Client Name
September 29, 2022
1 May 28, 2024
Damien O'Bid
City Manager
City of Cotati
201 W. Sierra Avenue
Cotati, CA 94931
Delivered electronically
Dear Mr. O’Bid:
Thank you for discussing the City of Cotati’s current budget process and your desire to add a workshop with Al Zelinka and Michelle New as you transition to a two-year budget cycle. We have prepared this proposal to facilitate a Council governance and priority-setting workshop in early 2025.
We know there is great value to a Council and City Manager when there is clear direction and alignment about priorities and expectations. Convening in a workshop setting is an opportunity for the Council and City Manager to discuss important issues and initiatives and reach consensus about top priorities for the City Manager and staff to focus time and attention on in the coming years. This will enable the Council and staff to focus the City’s limited resources (both time and money) to make meaningful progress on a few important projects and initiatives. There are many assignments that compete for staff time and other resources, and it is essential to establish priorities.
Setting priorities is difficult but necessary and requires choices to be made. Our facilitation team will lead a discussion with Council members about identifying priorities and the importance of making choices. We will utilize vision boards to visualize the various projects and initiatives under consideration, making it easier for Council members to see the potential impact and benefits of each option. They will then go through a narrowing process to establish several Council priorities, using the visualized projects on the vision boards to guide their decisions and ensure a clear, shared understanding of the priorities being set.
This workshop will be planned using a collaborative approach between our team, you, and your staff to ensure it is productive and meets the objectives of the Mayor and Council. To optimize Council participants’ time during the session, we are proposing careful advance planning. This includes meeting with you to discuss the workshop and your desired outcomes, conducting interviews with the Mayor and each Council member, preparing an agenda and other materials, and coordinating workshop logistics with your staff. Following the session, we will prepare a report that documents the direction provided by the Council as a body.
The plan of work anticipated for the engagement is described below. It will be conducted in person in a half-day session. All preparation will be done remotely.
Proposed plan of work
The following describes the plan of work anticipated for the engagement.
Activity 1 – Gather background information and conduct interviews We will start by having a conversation with you to discuss the work plan and schedule. We will then conduct remote interviews with each Council member. We will ask questions such as:
• What are the key accomplishments of the City over the past year? • What are the key challenges facing the City in the coming year? Baker Tilly US, LLP
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The City of Cotati
May 28, 2024
2 • What goals and objectives would you like to see discussed at the workshop? • What are your top three priorities for the City in the next year? • What do you see as impediments to accomplishing Council priorities? • What will help the upcoming Council priority setting workshop be successful? What could get in the way?
• What is their role in ensuring effective governance?
• What other issues would you like to discuss at the workshop? We will ask each Council member to consider their vision of the projects that they would like to see accomplished within the next two years and bring pictures to help illustrate their ideas. These visual aids will not only provide clarity but also help in fostering a shared understanding among all members of the Council, ensuring that we can collaboratively prioritize and strategize the most impactful initiatives.
The results of our interviews will be summarized for discussion during the workshop.
Activity 2 – Design and prepare for priority-setting workshop We will prepare a draft agenda and identify materials that will be helpful during workshop discussions. We will then review the draft agenda with you and finalize it, along with other workshop materials. Based on the information provided by Council members, we will create vision boards to visually represent their ideas and priorities. We will also prepare a PowerPoint presentation to aid in the workshop process, incorporating elements from the vision boards to enhance engagement and clarity. Participants will include Council members and the management team.
Activity 3 – Facilitate priority-setting workshop
Our team will facilitate the workshop with the Mayor, Council members and you. We suggest three to four hours be devoted to this session to provide sufficient time for discussion and consensus. The session will be facilitated in such a way to enable all members of Council to equally participate and engage in a collaborative conversation, with the goal of reaching consensus direction.
In addition to facilitating discussions, we will prepare vision boards in advance based on the information provided by Council members. These vision boards will visually represent their ideas, priorities and preferred projects, enhancing the workshop's interactive nature and fostering creativity in decisionmaking.
We will begin by reviewing the Council’s feedback, including their perceptions of the City’s key accomplishments, challenges and preferred priorities. Using the information provided by staff, we will review projects, initiatives, and priority areas that are already being implemented or addressed.
We will then facilitate a discussion of the Council’s desired priority projects, with the intention of identifying specific projects, programs or initiatives that fit within the consensus priorities. To aid this process, we will use the vision boards, enhancing the workshop's interactive nature and fostering creativity in decision-making. It is likely that the outcome of the interviews will be many proposed priorities, and there may not be a clear consensus around a reasonable number (four to five). If that is the case, we will use a process (such as dot voting) to reduce the number of priorities to a reasonable number.
When we facilitate these types of priority-setting workshops, the City Manager actively participates. This is essential so that the result is a realistic and achievable set of established priorities. The discussion needs to be collaborative.
The City of Cotati
May 28, 2024
3 The workshop will result in a consensus by the Mayor and Council on the priorities for the coming year.
We will also facilitate a discussion about how the Council and staff will work together to stay on course with the consensus priorities throughout the year.
After the session, we will prepare a report summarizing the results, including the established priorities and follow-up steps to be taken, integrating insights from the prepared vision boards to provide a comprehensive overview of the workshop outcomes.
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SUPPORTING STATE AND LOCAL GOVERNMENTS WITH SPECIALIZED EXPERTISE The City of Cotati will benefit from the insight Baker Tilly has gained from serving thousands of public sector clients across the United States.
