HomeMy WebLinkAbout05-22-2018 Special Meeting
City of San Luis Obispo, Council Agenda, City Hall, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo
Tuesday, May 22, 2018
*PLEASE NOTE SPECIAL MEETING DATE, TIME, AND LOCATION*
8:00 AM
SPECIAL MEETING
Holiday Inn Express –
Conference Room
1800 Monterey Street
San Luis Obispo, CA
CALL TO ORDER: Mayor Heidi Harmon
ROLL CALL: Council Members Dan Rivoire, Aaron Gomez, Andy Pease, Vice
Mayor Carlyn Christianson and Mayor Heidi Harmon
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS ONLY - You may address the Council on any item
described in this agenda by completing a speaker slip and giving it to the City Manager prior to the
meeting. Your speaking time is limited to three (3) minutes (CC&P Sec. 1.3.7).
1. Welcome – Why are we here and what we want to accomplish (8:20 am – 8:35 am)
2. - Review of 2017 Council Retreat – Discuss progress on items discussed during the March
28, 2017 retreat. (8:35 am – 9:05 am)
3. Working Together Successfully – Discuss Council member support needs and review
attributes of Exceptional City Councils. (9:05 am – 10:00 am)
4. The Path Ahead – Discuss organizational and community Strengths, Weaknesses,
Opportunities and Threats. (10:15 am – 11:00 am)
5. Strategic Planning and Major City Goals – Going forward-preparing the Council and
Organization to meet tomorrow’s challenges. (11:00 am – 11:45 am)
6. Summing It Up – Action Items and Next Steps. (11:45 am – 12:00 pm)
** Times provided are an estimate
Meeting Facilitator: Lynne Biddinger
ADJOURNMENT
LISTENING ASSISTIVE DEVICES are available for the hearing impaired--please see City Clerk.
The City of San Luis Obispo wishes to make all of its public meetings accessible to the public. Upon request,
this agenda will be made available in appropriate alternative formats to persons with disabilities. Any person with a
disability who requires a modification or accommodation in order to participate in a meeting should direct such
request to the City Clerk’s Office at (805) 781-7100 at least 48 hours before the meeting, if possible.
Telecommunications Device for the Deaf (805) 781-7107.
City Council regular meetings are televised live on Charter Channel 20. Agenda related writings or documents
provided to the City Council are available for public inspection in the City Clerk’s Office located at 990 Palm Street,
San Luis Obispo, during normal business hours, and on the City’s website www.slocity.org/agendas. Persons with
questions concerning any agenda item may call the City Clerk’s Office at (805) 781-7100.
ANNUAL COUNCIL RETREAT May 18, 2018 Page 2
2) EXCEPTIONAL CITY COUNCILS (ILG Reading Materials)
a. Lynne plans on providing a quick presentation and overview of the characteristics
of successful teams: Forming/Storming/Norming/Performing
i. Each council member shares:
1. What stage they believe the council is currently in what they
think needs to happen to get them to better “performing”.
b. The Institute of Local Government issued a publication this past year entitled
“Attributes of Exceptional Councils”. The purpose of this item is to discuss the
document; reaffirm our understanding of roles and responsibilities and see if any
“Best Practice Tips” or other actions should be incorporated into the organization.
i. Lynne will provide an overview of the six attributes of exceptional councils.
On each of the six points;
1. Council members are requested to give examples of what is
currently working well in each area and what could be improved.
3) THE PATH AHEAD (No Attachment)
a. The purpose is to hold a Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats
discussion about the organization and community.
i. Please come prepared to share your thoughts about the City’s SWOT.
1. What are our strengths?
2. What challenges inhibit progress?
3. What opportunities are there that we need to pursue or plan to take
advantage of in the future?
4. What threats do we see to the organization and community?
5. How do we respond to community requests when priorities have
already been established and resources are fully subscribed to those
priorities?
6. How does this inform some of our thinking for the 2017-2019
Financial Plan? What ideas does the Council have in establishing
Major City Goals in a fiscally constrained environment?
4) STRATEGIC PLANNING AND MAJOR CITY GOALS (No Attachment)
a. Moving forward—preparing the Council and Organization to meet tomorrow’s
challenges —
b. Lynne will introduce department heads to speak on: •
i. City in transition
5) SUMMING IT UP (No Attachment)
a. The meeting will conclude with a clear list of action items and expectations.
i. Will consider action steps for suggestions to continue to support a
high performing Council
ii. Will consider action steps for staff support
iii. Steps to maximize/prepare for SWOT items
San Luis Obispo Page 1
Tuesday, March 28, 2017
Special Meeting of the City Council
CALL TO ORDER
A Special Meeting of the San Luis Obispo City Council was called to order on Tuesday, March
28, 2017 at 9:03 a.m. at the Courtyard Marriott Irish Hills Room, located at 1605 Calle Joaquin,
San Luis Obispo, California, by Mayor Harmon.
ROLL CALL
Council Members
Present: Council Members Carlyn Christianson, Aaron Gomez, Andy Pease, Vice Mayor
Dan Rivoire, and Mayor Heidi Harmon.
