HomeMy WebLinkAbout12/08/1998, 3 - GOAL-SETTING PROCESS FOR 1999-01 council
j ac En ba Report
CITY O F SAN LUIS O B I S P O
FROM: Bill Statler,Director of Finance UY?J
SUBJECT: GOAL-SETTING PROCESS FOR 1999-01
CAO RECOMAONDATION
Approve the goal-setting process for 1999-01.
DISCUSSION
Background
On October 20, 1998, the Council approved the preliminary schedule for preparing the 1999-01
Financial Plan and conceptual approach to Council goal-setting as part of this process. Under the
approved approach, we will continue using a multi-year budget that begins with the Council
setting goals for the most important things for the City to accomplish over the next two years.
Based on our experience over the past eight years, this has been a successful process in assuring
that the fundamental purpose of the City's budgetary process is achieved: linking what we want to
accomplish for our community over the next two years with the resources necessary to do so.
Two-Step Approach
We will again use a "two-step" approach to the Council goal-setting process, and as previously
approved by the Council,use Don Maruska as our facilitator at both workshops:
■ Community workshop. Held on the evening of Tuesday, January 12, the purpose of this
"community forum"is to solicit suggested goals and work programs from Council advisory
bodies, community groups and interested individuals. In notices sent to these groups, we
have requested that written suggestions be provided to us by January 4, 1999. To ensure
that adequate space is available for this workshop,it will be held at The Forum.
■ Council goal-setting workshop. Following the receipt of written and oral comments on
January 12, the goal-setting workshop will be held on Saturday, January 30 in the Library
Community Room.
Goal-Setting Process
Provided in Exhibits A and B are detailed descriptions of the proposed objectives, approach,
schedule and roles for both the community forum and goal-setting workshops, summarized as
follows:
■ The January 12 community forum is intended to solicit suggestions from Council
advisory bodies, community groups and interested individuals on proposed City goals-
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Council Agenda Report—Goal-Setting Process for 1999-01
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what is being requested, why the presenter believes it is important to the community so
the Council learns the underlying hope or objective, and how the underlying hope can be
creatively achieved. Council members will be provided with worksheets to assist them in
taking notes, and brief summaries of the what, why and how will be recorded on flip
charts organized into broad goal categories based on the six major City functions used in
the Financial Plan: public safety, public utilities, transportation, leisure, cultural & social
services, community development and general government. City staff will summarize the
results of the workshop and distribute them to the Council by January 15, 1999.
■ At the all-day January 30 workshop, the Council will review the status of current major
City goals and consider the City's fiscal outlook. This will be followed by the first step
in "goal-setting:" reviewing the consolidated summary of goals presented by Council
members to ensure clarity, completeness and understanding; and then narrowing the list
to candidate goals that are supported by at least three Council members. After this step,
the staff will prepare a final listing that the Council can use in prioritizing goals. In the
past, the Council has used a ranking system of 5 through 0 for each candidate goal,
summarized as follows:
5—Most important,highest priority goal for the City to achieve over the next two years.
4—Very important goal for the City to achieve.
3—Important goal for the City to achieve.
2—Not as important to achieve as other candidate goals.
1—Address only if existing resources are available to fund the goal.
0—Should be deferred for consideration to the 2001-03 Financial Plan.
Depending on the number of candidate goals, total points available to individual Council
members has ranged in the past from 50 to 75—about 3 points per candidate goal.
Staff will summarize the results of the Council's ranking during a break at the workshop. Based
on our past experience,it is likely that three priority"tiers"will emerge from this process:
■ Major City goals. These represent the most important,highest priority goals for the City
to accomplish over the next two years, and as such, resources to accomplish them should
be included in the 1999-01 Financial Plan. If the work program approved by the Council
for a major City goal is not included in the Preliminary Financial Plan prepared by the
CAO, compelling reasons and justification must be provided as to why resources could
not be made available to achieve this goal.
■ Other important goals. Goals in this category are important for the City to accomplish,
and resources should be made available in the 1999-01 Financial Plan if at all possible.
■ Address as resources permit. While it is desirable to achieve these goals over the next
two years, doing so is subject to current resource availability.
If needed, continued consideration of the goal-setting is scheduled for the next regular Council
meeting following the January 30 workshop—February 2, 1999.
Council Agenda Report--Goal-Setting Process for 1999-01
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Council Homework Assignment. Provided in Exhibit C is the Council's "homework
assignment"for the January 30 workshop. It requests that Council members prepare and submit
their suggested goals by January 21. These will then be consolidated with other Council member
goals based on common themes and distributed on January 25 for review and consideration
before the workshop.
