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HomeMy WebLinkAboutStaff Report 158-06TO: FROM: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: 8 CITY MANAGER’S OFFICE DATE: SUBJECT: MARCH 6, 2006 CMR: 158:06 PROPOSED MILESTONES FOR COUNCIL "TOP 3" PRIORITIES FY 2006-07 RECOMMENDATION Staff recommends that the City Council approve the proposed milestones for the FY 2006-07 Council Top 3 Priorities. Staff is also requesting further direction regarding the "Infrastructure" priority. BACKGROUND On January 21, 2006, Council held its annual retreat and reviewed the current Top 5 Priorities. During the retreat, the City Manager provided Council with a report of key Top 5 accomplishments over the last year. In prior year’s priority setting process, the City Manager and Council agreed upon the following assumptions regarding the Council’s priorities: 1.If everything is a priority, nothing is. 2.Major priorities require multi-years to achieve efforts. 3.The City’s budget must reflect the Council’s priorities. 4.Staff will provide Council with reports on success factors/milestones to ensure accountability. 5.Council and staff must communicate on a regular basis through a variety of means, and let the community know the status of the top Priorities. 6. Council and staff need to avoid adding new projects and activities to the "full plate." This is a joint responsibility of Council and top management to keep from having attention diverted from priorities. It is important to recognize that 90 percent of the departments’ work is not on the list of priorities. 7. If the Council adds new projects and activities during the year, it is the responsibility of the City Manager to clearly indicate the impact on the top priorities and the ongoing workload. After some discussion, Council decided to reduce the current number of priorities from five (with 20 milestones) to following three priorities: )- Emergency and Disaster Preparedness and Response CMR:158:06 Page 1 of 3 Infrastructure Increase Infrastructure Funding Council took an informal vote on these priorities during the meeting which resulted in unanimous support. The newly agreed upon ’"Top 3 Priorities" document is attached to this report (Attachment t). DISCUSSION Staff carefully reviewed Council’s suggestions from the January 21 discussion and prepared proposed milestones for each priority (Attachment 2) for FY 2006-07. The milestones incorporate significant projects and provide estimated completion dates for each of the priorities. Staff proposed milestones that are measurable and attainable. "Infrastructure" Priority Staff struggled with developing a timeline and milestones for the second priority, which the Council tentatively titled, "Infrastructure." Council discussion at the retreat appeared to anticipate bringing a funding proposal for both the police building and library facilities in time for a November 2007 ballot measure or measures. This poses challenges for several reasons. The Police Building Blue Ribbon Task Force has developed a schedule of meetings that systematically explores key issue areas prior to forging a recommendation. The Task Force has doubled its scheduled meetings from monthly to bi-monthly to achieve this, and also plans a public outreach element at the end of the process before making its recommendations to the Council. Optimistically, this process could be completed by July 2006, but may require that the schedule be len~hened to allow public input to occur after the summer vacation season. If Council were to take up the Task Force recommendations in the fal! and make a decision to proceed with a specific project, preparation of an Environmental Impact Report and building design development and review required to put a measure on the ballot would take a minimum of one year. This would make it virtually impossible to have any funding proposal on a November 2007 ballot. For the library system, there are also challenges. The Library Advisory Commission also anticipates requiring time to analyze the results of the survey and incorporating it into recommendations to the Council, again probably completing its deliberations and public input process by fall 2006. Initial analysis of the results of the library community survey would indicate the public puts greater priority on service enhancements such as improved collections, more convenient hours of service and more children’s programs, and. lesser emphasis on renovating existing facilities or expanding/building new ones. Coordinating the calendars for the police building and the library system is difficult at this time without knowing more about the nature of the Library Commission’s recommendations. Calendar coordination ultimately may not be necessary, or may take on a different perspective, for example because a funding mechanism such as a bond measure would not support service improvements. CMR:158:06 Page 2 of 3 Consequently, staff believes the Council should consider either revising the current priority, tentatively titled "Infrastructure," to reflect that the priority for the library system would extend beyond facilities improvements; or creating separate priorities for the Police Building and the Library System. In taking this action, the Council would be recognizing that the two priorities have somewhat independent timelines, reflective of the nature of each of the separate efforts. Also, the milestones for the Library and Police Building priorities would show recommendations from advisory bodies by November 2006, in time for Council direction on how to proceed with the projects in December 2006. The earliest date for a ballot measure would consequently be November 2008. The Council Top 3 Priorities will be in effect from July 1, 2006, until June 30, 2007. Staff will present semi-annual progress reports on the Top 3 Priorities begilming in January 2007. RESOURCE IMPACT The proposed milestones for the Council Top 3 Priorities, if approved by Council, will be included in the City Manager’s FY 2006-07 Proposed Budget. The budget document will identify the financial impact of the Top 3 Priorities and the related milestones. ATTACHMENTS 1. The Top 3 Priorities - January 21, 2006 2. The Proposed Top 3 Workplan FY 2006-07 PREPARED BY: Chris Mogensen,to the City Manager CITY MANAGER APPROVAL: Emil;arrlson, CMR:158:06 Page 3 of 3 0 I.U Z C d c r- © 0 ~o~ .o c E oE0o,£o c 0o D D c 0 c 0 h" 0 O~ E 0 I J_ r- c E E0o 0