HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 14731
City of Palo Alto (ID # 14731)
Policy and Services Committee Staff Report
Meeting Date: 9/13/2022 Report Type: Action Items
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Title: Discussion and Recommendation to the City Council Regarding the City
Council Values Statement (Follow up to City Council Referral from February
2022)
From: City Manager
Lead Department: City Manager
Recommendation
Staff recommends that the Policy and Services Committee Discuss and Make a
Recommendation to the City Council to Consider Adopting a City Council Values Statement.
Background
At the April 12, 2022 Policy and Services Committee CMR #14243, the Committee discussed and
reviewed the February 5th City Council retreat referral to recommend a set of values that would
continue over successive years. The Committee voted to create an Ad Hoc committee
consisting of Councilmember Cormack and staff. The motion stated the following:
Direct staff to work with Council Member Cormack as an ad hoc to draft a set of values
for the City to include Fiscal Sustainability, Environmental Sustainability, Social Justice,
Healthy City Healthy Community, Innovation, Accountability/Transparency, Diversity and
Equity, and consider describing City services such as Public Safety. (Minutes)
The Ad Hoc met and developed a draft set of values and factored in mind existing missions and
values statements that currently exist. These statements include the City’s Mission Statement,
the Equity Mission Statement, and the Annual Budget Values Statement. Those statements are
included here as reference material.
City Mission Statement (Shown in the “Our City at Work” Document):
The government of the City of Palo Alto exists to promote and sustain a superior quality
of life in Palo Alto. In partnership with our community, our goal is to deliver cost-
effective services in a personal, responsive and innovative manner.
Equity Mission Statement:
The City of Palo Alto is committed to creating a respectful, fair, and professional
workplace and city. We will identify prejudices, eliminate inequities, welcome many
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perspectives, and use a collaborative approach to create an environment that works for
everyone. The City's commitment to achieve equity in Palo Alto is the shared
responsibility of our residents, organizations, governments, and other institutions.
(link: www.cityofpaloalto.org/raceandequity)
Values Statement in the Annual City Budget:
- Quality: Superior delivery of services
- Courtesy: providing service with respect and concern
- Efficiency: Productive, effective use of resources
- Integrity: straightforward, honest, and fair relations
- Innovation: excellence in creative thought and implementation
Discussion
City of Palo Alto Values
Values are organizational characteristics that are both stated explicitly and regularly reinforced.
When defining values, there is a trade-off between being specific and covering all aspects of an
organization. The effort to define a set of values can ideally both reinforce current practice and
recommit to organizational focus. While the City Council is engaged in this effort to define the
City Council Values Statement that responds to community priorities, it is also important that
staff engage in a parallel effort to refresh the workforce organizational values. This effort will
take place this Fall.
For the City Council Values Statement, based on the topics the Committee asked the Ad Hoc
Committee to explore for a values statement, as well as the existing mission statements, the Ad
Hoc recommends the following statement for Committee review and feedback.
Draft City Council Values Statement:
The Palo Alto City Council has universally shared values that help guide our decisions and
the work we do. These values include:
1. We will make decisions that balance revenues and expenses, now and in the future.
2. We will make decisions that respect the environment, now and in the future.
3. We will integrate equity into our decisions, considering how decisions affect people
differently based on their identity or circumstances.
4. We are a learning environment that believes in trying new things and leading the way.
5. We will build a healthy, safe, and welcoming environment for all in our community.
6. We follow through on our commitments and believe in open communication with all
members of our community.
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Timeline and Resource Impact
The next step after the Committee review is to take the recommendation to the full City Council
for consideration this calendar year. The goal would be to have the values statement adopted
prior to the 2023 City Council retreat. There is no resource impact for the City Council Values
Statement process.
Stakeholder Engagement
Annually at the City Council retreat and in the weeks preceding the retreat, the City Council
solicits information from the public about the priorities the City Council should consider for
annual priorities. The topic areas included in the draft City Council Values Statement above are
based on topics that regularly come up as priority areas for the City Council.