Major City Goal Criteria. Provided in Exhibit D is the suggested "criteria for major City goals"
which have been used by the Council for the past eight years.
Extensive Notification. We have made extensive efforts to invite community and advisory body
participation in this process,including:
■ Briefing with advisory body chairs on October 8 on their role in the process at the
quarterly Mayor/Advisory Body Chair meeting; and follow-up reminder to advisory body
chairs.
■ Notices to over 175 community groups and interested individuals inviting them to submit
written suggestions, participate in the community forum and attend the goal-setting
workshop.
■ "Community Budget Bulletin"inserts in our utility bills requesting goal suggestions from
our citizens and inviting them to participate in the community forum. This will reach
about 13,000 households.
■ Notice in our Winter parks and recreation program brochure about the goal-setting
process; over 18,000 copies of this brochure are distributed.
■ Cards that Council Members can hand-out in informal contacts inviting participation.
■ Display ads will be run in January in San Luis Magazine, Telegram-Tribune and New
Times.
Goal Setting Workshop Notebooks. To help organize all the background information that
Council members will receive as part of this goal-setting process,notebooks will be distributed at
the January 5, 1999 Council meeting with the following ten sections:
■ Agendas for the January 12 and January 30 workshops.
■ Status of current goals and objectives.
■ Suggested goals received by January 4 from community groups and interested individuals
(additional submissions received after this date will be distributed to the Council in a
three-hole punch format for inclusion in the notebook).
■ Suggested goals received from Council advisory bodies.
■ Suggested goals presented by the staff.
■ Summary of results from the January 12 workshop (to be distributed on January 15).
■ Five year fiscal forecast(to be distributed on January 15).
■ Consolidated Council member goals (to be distributed on January 25).
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Council Agenda Report—Goal-Setting Process for 1999-01
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■ Other background information such as the 1999-01 Financial Plan calendar, outlines for
the community and goal-setting workshops, Council homework assignments, criteria for
major City goals and Financial Plan policies.
■ Notes and space for other supplemental materials that the Council may receive.
Council Goal Work Programs
After the Council finalizes goals and objectives for 1999-01, the staff will prepare detailed work
programs for each of them. Based on past experience, it is important for the Council to reach
consensus not only on the objective, but on the program, action plan and resources that will be
needed to accomplish it as well. Unless the staff fully understands the propose scope and
timeframe that the Council intended, we can not identify needed resources; and without this
understanding, the Preliminary Financial Plan may significantly over(or under) fiord the desired
work effort.
In short, before the staff begins to build the Preliminary Financial Plan around Council goals, it
is essential that we have a clear understanding of what the Council hopes to achieve with each
goal over the next two years. Accordingly,the purpose of each work programs is to:
■ Define and scope the adopted goal.
■ Ensure that there is a clear understanding of the goal so appropriate resources are
allocated, and progress can be measured in achieving it.
This is especially important in the case of objectives where fully achieving the goal is likely to
extend well beyond the two-year Financial Plan period. However, we can measure progress—
and our success in accomplishing the goal by clearly defining the specific actions we plan to
undertake over the next two years.
We plan to present the goal work programs to the Council on April 6, 1999.
Next Steps
The Financial Plan calendar approved by the Council on October 20, 1998 is provided in Exhibit
E. After the community forum and goal-setting workshop in January, key dates in the budget
process include:
Tuesday, February 2 Follow-up to Councilgoal-setting if needed. Continued
Regular Meeting consideration of goal-setting at the next regularly scheduled
Council meeting following the January 30 workshop if needed.
Tuesday, February 23 Mid-year budget review. Consider the City's fiscal status at
Special Meering the mid-point of the fiscal year and make appropriation
adjustments as necessary.
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Council Agenda Report—Goal-Setting Process for 1999-01
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Tuesday,April 6 Council goal work programs. Review and approve detail
Regular Meeting work programs to accomplish Council goals; provide other
budget direction as needed.
Monday,May 10 CAO issues Preliminary Financial Plan.
Monday,May 17 Budget workshop. Review the Financial Plan and consider
Special Budget Workshop General Fund operating programs.
Wednesday,May 19 Budget workshop. Consider General Fund capital
Special Budget Workshop improvement plan(CIP)projects.
Tuesday,May 25 Budget workshop. Consider Enterprise Fund operating
Special Budget Workshop programs, CIP projects,revenue requirements and rates.
Tuesday,June l Public hearing. Continue to discuss and receive public
Regular Meeting comment on the Preliminary Financial Plan.
