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Cary Town Council Minutes Quality of Life Work Session July 17, 2006 Room 10035 316 N. Academy St., Cary, NC
Present: Mayor Ernie McAlister, Mayor Pro Tem Jack Smith, Council Members Marla Dorrel, Jennifer Robinson and Julie Robison
Absent: Council Members Mike Joyce and Nels Roseland
Mayor McAlister began the meeting at 8:45 a.m.
The agenda follows:
1) Overview of process to this point – Steve Straus 2) Presentation of proposed mission statement and values for the Town – Bill Coleman A staff committee has revised and revised the mission statement and core values of the Town. 3) Proposed goal structure – Bill Coleman/Scott Fogleman The staff has developed a proposed structure for presenting the Town’s goals. Each of these goals is divided into focus areas and each would be achieved through a set of strategies and evaluated by a set of indicators. This proposed goal structure integrates the quality of life initiative taken by the council with the focus areas identified previously by the staff. 4) Council discussion of goals and goal structure – Steve Straus The council will assess the plan presented by the staff and examine the specific content of the goals. The council will be encouraged to analyze the usefulness of the goals and the plan in guiding actions and evaluating results. 5) Next steps – Steve Straus The council and staff will decide on the process for completing the plan. At a minimum, if the council likes the proposed plan, the staff will need to complete it and set a date for reviewing it with the council. 6) Integrating the plan into the management and budget processes of the Town – Steve Straus The council and staff will discuss how they will use the plan to guide future management and budgetary decisions.
Mr. Straus outlined the above agenda. He stated the purpose of this exercise is to give council direction regarding how to make decisions for the Town. He stated the council should determine if the content of the mission, values and goals gives the council adequate direction.
Mr. Coleman stated the last mission statement was developed in 1989, and it’s a statement of what we want to accomplish for the Town in the long term. He stated the statement of values is a document to instruct everyone on how to accomplish the mission every day. The 1989 mission statement and statement of values is attached to and incorporated in these minutes as Exhibit A. Mr. Coleman distributed the revised mission statement and statement of values (attached to and incorporated in these minutes as Exhibit B). He stated the revised product is the result of a workgroup representing all departments of the Town. He stated that focus areas and goals feed into the mission statement and statement of values, and the department goals flow from these documents. He stated every department has workload measures and indicators. He stated based on the quality of life work with Mr. Straus, this led to staff discussion about how our every day work is translated to early, intermediate and late outcomes. Staff thinks they fit well with what we currently do, and staff has translated what we currently do into the Straus concept. He stated that Budget Director Scott Fogleman has worked with staff to develop a template to match the Straus model.
Mr. Fogleman distributed the council quality of life visioning integration into focus area concept exercise (attached to and incorporated in these minutes as Exhibit C). He described how staff has translated what we currently do into the Straus model.
Ms. Dorrel asked the council’s role regarding the mission, statement of values, goals, and particularly the strategies. Mr. Straus stated the council has taken the initiative to identify values to accomplish, and staff has refined the process in a logical fashion. He thinks the most important thing is for the council to agree with the mission, statement of values, focus areas and goals and be enthused about accomplishing them. If not, then the council should discuss what they want to see happen as a board. These items must ultimately be the council’s and then they become the staff’s. These will begin to affect the way everyone does business in two ways: (1) day to day decisions making; and (2) it will provide a system for the budget process. Mr. Straus stated performance measures are really important. He stated staff and council have had discussions about what is going well and what needs improvement, and this leads into the budget process. He stated the strategies should be left up to the staff, and if the council isn’t happy with the performance measures, then they should work with staff and task staff to develop strategies to bring back to the council. This encourages innovation, pilots, and trial and error to improve results.
Mr. Straus stated it may take two years to become comfortable with this new process.
Mr. Coleman suggested a council work session in the next couple of months to focus on focus areas and goals for the next year to ensure staff is aware of all the council goals and how they fit into focus areas. He stated the focus areas and goals will be the basis for developing department work plans. He stated staff can present an overall plan at the council/staff retreat to show how this process will be integrated into the budget process.
Mayor Pro Tem Smith thinks the political aspect of decision making isn’t reflected in this process. He wants to see details on actual problems we’ve had and an explanation of what could have been done differently to avoid those problems. He doesn’t want a staff answer to explain the problems away while in reality the problems still exist.
