HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/13/2017 Work Session 4
City of Springfield
Work Session Meeting
MINUTES OF THE WORK SESSION MEETING OF
THE SPRINGFIELD CITY COUNCIL HELD
MONDAY MARCH 13,2017
The City of Springfield Council met in a work session in the Jesse Maine Meeting Room, 225 Fifth
Street, Springfield,Oregon,on Monday March 13, 2017 at 5:29 p.m.,with Mayor Lundberg presiding.
ATTENDANCE
Present were Mayor Lundberg and Councilors VanGordon, Stoehr,Woodrow and Pishioneri.Also
present were City Manager Gino Grimaldi,City Attorney Mary Bridget Smith, City Recorder Amy
Sowa and members of the staff.
Councilors Wylie and Moore were absent(excused).
1. Strategic Plan and Priority Based Budgeting.
Bob Duey,Finance Director, and Paula Davis,Budget Officer,presented the staff report on this item.
During a reorganization of the City Manager's Office the current strategic plan process has been
reassigned to Finance staff. The current methodology is under review and revisions are being
considered to combine into a single process the strategic planning and ongoing budget process.
The City is beginning its fourth year using the priority based budgeting methodology which assists in
the allocation of resources to services and programs in advancing community and Council goals. As a
natural progression of this methodology the ongoing budget process could incorporate the strategic
plan, long-term fiscal health and performance measures.
Council is being asked to provide input on the elements of the Strategic Planning Cycle.
Mr.Duey said the way it was originally set up,the strategies weren't necessarily tying in with the
Council goals,or set with any priority. During a recent work session on housing,discussion was held
regarding attributes in PBB which was a type of budget strategy used to rank services. Councilors
made a comment that they didn't understand attributes and how they fit into Council goals because
staff had done the work on their own and Council was not involved in that process. That left a gap.
There were two different processes—one for strategic planning and one for PBB which made it
difficult for staff. There was a lot of double work. This is an opportunity to combine this into one
process for staff, and to spend time with the Council talking about the City Goals,merging the two to
develop closer ties between strategies and goals. To correct that,they want to find out what role the
Council would like to take in defining the outcomes. He described the options:
➢ Staff meets in initial conversation and brings recommended outcomes to Council for full
review. Outside facilitation would be helpful.
➢ In lieu of goal setting, Council members meet with an outside facilitator and,working
from existing goals,develop measurable objectives
➢ Councilors and senior staff meet with an outside facilitator in a joint session,and
working from existing goals,develop measurable objectives
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Council Work Session Minutes
March 13,2017
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Ms.Davis presented a power point presentation.The main reasons for doing this are to make the
Strategic Plan and Budgeting one process and to set our budget more in line with Council goals. With
that, it allows staff to track back to the Council goal. This process starts with the Mission Statement
from the City. From that statement the Council has developed Goals. The Mission Statement and
Goals don't change from year to year,but the outcomes and strategies may change yearly. Staff is
asking Council to look over this process and let staff know at what level they want to be involved in
the outcomes.The budgeting doesn't change every year,but with the desired outcomes and program
strategies,our budget process for performance measure reporting will change.
Ms.Davis said the current Mission Statement is"To make the City of Springfield a desirable and
preferred place to live and work". The Goals are more specific to the outcomes. Staff is not
recommending that those are changed this year,but it is an option. They are looking for Council input
on the desired outcomes. Outcomes are more specific and narrow in scope, define the goals more
clearly,and will assist in developing our programs and program strategies. She referred to an example
of outcomes for one of the programs in the City. She also noted some examples from other cities
showing how the outcomes can be very broad or more specific. She described how programs can build
strategies from the outcome and performance measures can be linked to the outcomes. Staff is asking
Council to identify or define the next level of objectives for the City. Then staff could come up with
program strategies. The budget process remains much like it is now,aligning revenues with programs,
and setting performance measures based on the programs. It allows staff to report back to the Council
how we met the outcomes.
Mr. Duey said it takes time to create outcomes and to be thorough. Last time,the Council was left out
while staff created attributes. If new outcomes are created with the Council, staff will develop
program strategies(formerly attributes). Staff would like input from the Council on how they would
like to establish the one to three year outcomes.
Councilor VanGordon said he likes the option of the Council developing the outcomes with the staff.