Tuesday,June 15 Public hearing. Continue to discuss and receive public
Regular Meeting comment on the Preliminary Financial Plan; adopt the budget.
SUMMARY
Council goal-setting is an important"first step" in the City's Financial Plan process. In fact, it is
important to stress just this fact—it is the beginning of the budget process, not the end. Setting
goals—and subsequently approving work programs—is not adoption of the budget. As reflected
in the budget calendar above, this will not occur until June of 1999, following issuance of the
Preliminary Financial Plan and extensive budget workshops and hearings.
EJIHBITS
A. Outline for community workshop (January 12)
B. Outline for Council goal-setting workshop (January 30)
C. Council member submissions for the goal-setting workshop
D. Criteria for major City goals
E. Budget calendar
G:Finance/1999-01 Financial Plan/Cormcil Goal-Setting/Agenda Reports/Goal-Setting Process Agenda Report—December 8,1998
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Exhibit
Outline for Community Workshop
7:00 - 11:00 p.m., Tuesday, January 12, 1999
Obnectives
• Gain valuable input from advisory boards, community groups, and citizens on
proposed City goals—"What" the community wants.
• Encourage discussion about "Why" the goals or projects are of interest to
the presenters so that the Council learns what are the underlying hopes or
objectives.
• Explore "How" the underlying hopes or objectives can be met— alternative
approaches, opportunities for collaboration or shared resources with other
parties, and requests for additional alternatives to be developed with City staff
assistance where appropriate.
• Assist Council members in the preparation of their thoughts, priorities, and
candidate goals.
Approach
1. Request presenters to briefly summarize: requested goals (which most will
have submitted in writing), why the goals would contribute to a better San
Luis Obispo, alternative approaches, and opportunities for collaboration.
2. Record brief summaries of the "what", "why", and "how" for the requests
on separate flip charts organized by goal categories: public safety; public
utilities; transportation; leisure, cultural & social services; community
development; and general government.
3. Encourage Council members to ask questions and use worksheets to
formulate their list of possible candidate goals.
4. Review the array of goals by category at the end of the evening workshop
and develop key themes about the community's hopes and potential ways to
realize them.
5. Distribute results from the meeting: central themes on San Luis Obispo's
hopes and aspirations, suggested goals, and alternatives (including any
follow up results from staff and community groups). (provide these materials
and five-year fiscal forecast to Council members by January 15]
Schedule
7:00 - 7:05 p.m. Welcome Mayor
7:05 - 7:20 p.m. Introduction (process, past goals, criteria for
major City goals, summary of fiscal outlook,
and Key Values for the City) CAO
7:20 - 9:50 p.m. Community input Public
9:50 - 10:00 p.m. break
10:00 - 11:00 p.m. Summary: key hopes expressed, potential goals,
and further work needed. All
Roles
Mayor: call and recognize the presenters, participate actively with other Council
members.
Council members: listen, ask questions, note areas of interest for candidate
goals, and participate in developing summary themes at the end of evening.
Staff: gather and organize public input prior to workshop, develop and submit
staff suggestions for Council consideration (provide written copies for public at
the workshop), present staff suggestions at end of public input, record `What",
"why", and "how" on flip charts.
Coach: elicit the "what", "why", and "how" from presenters, keep the flow and
content of the workshop moving constructively, guide Council and participants in
developing the summary themes at the end of the evening.
Note: Written comments received by January 4, 1999, will be included in the
goal-setting workbook, which will be distributed to Council members on January
5, 1999. Any comments received after January 4 will be distributed to Council
members as they are received.
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Exhibit��`
Outline for Council Goal-Setting Workshop
8:30 a.m. -4:00 p.m., Saturday, January 30, 1999
Objectives
• Ground the session in the hopes and aspirations for San Luis Obispo as set
forth on January 12. Place proposed goals in context of City s fiscal realities.
• Review potential City goals compiled from the Council members'
submissions.
• Clarify the nature and scope of each potential goal so that everyone is clear
about what each one means and its implications.
• Select candidate City goals from those submitted (i.e. goals that 3 or more
members favor).
• Formulate an agreed upon set of Major City Goals.
• Identify any additional issues for resolution before or at the February 2
Council meeting.
Approach
1. Review the status of existing major City goals.
2. Consider the results of the five-year forecast and other trends.
3. Review potential goals in each category to ensure clarity and completeness.
4. Narrow the list of goals in each category to candidate goals (i.e. those
favored by 3 or more Council members).
5. Discuss the balance and weighting Council members want to achieve.
Confirm rating scale and maximum number of points to allocate among goals.
6. Assign the desired weighting to each goal and calculate the ranking of goals.
7. Review the preliminary results and identify any areas needing further
consideration.