Council Members
Absent: None
City Staff
Present: Katie Lichtig, City Manager; Christine Dietrick, City Attorney; Derek Johnson,
Assistant City Manager; Garret Olson, Fire Chief; Daryl Grigsby, Public Works
Director; Monica Irons, Human Resources Director; Deanna Cantrell, Police
Chief; Xenia Bradford, Interim Finance Director; Michael Codron, Community
Development Director; Shelly Stanwyck, Parks and Recreation Director; and
Carrie Mattingly, Utilities Director; were present at Roll Call. Other staff
members presented reports or responded to questions as indicated in the minutes.
Facilitator
Present: Trudy Sopp, Centre for Organizational Effectiveness
PUBLIC COMMENT ON AGENDA ITEMS ONLY
None
---End of Public Comment---
A. WORKSHOP ON CITY VISION, CIVIC ENGAGEMENT / COMMUNITY
INVOLVEMENT / OUTREACH, COUNCIL / STAFF RELATIONS / ROLES, AND
COUNCIL WORKLOAD AND COMPENSATION FACILITATED BY TRUDY
SOPP
San Luis Obispo City Council Workshop Minutes of March 28, 2017 Page 2
Vision of Council
By consensus on the following Council Vision was approved:
The Council believes SLO is a friendly, dynamic community embracing its future while
respecting its past with core values of civility, sustainability, inclusivity and resiliency.
Community Outreach/Civic Engagement/Agreeing
Council agreed that there is a huge opportunity to market the successes and good work of city
staff through social media by correcting misperceptions and educating the community.
Additionally, the use of social media is an opportunity to humanize staff and city projects.
There was consensus that as many social media platforms as feasible should be pursued, with
Instagram being the highest priority. The philosophy should be “Show don't Tell”.
The purpose of social media should be to “market” or brand the City to a different demographic
to get educated and then give them opportunities to provide input on line and maybe that will
inspire these folks to participate in a council meeting.
Consolidate all social media pages and platforms to the maximum extent possible. Evaluate best
practices about leaving some pages open for some limited group of community members like the
skate park followers.
Let the staff post
Mistakes will be made and council will be supportive
Consider interns who can drive posts
Need to update the social media policy
Clear filter
Clear rules of engagement
No comments for now
Establish clear rules of when someone will be thrown off the page for when we do allow
comments
No consolidation of resources to facilitate is needed, however there is a need to evaluate how to
achieve the outcome.
Mayor Harmon will establish neighborhood walk and talks to stimulate engagement and will
invite others to participate.
Civil Discourse
League of Women Voters - consensus to support the League of Women Voters’ "Democracy
Concierge".
Begin each meeting with the logistics and a welcome for newcomers, Mayor Harmon and
Council Member Pease will work on this together with help from City Manage Lichtig.
San Luis Obispo City Council Workshop Minutes of March 28, 2017 Page 3
Info graphic of the anatomy of a Council Meeting is in the works.
Direction provided to have a bin by the City Clerk for the public to place completed speaker
slips.
Council discussed ways to set the appropriate tone with those participants in the meeting that are
being disruptive.
Council/Staff Relations
Evaluate if there are attachments that could be excluded (boilerplate contract) or placed in a
reading file if it needs to be available.
Look at sequencing of the items to make sure that longer items come earlier in the evening.
Evaluate publishing the presentations on the website along with the CAR.
Consider using more graphics in presentation. No need to cover everything in staff report.
Constituent inquiries to Council only: Council Member Christianson usually forwards to staff
with a note to the person that they are sending to staff. Can be confusing because staff could get
from multiple Council Members but that is better than getting it from none.
Constituent inquiries to Council email: Assistant City Manager Johnson or someone in
Administration will acknowledge and ensure a response is sent to the member of the public and
the Council.
How to refer to the Mayor and Council Members: At the meetings use title and last name. This
will be the practice for staff and the members of the public too. Outside meetings as casual as
possible (first names are preferred).
Council consensus to limit public comment on items not on the agenda to 15 minutes at the
beginning of the meeting and drop any extra speakers to end of meeting. The Mayor will assess
whether to seek council consensus to change amount of time each speaker will be allotted less
time than traditional 3 minutes (3 minutes if 5 or less speakers, 2 minutes or 1 minute).
Consensus that the amount of time should not be less than 1 minute. May need to update the
Council Policies and Procedures Manual to reflect this practice.
Council Compensation and Workload:
After conversation about the duties and responsibilities that drive workload, there was Council
consensus to thoroughly evaluate two options to address workload and compensation in the next
review of council compensation:
1. Increase compensation to match the workload (which can be about 30 hours a week for
Council and more than full-time for Mayor)
2. Decrease workload to match the compensation
San Luis Obispo City Council Workshop Minutes of March 28, 2017 Page 4
Process to review Council compensation should be expedited (sooner than is called for in the
municipal code and/or Council Policies and Procedures Manual).
ADJOURNMENT
The next Regular City Council Meetings are scheduled for Tuesday, April 4, 2017 at 4:00 p.m.
and 6:00 p.m., in the Council Chamber, 990 Palm Street, San Luis Obispo, California.
__________________________
Carrie Gallagher
City Clerk
APPROVED BY COUNCIL: 06/20/2017