01-15-2008 - Scheduling City Council Goal Setting Sessions9 40
City of West Covina
Memorandum
TO: Andrew G. Pasmant, City Manager
and City Council
FROM: Artie A. Fields, Assistant City Manager
AGENDA
ITEM NO. H -2
DATE January 15, 2008
SUBJECT: SCHEDULING CITY COUNCIL GOAL SETTING SESSIONS
RECOMMENDATION:
It is recommended that the City Council direct staff. accordingly
DISCUSSION:
At the December 18, 2007 City Council meeting, Mayor Pro Tem Roger Hernandez received the
City Council's consensus instructing City staff to prepare a report related to scheduling City
Council Goal Setting Sessions.
On January 10, 2005, the City Council conducted a special City Council meeting to discuss goals
for the upcoming year. The following is a list of goals that the City Council established and
were later incorporated into the Fiscal Year 2005-2006 Budget process:
■ Balance the Budget
■ Update General Plan
■ Downtown Revitalization
■ Economic and Mixed -Use Development
■ Complete Commercial and Recreational Facility at BKK Site
■ Improve Infrastructure
It is important to note than some of these priorities were put on hold due to fiscal and budgetary
constraints.
Strategic planning determines where an organization is going over the next year or more, how it's
going to get there and how it'll know if it got there or not. This year the City of West Covina
will be adopting its second two-year budget for Fiscal Years 2008-2010. Historically, the City
utilizes the budget process as the primary goal setting session for determining the policies and
programs that are of importance to the City Council and the fiscal abilities to move those
projects and programs forward. In addition, the City also utilizes the Redevelopment
Implementation Plan as a tool for determining projects and programs to be developed in West
Covina.
The focus of a strategic plan is to outline the goals of the City Council for the entire
community/organization over a period of time (one, three, or five years are common). With the
upcoming adoption of a two-year budget, the City Council may find it more appropriate to
establish goals that focus on the City Council's goals over the two-year period within the fiscal
constraints adopted in the budget document. This will assist the City Council in establishing
realistic and obtainable goals that are agreed to by the Council as a whole. Currently, City staff
is looking at various programs and projects to present, during the budget process to the City
Council, in an effort to bridge the anticipated budget gap this year. It is premature to say how
much these programs and projects will bridge the gap, but City staff is analyzing them for
discussion in the upcoming months. Projects and Programs include: budget cuts, analysis of
revenue enhancements, potential revenues from annexation of surrounding County property,
franchising of solar power facilities, etc.
The role of the City Manager in this process is to provide direction and leadership to City staff to
insure implementation of those goals.
OPTIONS:
,The City Council has the following options:
1. Establish City Council Goals as part of the budget adoption process;
'2. Instruct City staff to schedule a Special City Council Meeting for a Goal Setting Session;
3. Instruct City staff to hire a facilitator and schedule a Special City Council Meeting for a
Goal Setting' Session; or
4. Receive and file this informational report.
FISCAL IMPACT:
There is no cost associated with setting a Special Meeting of the City Council for a Goal Setting
Session. If the City Council wanted to hire a facilitator to assist in the goal setting session, the
costs are estimated to be between $5,000 and $10,000, depending on the level of involvement of
the facilitator.
Prepared by:
(?(2 Z C- rO
Chris Freeland
Assistant to the City Manager
Ap .ov�d by:
Artie A. Fields
Assistant City Manager