TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file the Mayor and City Council Workshop Final Report and adopt the Mayor and City Council Norms. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
In the Fiscal Year 2023 (FY 23) Adopted Budget, the City Council allocated $50,000 in one-time funding to conduct a City Council Prioritization Process to better inform future City of Long Beach (City) programming.
In December 2022, the City Manager’s Office engaged Baker-Tilly to facilitate a Mayor and City Council priority setting workshop, which was publicly noticed, to establish priorities to guide budgetary decisions and development of work plans in City departments.
This process included three milestone activities as outlined below.
• Activity 1 - Gathered Background Information and Conducted Interviews
o Conducted individual interviews with the Mayor and members of the City Council to learn about key accomplishments, challenges, and top priorities over the next two to four years
o Collected background information from a variety of sources including the Strategic Vision 2030, the Mayor’s Opportunity Beach Agenda, budget forecast, and other publicly available items.
o Gathered information from the City Manager’s executive team through a questionnaire about major plans and initiatives.
• Activity 2 - Designed and Facilitated City Council Workshop
o Held a workshop at California State University, Long Beach on March 30, 2023 for the Mayor and City Council. This was a publicly noticed and held meeting where the City Manager, Assistant City Manager, City Clerk and City Attorney were also in attendance to oversee and support meeting logistics.
o During the workshop, Baker-Tilly facilitated a discussion about City Council norms for governing, district commonalities, and identification of the Council’s top priorities for the next two years. Two foundational and three core priorities were identified.
• Activity 3 -
o The City Manager’s Executive team met on May 30, 2023 to discuss integration of the Mayor and City Council priorities into the department work programs and other aspects of implementation.
o A draft Work Plan is being reviewed and developed.
Mayor and City Council Norms
The workshop facilitators explained that norms are agreed upon standards of behavior and practices and that many City Councils have adopted a set of norms. Having explicit norms can help a current council as well as set expectations for future City Councils. The result of this discussion was Mayor and City Council consensus on a set of norms.
After this discussion, the City Council agreed by consensus to a set of norms, which were a modification of the “typical” ones shown as the starting point. The order of the norms shown below reflects the facilitators’ understanding of preferences expressed by members of the Mayor and City Council during the discussion.
The Mayor and City Council norms are:
1. Assume good intent
2. Work together as a body, modeling teamwork, respect and civility
3. Respect the roles the Mayor, City Council, City Manager, and City Attorney in our form of government
4. Share information and avoid surprises
5. Stay focused on City Council priorities
6. Maintain a citywide perspective, while being focused on our districts
7. Disagree agreeably and professionally
8. Keep confidential things confidential
9. Utilize long-range plans to provide big picture context that is realistic and achievable
10. Communicate concerns about staff to the City Manager, while treating staff respectfully
Foundational and Key Priorities
During the workshop, the facilitators reviewed and led a discussion of each of the ten priority areas that were mentioned during the Mayor and City Council interviews. The purpose of the discussion was to provide an opportunity for the Mayor and Councilmembers to discuss the reason that the issues are important to them before dot voting on top priorities.
The facilitators led a dot voting exercise after the discussion of all ten priority categories. Each Mayor and Councilmember was given three dot stickers and asked to place their dots on their top priorities. The City Manager emphasized that work is and will be done in all ten areas and the purpose of establishing a small set of top priorities is for the staff to fully understand what is most important, above all others, as assignments are given, and resources are allocated. Before dot voting on its priorities, the Mayor and City Council agreed that two of the categories, fiscal sustainability and staffing, are foundational to all that the City does. Therefore, those two categories were removed from the dot voting exercise and established as “foundational priorities.” Additionally, the Mayor and City Council agreed to combine homelessness and housing due to their interrelated nature. The top three priorities established through dot voting were Homelessness and Housing, Economic Development, and Public Safety.
Next Steps
The City Manager will work closely with departments to develop a Work Plan resulting from the Mayor and City Council foundational and key priorities. This Work Plan will also align with the Strategic Vision 2030 Work Plan concurrently underway.
This matter was reviewed by Principal Deputy City Attorney Rich Anthony and Revenue Management Officer Geraldine Alejo on October 2, 2023.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action on this item is not time critical.
FISCAL IMPACT
The recommendation to receive and file the Mayor and City Council Workshop Final Report has no fiscal or local job impact. The Mayor and City Council Workshop Final Report will be used to develop a Work Plan which will identify in-process and new initiatives to achieve the goals of each priority. Implementation of these initiatives is anticipated to require a substantial investment of City resources, including a significant staffing impact beyond the normal budgeted scope of duties. Funding for implementation has not been identified and cost estimates will need to be developed for the identified initiatives. Offsets for implementing initiatives may require the use of one-time sources and structural funding in future years. The departments responsible for elements within the Final Report will return to the City Council with requests for appropriations as the Work Plan is developed and resources become available.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
BODY
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Respectfully Submitted,
THOMAS B. MODICA
CITY MANAGER