HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 14243
City of Palo Alto (ID # 14243)
Policy and Services Committee Staff Report
Meeting Date: 4/12/2022 Report Type: Action Items
City of Palo Alto Page 1
Title: Discussion of City Council Referral Related to Strategic Priorities and
Values
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Manager
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Policy and Services Committee discuss the City Council referral
related to strategic priorities and a set of values of the City and the Community.
Background
At the February 5, 2022 City Council retreat, the City Council sent the following motion to the
Policy and Services Committee as an outcome of the 2022 Priorities discussion:
Refer the Policy and Services Committee to:
A. Recommend to the Council a set of values that would continue over successive years
as values of the city and the community;
B. Consider the following topics, but not limited to:
i. Fiscal Sustainability;
ii. Social Justice;
iii. Healthy City Healthy Community; and
iv. Environmental Sustainability.
Discussion
The City Council at the February 5 retreat discussed the difference between annual priorities
and broader values which should be engrained in all City work. The City Council had a desire to
continue this discussion and asked the Policy and Services Committee to further discuss it. This
item for April 12 is just an initial conversation on this topic knowing that this topic may need
more dialogue.
For reference of City Council annual priorities over the years, the CMR #13744 at the Council
retreat (packet page 11, Attachment B) references this information.
For additional context to help with the discussion, staff researched “values” and found the
City of Palo Alto Page 2
following useful information:
- “Values” are broadly defined as the principles or standards that you believe are
important in the way you live and work; for an organization, they are fundamental
beliefs that serve as guiding principles.
- According to Forbes, “an organization's values should be the bedrock of why the
company exists, how behavioral norms are defined, and how decisions are made in
order to achieve goals and fulfill the vision. They must be authentic and relatively
specific, so they actually resonate with the team.”