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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1987-01-15 Special Minutes - City Council RetreatPRESENT January 15, 1987 Tukwila City Hall 7:00 P.M. Council Chambers MODERATOR R. L. (DICK) EVERS DISCUSSION TUKWILA CITY COUNCIL RETREAT M I N U T E S GARY L. VAN DUSEN, Mayor; DON MORRISON, City Administrator; JIM HANEY, City Attorney; Council Members: JOE DUFFIE, Coun- cil President; MABEL HARRIS, ED BAUCH, WENDY MORGAN, CHARLES SIMPSON, MARILYN STOKENS, JAMES MCKENNA; LUCY LAUTERBACH, Council Analyst, MAXINE ANDERSON, City Clerk. The topics to be discussed are the roles and process of the City Council. In diagramming process, Mr. Evers drew a funnel shape: At the large end, the critical part is the identification of what the mission of the City is. Mission identifies why the City exists, what are the value systems, what is your stan- dard of excellence. What is the purpose of the City. Next is the Council developing strategic objectives for the City. These are the major concentration areas that Council wants to see results occur in over the next 5 to 10 years. This is the primary role of Council establishing the major emphasis points -these become the guiding principles for programs, etc. Generally, in establishing these objectives, Council receives input from the Mayor and Staff. Normally, these are the 4 to 6 major actions Council wants to have happen in the City. Council needs to be extremely clear in providing direction for the City. Moving down the "funnel," the next step is the key result. Generally Council, Mayor and Staff develop these together. Examples of key results are in financial-- personnel planning. The Council, Mayor and Staff together need to establish a standard of excellence for each key result. The progress could be reported on quarterly. Next are indicators -what are the indicators on how the City is performing. In the financial field it could be "budget to actual, or revenue projections; in the Fire Department, response time. From Indicator to Excellence -sets the standards of excellence the City should try to achieve. Objectives Next is the measure of actual performance com- pared to the excellence goal. For example, is the Fire Department meeting the established response time 80% of the time or how close are they? How close is the projected reve- nue? Council and Mayor will have to decide how close to the standard of excellence they want the City to be if it requires additional funding or more personnel. The Administration is responsible for last three items at the small end of the funnel, which are objectives, action plan and control. Mr. Evers encouraged joint Council -Staff retreats. It is needed for teambuilding. It gives a chance for staff to pre- sent ideas, thoughts, or positions. Council can consider these when planning objectives Part of the problem seems to be that Council is working on the first two items on the funnel; Mayor and Staff are working on the last three and the middle seems to be lacking. /fie tre cci- TUKWILA COUNCIL RETREAT January 15, 1987 Page 2 DISCUSSION Cont. Council Committees Committee of the Whole Summary of the procedure is: Council and Administration hold the first retreat. Council retreat follows where they sift through what was discussed with the City Administration and Department Heads. Out of this the mission and objectives are formulated and given to the Mayor. The Mayor takes his staff on their retreat where they discuss what the Council wants and make plans on how to proceed. Their plans must support the strategic objective of the Council. This is followed by a quarterly review to make sure the objective is being carried out. If it isn't, how can the objective be revised or how can the procedure be improved. The Committee system was discussed. Mr. Evers said some Council Members felt Council was operating with too many com- mittees. He suggested that the number be cut to four. A strategic objective for Council could be to install an accountability management process. Committee of the Whole meetings were also discussed. They are being treated like regular meetings, not work sessions. Three items which need to be looked at further are: 1. Need to agree on a process everyone can live with; 2. Need fewer committees; 3. Committee of the Whole needs to be changed to a work study atmosphere. Roles and Expectations City Council, Mayor and Staff have various roles. Some of these roles are shared. At times, there may be conflict bet- ween the roles of individuals Council reviewed and discussed key roles identified by Mr. Evers. City Council Evaluator, Goal Setter, Reviewer, Policy Maker, Monitor, Promoter, Sensor, Leader, Educator Mayor Integrator, Supervisor, Interpreter, Mediator, Manager, Enactor, Navigator, Sustainer, Innovator, Knowledge Giver, Timer, Promotor, Leader, Educator, Cutter, Scapegoat. City Staff Preparer, Detectors, Initiator, Implementer, Purser, Auditor, Integrator, Cutters, Supervisors. Council added Innovator and Knowledge Giver as part of their roles. The role of marketing the City belongs to both Council and Mayor. General Policy Makers was added to Council's roles. After listening to the discussion, Mr. Evers concluded that everyone seems to understand the role of the Mayor and Council; their process seems to be causing the problems. Discussion followed. Topic for some period of time was the process to be used in the Fire District #1 annexation -basic land use policies, tax and revenue strategies, basic transportation policies, annexation strategies. These are the types of things Council should devote their time and talents to. Start, stop, maintain Recess was taken to allow two groups to discuss "What do we need to start doing? What do we need to stop doing? Then, what do we want to maintain Re fir TUKWILA COUNCIL RETREAT January 15, 1987 Page 3 DISCUSSION Cont. START 1. Define and implement Council process. 2. More decision making at the Committee of the Whole Meetings. 3. Better use of long range planning tools. 4. All committee chairmen are changed each year. 5. More open communication on all levels, all ways. 6. Better way to communicate with the business district. 7. More time on regional outlook. 8. Committee structure. 9. Build trust between Council and Staff. 10. Increase standards of excellence and establish measure- ments. STOP 1. Stop attacking one another attack issues. 2. Stop being run by the budget -be results oriented. 3. Keep noise level down at Council Meetings -mics pickup background noise. 4. Eliminate last minute surprises. 5. Go forward- -make decisions. MAINTAIN J etre -.n 1. Be visible in the community. 2. Maintain accessibility. 3. Keep sense of humor. 4. Majority of Council and Administration are interested in the City maintain interest. Mayor Van Dusen said he would like to see us continue with what we started here; go ahead and have the normal weekend retreat and work the agenda so that Council can do some of the things they want to do as a body. Administration can do what they need to do and then we can do our homework and get together again. 'Buffi e, unci l P Dusen, Mayor M 7 Ga�L ?C CC,2_f l Maxine Anderson, Clerk