memorandum

to:                  Mayor and Town Council

from:            Roger L. Stancil, Town Manager

subject:       Status Report on 2008 Council Retreat

date:             February 27, 2008

PURPOSE

This memorandum provides an update on our staff efforts to synthesize the results from the 2008 Council Retreat into a strategic planning document.  We believe the final document could give guidance to staff in the short term on the Council’s priorities and provide a framework for the Mayor and Council’s interest in a longer term testing of assumptions used in making land use and development decisions.

BACKGROUND

Many staff and Council Members viewed the 2007 Council Retreat as a somewhat different but successful endeavor, largely because it was the Town’s first attempt at full staff participation with the Council throughout much of the retreat.  In preparation for the 2008 retreat, the retreat planning committee used the six priority areas identified by the Council in 2007 as the basis for this year’s three-day agenda:

• Steward the Organizational Culture Change
• Champion Downtown
• Continue Focus on Land Use, Transit, and Development
• Maintain and Improve Community Facilities and Services
• Improve Town’s Fiscal Condition
• Plan Ahead for Carolina North

In the 2008 Retreat, the Friday night focus was the continuing evolution of relationships between staff and Council as part of the organizational culture change.  Saturday was an opportunity for strategic discussion on downtown, land use and development, facilities and services and fiscal conditions.  Sunday provided an opportunity for joint discussion between Council and University Trustees on the planning for Carolina North.  All sessions included both Council Members and staff, and included an opportunity to discuss specific goals and strategies for successfully moving ahead in the target areas.

Since the retreat, the Council has authorized the Manager to present the Council with options to guide the development of Carolina North.  Additionally, the Council has received examples of strategic planning documents and a proposed process for developing a strategic plan for the Town. 

The February 27^th Work Session is designed for two related purposes:

• To provide an opportunity for the Council to review the staff’s preliminary strategic planning illustration: a document that gives structure to the results of the planning retreat. If the direction in which we are headed is acceptable to Council, we will continue to refine the document and update the Council on our progress. Ultimately, the Council would adopt the plan for the fiscal year 2008-09, along with the 2008-09 budget.
• To begin two processes: 1) identifying working assumptions that may require additional study and evaluation and 2) designing a process for testing those assumptions. 

DISCUSSION

We believe that one way for the Council to build upon the foundation of work from the last two retreats would be for the Council to review the results from the two retreats in the format of a strategic planning document (attached).  The sample pages from the attached document represent the type of work that will be possible as the staff continues to collaborate with the Council to develop a strategic plan.  The model used to illustrate the attached strategic planning document (City of Colorado Springs Strategic Plan 2007) was included as an example in the Manager’s February 11, 2008 memorandum for a strategic planning process.  This and several other informational items related to the strategic planning process can be found soon on the new Strategic Planning web page under the Current Issues section of the Town’s website. We will notify Council when this webpage is up.

In light of the near term efforts noted directly above, we believe it is helpful to consider these actions with respect to the entire strategic planning process that staff proposed to the Council on February 11^th.  As part of the process, two distinct but concurrent paths of work have been proposed in an effort to gain direction from the outcome of the retreat in the near term and to facilitate the testing of certain assumptions that are deemed critical for both near term and longer term decision-making as it pertains to land use and development.

The proposal for a Strategic Planning Process outlined typical components of a strategic plan:

• A vision statement for the community.
• A corresponding set of goals and strategies for achieving that vision.  The underlying assumptions, based upon observed trends and conditions, may be highlighted to help explain and support the selected goals.
• Measurable indicators that are central to determining if the desired vision is achieved.

The body of work found in the attachment to this memorandum can be viewed as the early stages of an effort to have the Council work with the staff to identify the appropriate near term goals and strategies for moving ahead in the next year.  The Council’s efforts to evaluate certain working assumptions is a separate but related path of work which we believe will ultimately influence the Council’s formulation of a vision statement for the community and eventually shape the goals and strategies for attaining the Council’s vision.  Once a vision has been formulated, the staff can continue to work with the Council on developing a work plan with certain measurable indicators and responsible departments for carrying out the strategies identified in the strategic plan.

NEXT STEPS

The attached strategic planning illustration will benefit from additional input from both the Council and the staff.  For example, because the Council has expressed an interest in identifying and evaluating certain working assumptions that support both near term and longer term land use and development decision-making, we have not proposed the assumptions for the six priority areas.  Instead, we propose that a majority of the February 27^th Work Session be dedicated to the Council’s further exploration of these working assumptions. 

The assumptions associated with the priority areas identified by the Council can be refined as the Council identifies and evaluates certain underlying assumptions, particularly those concerning land use and development.  We can also develop the list of assumptions using trends identified by the Council and staff, as well as work from other significant Council adopted documents such as the Comprehensive Plan, the Housing Strategy and the Economic Development Strategy. 

Similarly, priority projects/initiatives and key indicators (shown in the attachment) will need to be identified as the Council continues to affirm its preferred course of direction in the near term. This type of information could be determined as the Council works to refine the strategic planning process over the next several months.  While we show only one component of the multi-component strategic planning model in the attachment (i.e., Strategic Prioritized Goals), we hope to provide the skeletal framework of a full, multi-component strategic plan for the Council’s review by the end of the fiscal year.  The Colorado Springs model provides an example of a multi-component strategic plan that, if adopted by the Council for Chapel Hill, could include references to other planning instruments such as the Comprehensive Plan, the Annual Budget and the Five-Year Capital Improvements Program, as well as additional reports like the Data Book or the Economic Development Strategy.  Once the strategic plan has been adopted, we will then begin to supplement this work with a more specific work plan for staff based on the Charlottesville model we presented in the February 11 discussion of a strategic planning model.

RECOMMENDATIONS

I recommend that Council undertake the following at your work session:

• Provide any feedback to staff on the form and direction of our efforts to compile the work of the retreats into a strategic planning format. This Plan, when combined with the adopted budget, will guide our activities and is the basis for a shared understanding of direction;
• Receive a summary of the work of the staff Higher Density Development Steering Committee as an aid in the consideration of underlying assumptions and their consequences for the Town’s operations;
• Identify the Council’s working assumptions for discussion;
• Target key assumptions for testing; and
• Develop a process for testing and evaluating targeted assumptions (e.g., reports, outside speakers, community input)

ATTACHMENTS

1. Hypothetical Integration of Council Retreat Output into City of Colorado Springs Strategic Planning Model (p.5).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION (February 27, 2008)

1. Strategic Planning Information Documents
2. High Density Development PowerPoint Presentation (3.5 MB PDF)