The Council could work on it for awhile,and then have staff bring it to the Council in the correct
format.He likes the idea of tying PBB with planning together.He felt they missed out in the beginning
and he would like to get to a place where at the end of the process they feel like they are making
decisions.
Mr. Duey said it will be a more than one step process and likely take several cycles,but our tools will
be better once they get this step done.
Ms. Davis said the last piece should be when staff reports back to the Council how staff did on the
Council's outcomes. The performance measures should be an indicator of what still needed to be done
and what had been accomplished.
Mr.Duey said the example provided regarding the emergency program shows what will be replacing
line items during the budget process. Rather than seeing a department,they will see the programs.As
changes are made,they will see the programmatic impact of the change. It should make more sense
and tie in better.
Councilor Woodrow said she was very happy with this and the new budget format. It adds an element
of relevance to what they are discussing. They can see how relevant it is to the operations and how we
want to serve. Each department is unique,but is not a stand-alone. This illustrates the relevance and
how they all interconnect. This allows looking at things and adding measurements to show what
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Council Work Session Minutes
March 13,2017
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worked and what didn't. She agrees that the collaboration between staff and Council needs to be
there.It is an ongoing process to maintain that standard.
Mr.Duey said there are a lot of programs that cross department lines,and they are trying to find
similarities between departments where they share programs. This process gets us closer to
determining how those work together.
Councilor Woodrow said the measurements may show which areas are working beset.
Ms.Davis said the budget process for FY18 will still be by department level since the outcomes won't
be fully defined until fall. This year, staff will address programs,but it won't be to that level.
Councilor Pishioneri said he didn't like ambiguity and wanted a higher level of clarity when looking at
what to do at the City.He hopes that staff isn't coming to Council about what specifically they want
staff to do. He would like staff to bring suggestions about strategies for the Council to consider.
Ms.Davis said that is true PBB. Council would be asked for outcomes and program strategies would
be the work staff could do to reach the outcome.
Councilor Pishioneri said would he like staff to bring the three highest priorities to Council with ideas
of what staff can do to reach those outcomes. Council would then be able to look at where resources
could go to meet the needs.The Council has a high level of responsibility and he has no problem being
part of that decision making process.He thinks it helps bridge the gap and gives more ownership to
the Council to staff.He is willing to put in the work to make this happen.
Councilor Stoehr said he liked the clarity of the goals and outcomes. He asked if longer term projects,
such as EmX,would go under program strategies or if there would be mileposts established.He asked
if those project would qualify under outcomes and goals, or be part of the strategy.
Ms.Davis said they could be either depending on what the Council wants for their outcomes. The
outcomes could be very generic or very specific. Staff is recommending the outcomes are more
generic in nature.
Mayor Lundberg said she would like the performance measures to be more directed towards the goal,
and not just statistics. She noted the performance measure of number of attendees at a meeting,and
said a better outcome would be whether or not people learned something from the meeting. In the case
of fire response, she would prefer an outcome of fewer deaths or fewer houses burning down.How
that happens could be with shorter response times(strategies). That kind of outcome relates better to
the public.When it relates to the community,they are more vested. She is hoping the Council looks at
what type of things helps the Council make better policies. She is fine with staff coming up with
strategies,but would also like to be able to provide input or ideas. She reminded the Council that this
is also tied to the City Manager evaluation.The Council needs to figure out what they want and what
the community may want as a result as they develop a work plan.
Mr.Duey said there may be many measurements the departments want to keep for their own
standards. Only the ones that raise to the Council level and interest will come forward.
Mayor Lundberg said it would be the community version that could be publicized to the public and
articulated to the community. It would help the citizens to identify what the City is doing.
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Council Work Session Minutes
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Mr.Duey said the new budget software has the capability to track performance measures and report
outcomes.He asked if the Council would prefer a joint meeting with staff to select the outcomes.
Council consensus was to have a joint meeting with Council and the staff.
Mayor Lundberg said the Council has to step up to the plate and set the priorities and direction for the
City.
ADJOURNMENT
The meeting was adjourned at 6:03 p.m.
Minutes Recorder—Amy Sowa
7
. ,4Christine L.Lundberg
Mayor
Attest:
P(10,--(21t)
Amy Sowa
City Recorder