Mayor McAlister stated we need to develop a communication system where staff gives the council periodic updates that include upcoming issues. He thinks it would be good to have answers ahead of time so council has facts to use to answer questions. He stated that the Town seems to use poor timing at times, and an example of this is the pole sign issue. The installation of the Town’s traffic information signs coincides with the Land Development Ordinance requirement that pole signs be removed.
Mrs. Robison stated the big picture statement should be more outcome based. They seem to be fluid goals and should instead be more outcome orientated with a good sense of time dimension.
Mrs. Robinson stated the traffic information signs do not meet the goal of aesthetically pleasing roadways. Mr. Straus stated additional goals can be added if the need arises.
Mr. Straus stated the measures for the traffic plan should already be in place, and it would allow the staff to track the impact that a major transportation plan has on the measures. He would recommend to look at this in the future.
Ms. Dorrel stated we measure success of goals by how well we accomplish performance measures of strategies. We rely on strategies to effectively accomplish goals. However, the council is supposed to focus on goals and not strategies. She suggested that the goals should be more outcome based and the performance measures should be on a broader level.
Mrs. Robinson questioned if this model will clearly show when there’s a missing strategy if a goal isn’t being met.
Ms. Dorrel asked how to evaluate if we’re meeting goals. Mr. Coleman replied that in the fall the council will review focus areas and goals; when these are clear, the staff develops strategies and will review them with the council. He stated the budget process will be more time consuming with the council. He added that gaps can be identified after strategies are implemented.
Ms. Dorrel stated the council should discuss their expectations about citizen dissatisfaction and negative comments.
Mrs. Robinson believes it’s important for council to get together on a regular basis.
Mrs. Robinson wants to focus on a sense of community and small town feel, and the staff should look at every program they’re implementing to see if it fosters a sense of community. If not, the staff should determine what can be done differently to foster the sense of community.
Mrs. Robison agreed with Mrs. Robinson. She stated we need a lens through which we make technical decisions. She stated the lens is a big picture statement, and creating community and sense of place is the driver.
Following council discussion, Mr. Straus stated there are five issues: 1) the council wants an overall plan to be more results based and less process based; 2) the council wants a clarifying lens that drives the whole thing (sense of place, community, etc.); 3) council wants performance measures specific to goals and not strategies; 4) council wants time phasing specific to strategies (not goals); and 5) council wants to develop a set of values regarding how to use this plan as part of an organizational learning process.
Mr. Straus suggested that staff come back with a response to the above five issues (further refinement). He thinks the lens is clear (community, community building, small town place, community character).
Mr. Coleman asked if the lens should be different than the mission statement.
Mrs. Robinson likes the mission statement, and she thinks it needs a small refinement to show how it relates to sense of community.
Ms. Dorrel thinks the mission statement is too sterile. She sees it as government’s mission and she wants the people who serve the citizens to be reflected in the mission statement. She wants the “people” element to be reflected. She wants the focus to be on people vs. community.
Mr. Coleman stated the staff group who worked on the mission statement tried to capture a succinct picture of what we do every day. He stated we create and maintain the environment for people to live, businesses to operate, people to raise families, etc., to allow people to pursue what they need to do every day. He stated the assumption is that if the community thrives, then individuals also have that opportunity.
Mrs. Robison stated the mission statement and statement of values is about how the municipal organization does its work. There’s another aspect that defines what we are and what we look like as a community.
Mayor McAlister asked if a preamble statement could serve this purpose. Mrs. Robison stated a vision statement could be a statement that precedes the mission statement and could be the clarifying lens.
Mr. Coleman suggested that the staff work on a vision statement and revisit the mission statement and statement of values, and then bring it back to council in a regular work session. Mayor McAlister invited any council member interested in this to work with the staff, and if we have a quorum of council, then the clerk will post it as a public meeting.
Ms. Dorrel, Mrs. Robinson and Mrs. Robison want the statement of values to include the value of public input and comments, and they want it to be is own stand-alone statement. They didn’t want this to be in the vision statement.
Mrs. Robison thinks the statement of values should reflect that citizens are the Town’s most important resource.
Mayor McAlister suggested a work session by the end of August to begin setting the stage for the next council/staff retreat stated touch point in fall to set stage for retreat and prepare for budget.
Mayor McAlister adjourned the meeting at 11 a.m.
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