STAFF REPORT
Meeting Date: May 21, 2024
To: Honorable Mayor & City Council
From: Nancy Hunt-Coffey, City Manager
Subject: Establishing a City Council Ad Hoc to Examine and Make Recommendations on the Annual Priority Setting Process
Attachments: None
INTRODUCTION
For a number of years the City Council has engaged in a fruitful annual priority setting process. The process has evolved over time, and while it is informative and more efficient than in the past, staff recommends working with a Council ad hoc on further enhancements to the process so that priority setting can be more transparent and accessible to residents and more effective in guiding the work of City staff. The Mayor has agreed to establish a new Council ad hoc comprised of Vice Mayor Nazarian and Councilmember Corman.
DISCUSSION
While the City budget process kicks off internally in the fall (for example, November 2022), the priority setting exercise takes place in the spring (for example, April 2023).
This timing does not allow for new or changed priorities to be adequately captured in the proposed budget. Additionally, the current list of priorities are a mix of specific items (e.g. Public Works Matrix Audit), general goal areas (e.g. technology), routine work that occurs every year (e.g. business attraction), and projects that are on hold where no work is intended to occur for the fiscal year (Rodeo Permanent Bistro Seating). In 2023-24, the main priority for the Police and Fire Departments, which comprise over 50% of the general fund budget, was “public safety”; whereas the other departments in the City were tasked with 44 of the 45 priorities.
While the priority setting process has been informative and useful in past years, every process can always be better. As a result, staff recommended that the Mayor appoint a Council ad hoc to identify the aspects of the priority setting process that have worked well and also those areas where improvement could be made. Once this work is complete, a report of the recommendations will be shared at a City Council meeting.
Meeting Date: May 21, 2024
FISCAL IMPACT
Other than the staff time involved in working with the City Council ad hoc, there is no cost to examine the priority setting process to determine if there are areas where improvements can be made.
RECOMMENDATION
Staff recommends that City Council note and file the request by staff to Mayor Friedman to create a City Council ad hoc to examine and make recommendations on the annual priority setting process. Mayor Friedman has agreed to create this ad hoc and appointed Vice Mayor Nazarian and Councilmember Corman to serve on it.
Nancy Hunt-Coffey,
City Manager
Approved By