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The City of Cotati
May 28, 2024
4 FULL RANGE OF SERVICE OFFERINGS FOR LOCAL GOVERNMENTS Accounting services and assurance Housing and economic development Capital planning Human capital services
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Aligning key engagement team members with your goals
We believe in strong personal relationships, and this means a personal interest in the City of Cotati from some of our most experienced team members. Engagement team members are introduced below.
ENGAGEMENT TEAM FOR THE CITY OF COTATI
Al Zelinka – Director
Role: Project director and facilitator
Al brings a wealth of experience in both local government leadership and consulting to his work with Baker Tilly’s public-sector advisory team. He served most recently as city manager for the California cities of Huntington Beach and Riverside. Key accomplishments in those roles include overhauling outdated administrative policies and procedures, improving financial health, developing public infrastructure, advancing strategic planning and succession planning, advancing policies on equity and homelessness, and promoting community engagement. Al also served as community development director for the cities of Riverside and Fullerton, creating more efficient and effective processes and improving operations.
Michelle New – Manager, Consulting
Role: Relationship manager and facilitator
Michelle assists public sector clients with strategic plans, city council workshops, organization assessments and comparison analysis studies. She spent 15 years with the City of Santa Maria, where she worked first as a management analyst in the City Manager’s Office and then as the human resources manager, responsible for oversight of all aspects of the human resources function. During her tenure, Michelle developed an award-winning succession planning program, overhauled multiple paper processes, actively participated in employee negotiations, coordinated the city’s performance, disciplinary and investigative issues and was involved in the citywide budget. Michelle served as a Central Coast regional co-chair of the Municipal Management Association of Southern California (MMASC) and is the founding member of the region’s annual Women in Leadership event. Michelle is also a graduate of Leadership Santa Maria and served on its board for three years including one year as vice chair.
The City of Cotati
May 28, 2024
5 References
We encourage you to connect with the clients below to learn more about the value of their relationship with Baker Tilly. Each client will offer a different perspective as you consider your own needs.
CITY OF SACRAMENTO, CALIFORNIA
Name Howard Chan Title City Manager
Phone +1 (916) 808-7488 Email [email protected] Description Baker Tilly was engaged to conduct a workshop to establish City Council priorities for the City Manager’s attention. Through individual interviews with the mayor and each member of City Council, we distilled the seven core goal areas of the City Council. In collaboration with the executive team, we then identified major ongoing projects (strategies) that aligned with the goal areas for which each of the members of City Council would vote on their top priorities. City Council members engaged in in-depth discussions about the challenges faced by city staff, participated in priority-setting exercises, and collaborated on developing a focused action plan to better align council goals with staff capacity and resources.
The workshop resulted in a clear report reaffirming the four top priorities set by the Council and set the stage for the City Manager to lead a productive offsite meeting with the executive team to develop practical work plans in line with the established priorities.
This approach reflects the collaborative spirit of the Council and lays a solid foundation for effective governance.
TOWN OF WINDSOR, CALIFORNIA
Name Travis Hopkins Title Assistant City Manager
Phone +1 (714) 475 4112 Email [email protected]
Description Baker Tilly assisted the City of Huntington Beach with the development of a four-year strategic plan and implementation action plan. Baker Tilly conducted interviews with each Council Member, Charter officers and City Manager to identify top priorities that became the eight goals at the center of the 2023-27 Strategic Plan. With guidance provided by Baker Tilly, City staff prepared an environmental scan to identify factors important to consider during the strategic planning process (i.e., demographics, economic trends, funding, and key changes in recent years). Baker Tilly also led a focus group with the department heads to identify the City’s strengths and challenges from an operational perspective. A gap analysis was also completed. Baker Tilly conducted a strategic plan workshop with City Council, received public comments, confirmed the eight goals, and prioritized the strategies identified by the department heads. Ongoing collaboration between Baker Tilly and Huntington Beach staff resulted in City staff identifying key steps required to complete each strategy as incorporated into an implementation action plan, City staff’s roadmap to carry out the policy direction embodied in the strategic plan.
The City of Cotati
May 28, 2024
6 TOWN OF WINDSOR, CALIFORNIA
Name Jon Davis Title Town Manager
Phone +1 (707) 838 5335 Email [email protected]
Description In this engagement, Baker Tilly facilitated a half-day governance workshop with the Town Council to review and discuss governance best practices, Council norms, and approaches to working together collaboratively for the benefit of Town residents. In advance of the workshop, the facilitator conducted confidential interviews with Council members, prepared handouts and a slide deck to guide the workshop and coordinated with the Town Manager and staff to ensure a productive meeting. Town Council members engaged in rich discussion about what is working well and what needs to improve and spent time getting to know each other better and strengthening teamwork and cohesion.
Professional fee
The total cost of this project is $25,000, which includes all fees and expenses. The ultimate test of a quality project is that the client is pleased with the results, and we are committed to achieving that goal.
Conclusion
The City of Cotati will continue to be a valued client of Baker Tilly, and I will be personally involved in all aspects of our relationship, from planning through completion. Thank you for the opportunity to make tangible contributions to your success. Our team is excited to maintain your trust, and we look forward to discussing your questions and feedback.
Sincerely,
Carol Jacobs, Managing Director
Baker Tilly US, LLP
+1 (949) 809 5588 | [email protected]
Accepted for the City of Cotati by:
Name: _____________________________________
Title: _____________________________________
Date: _____________________________________
Baker Tilly US, LLP is currently undergoing a restructuring of its organization which is anticipated to occur on or around June 1, 2024. Following the closing of such restructuring, all consulting and tax engagements will be performed by Baker Tilly Advisory Group, LP. All assurance engagements will continue to be performed by Baker Tilly US, LLP.
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May 28, 2024
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