Title
FY 2010 City Commission Strategic Plan Update and Assignment of Sponsoring Commission Member to Strategic Initiatives (B)
The City Commission discuss the annual City Commission Strategic Planning Update and the assignment of a City Commission Member to each Strategic Initiative.
Explanation
Each year, the City Commission holds a Strategic Planning Retreat to develop and/or refine its strategic goals and initiatives to ensure that they align with the needs of our residents. For FY 2009, the City Commission held a retreat in December, 2007 and a follow-up retreat in June, 2008, which provided the newly elected City Commissioners an opportunity to comment on the City's Strategic Plan. At the June Retreat, there was a proposal to assign a City Commission member as a "champion" to each initiative. The elected champion, or "sponsoring commissioner," would advocate for the accomplishment of the initiative, provide feedback to staff on strategic direction, and provide observations to the City Commission and its Standing Committees on accomplishments related to the initiatives.
After the June retreat, the City of Gainesville Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2009/2010 was presented to the City Commission and adopted unanimously on July 28, 2008. On October 2, the City Commission adopted the alignment of the 25 City Commission Strategic Initiatives with City Commission Standing Committees and the Community Redevelopment Agency. By aligning the Strategic Initiatives to Standing Committees and the CRA, elected officials and City residents will have the opportunity to receive updates on the progress of each strategic initiative.
After the October 2 meeting, each Commission member was asked to select and rank six initiatives for which they would like to champion. The recommendation assigns two initiatives per Commission member. Each Commission member is assigned their number one choice, unless that created a conflict, at which they are assigned their number two choice. The second initiative is assigned from one of their top four choices. As a result, each Commission member would sponsor two of their top four ranked initiatives. This allows 14 initiatives to be sponsored by an individual commission member and 11 initiatives to be sponsored by the staff champion and their aligned Committee.
The Alternative Recommendation assigns the strategic initiative to the Commission member who gave that initiative the highest ranking. Under this alternative, Commissioner Donovan, Commissioner Poe and Mayor Hanrahan would each sponsor four initiatives, Commissioner Mastrodicasa and Commissioner Hawkins would each sponsor three initiatives, and Commissioner Lowe and Commissioner Henry would each sponsor two initiatives.
Strategic Plan Update: The Strategic Planning process is linked to the budget process and this assures that the City's financial plan reflects the City Commission's strategic priorities. The FY 2010 budgeting and strategic planning process is in the second year to the biennial budgeting process used by the City, and is thus considered an adjustment year. Therefore, at the Strategic Planning Retreat, which would normally be held in December 2008, the Commission would focus on refining any goals and initiatives in the Adopted City of Gainesville Strategic Plan for Fiscal Years 2009/2010.
As an alternative to holding a Strategic Planning retreat in December 2008, staff is proposing that the City Commission schedule a workshop in February 2009 to discuss any significant matters that may affect any of the initiatives, and use the sponsoring Commissioners as the mechanism to monitor the activity of the Strategic Initiatives over the next twelve months. Then, in alignment with the beginning of the next biennial budget cycle, the City Commission Strategic Planning Retreat can be conducted in the Fall of 2009.
Fiscal Note
None
Recommendation
The City Commission: 1) affirm the assignment of two initiatives to each member of the City Commission; and 2) schedule a workshop in February 2009 to receive a budget update and discuss any significant matters that affect the Strategic Plan.
Alternative Recommendation A:
The City Commission: 1) affirm the assignment of 22 of the 25 initiatives based on the selection by the members of the City Commission; and 2) schedule a workshop in February 2009 to receive a budget update and discuss any significant matters that affect the Strategic Plan.
Alternative Recommendation B:
The City Commission: 1) discuss the assignments of initiatives based on the selection by members of the City Commission; and 2) discuss possible dates for a City Commission Strategic Planning Retreat to refine the City Commission Strategic Goals and Initiatives for FY 2010.