED Christine Freeman, Recorder Christine Lizee, Mayor