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Schedule
8:30 - 9:00 a.m. Refreshments
9:00 - 9:05 a.m. Welcome and Introductions Mayor
9:05 - 9:10 a.m. Purpose, Process & Guidelines Coach
9:10 - 9:30 a.m. Status of Existing City Goals CAO
9:30 - 10:00 a.m. 5 Year Forecast and Other Trends Fin. Director
10:00 - noon Review Goals by Category and
Select Candidate Goals Council
[Council may accept further comments
from the public that have not been previously
presented]
noon - 1:00 p.m. lunch [staff compiles candidate goals]
1:00 - 2:00 p.m. Discuss and Weight the Goals Council
2:00 - 2:30 p.m. Tabulate Results Staff
2:30 - 3:15 p.m. Review and Identify Major City Goals Council
3:15 - 4:00 p.m. Note Areas Needing Further Consideration Council/Staff
Roles
Mayor preside over the workshop and participate actively with other Council
members.
Council members: clarify and discuss the potential goals, express views on
desired balance, vote their preferred weightings, and specify further work (if
needed).
Staff: report on status of current goals, review economic trends, ensure goals
have needed content and clarity, and tabulate results.
Coach: keep the flow and content of the workshop moving constructively, guide
Council members in the process of goal weighting and selection, and draw staff
and public into deliberations as desirable.
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Exhibit
Council Member's Submission for Goal-Setting Workshop
due: Thursday, January 21, 1999
Please submit a list of the goals you would like the Council to consider at the
Goal-Setting Workshop on Saturday, January 30, 1999. Your submissions will
be combined with those from all other Council members and compiled into a
single list without designating which Council member submitted which items.
You will receive this combined list on Monday, January 25, so that you can
review and consider it prior to the workshop.
As you develop your list, please consider the suggested "criteria for major City
goals."
Although there is no limit on the number of goals you may wish to suggest, 5 to 7
from each Council member have worked well in the past.
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Exhibit '
Criteria for Major City Goals
■ Be legitimate to our beliefs(real, supported).
■ Agreed upon by a Council majority.
■ Reduced in number for comprehension, communication and focus.
■ Set forth in one document—the Financial Plan.
■ Be clear and understandable.
■ Established as a high priority and a real commitment.
■ Translated into the objectives of employees at all levels of the organization.
■ Created within a supportive atmosphere where participants are not afraid to state their
suggestions for improving goals or objectives.
■ Accepted to the point where resistance to them is reduced or eliminated.
G: 1999-01 Financial Plan/Council Goal-Setting/Major Goal Criteria
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Exhibit
1999-01 Financial Plan Calendar
When What
October 8, 1998 Brief advisory body chairs on their role in the process at quarterly
Mayor/advisory body chair meeting.
October 20, 1998 Council approves conceptual Financial Plan process and calendar.
November 1998 Send letters requesting participation in goal-setting process from
advisory bodies,community groups and interested individuals.
November 1998 Begin preparing five year General Fund fiscal forecast.
December 8, 1998 • Council reviews status of major City goals and revises action plans as
needed; finalizes plans for goal-setting process; considers Financial
Plan organization and policies; and considers annual financial report
and fiscal results for 1997-98.
January 4, 1999 • Receive written comments from advisory bodies, community groups
and interested individuals.
January 12,1999 • Council holds community workshop.
January 15, 1999 • Distribute five year fiscal forecast and community workshop results to
Council.
January 25, 1999 • Distribute consolidated Council member goals.
January 30, 1999 • Council holds goal-setting workshop: reviews status of major City
goals; discusses candidate goals presented at January 12 workshop;
considers results of fiscal forecast; discusses Council member goals;
prioritizes and sets major City goals.
February 2, 1999 • Council finalizes goals and priorities.
February 10, 1999 • Issue budget instructions; departments begin preparing budgets.
February 23, 1999 • Council considers mid-year budget review.
March to May, 1999 • Departments submit budget requests.
• Budget review team analyzes requests and meets with departments;
CAO finalizes budget recommendations.
April 6, 1999 • Council approves detailed goal work programs.
May 10, 1999 • Issue preliminary budget.
May 17, 19,25, 1999 • Council holds special evening budget workshops:
— May 17: Financial Plan overview and General Fund operating
programs.
— May 19: General Fund CIP projects.
— May 25:Enterprise Fund programs,projects and rates.
May 26, 1999 Planning Commission reviews CIP for General Plan consistency.
June 1, 15, 1999 Council holds continued hearings; adopts budget.
Sold Italics—Council Meeting Dates
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