EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: April 5, 2022
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Jaime M. Fontes, City Manager
BY: Patrick Heisinger, Assistant City Manager
SUBJECT: 2022-2023 City Council Priorities
Recommendation
Adopt a Resolution (Attachment 1) approving the 2022-2023 City Council Priorities.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
Priority No. 1: Enhance Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Priority No. 2: Enhance Economic Vitality
Priority No. 3: Increase Organizational Effectiveness and Efficiency Priority No. 4: Improve Public Facilities and Infrastructure Priority No. 5: Improve Communication and Enhance Community Engagement Priority No. 6: Create a Healthy and Safe Community
Background
On Saturday, January 8, 2022, the City of East Palo Alto hosted the FY 2022-2023 Priority Setting session, an annual City Council retreat, via Zoom. The retreat, conducted as a workshop, provided an opportunity for the City Councilmembers and executive staff to review and discuss top priorities and workplans for the current year, discuss priorities for the next two years, celebrate recent accomplishments, and strengthen teamwork between City Council and City staff.
For the third year in a row, the retreat was facilitated by consultant Greg Larson. Please see Attachment 2, “2022 City Council Priority Setting Workshop Report,” provided by the consultant.
At the conclusion of the retreat, staff committed to returning to the City Council in Spring 2022 to seek formal adoption of the City Council Priorities for the years 2022 and 2023.
For the last several years the City Council has adopted five to seven Priorities with three to six more specific Goals under each Priority. While the Priorities and Goals are reviewed, modified and adopted every year, it is generally understood that most of the Goals will take two years to complete given the complexity, funding needs, and public process required for each item.
Consequently, after the Council provides direction on the Priorities and Goals, City staff then incorporate funding for the Goals as possible in the next budget adoption cycle and develops more detail work plans to achieve each Goal.
Analysis
During the Priority Setting session on January 8, 2022, the City Council reviewed the progress on the adopted Priorities as listed below. This chart also provides the staff lead for each Priority to both manage workloads and to ensure accountability.
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES for FY 2022-2023
Priority Policy Area Staff Lead
Enhance Community Services and Parks for Residents Heisinger/McKenzie Advance Housing and Workforce Development Chen
Develop/Implement a Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan Fallaha/Heisinger Ensure Health and Public Safety Fallaha/Liu/Heisinger
Develop Comprehensive Strategy to Address City’s Structural Deficit Oku
Establish/Implement a Transportation Mobility Plan Fallaha/Chen Improve the City’s Water Infrastructure Fallaha
As part of the interview process before the workshop, the City Council had ranked the Priorities and the Goals under each Priority for presentation purposes. The balance of the workshop was then spent going through each of the Priority areas and modifying the Goals to mee the community’s and Council’s expectations for the next two years. In addition, the facilitator provided examples of language modifications that would be necessary to have consistency between the Priorities and their associated Goals.
The recommended set of Priorities and Goals for 2022 – 2023 provided in Exhibit A of Attachment 2 – the Facilitators Workshop Report . The most significant changes and additions are noted below:
• The ordering of the Priorities and Goals has been modified throughout to reflect the Council’s input and direction;
• The COVID-19 Priority added last year has been moved to a Goal under Promote Public Health and Safety;
• Several Goals moved from planning or other preparatory work to implementation; • With the pending completion of the Housing Element in 2022, then focus on the City’s next affordable housing project and the funding needed; • Creation of an Economic Development Strategy with a particular focus on small and micro businesses;
• Prioritize the construction of the University Overpass for the current calendar year; • Consider funding strategies for street improvements and other public infrastructure; • Implement a parking and enforcement program
• Resolve the Sanitation District incorporation matter
• Broaden the Financial Health Priority to include broader organizational issues such as staff morale, retention, recruitment and succession planning, as well as implementation of the work-intensive Enterprise Resource Planning system; • Prioritize the University 12” water main project;
• Finalize the Veolia lease negotiations;
• Explore the Tanklage site to meet temporary or ongoing Police facility needs; • Engage with the County regarding the University and Beech Street properties; • Prioritize the design of the MLK Jr. and Bell Street park projects.
A full presentation of the Council’s workshop discussion is included in the facilitator’s Workshop Report (Attachment 2)
Next Steps
Once the City Council has confirmed the FY 2022-2023 City Council Priorities as described in this staff report, staff will update the City’s website that provides all relevant information to the public and other stakeholders regarding the status of the City Council Priorities. Additionally, staff will provide semi-annual updates regarding the FY 2022-2023 Priorities to the City Council in December 2022.
Fiscal Impact
There are no fiscal impacts associated with this staff report.
Public Notice
The public was provided notice of this agenda item by posting the City Council agenda on the City’s official bulletin board outside City Hall and making the agenda and report available at the City’s website and at the San Mateo County Library located at 2415 University Avenue, East Palo Alto.
Environmental
The action being considered does not constitute a “Project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378 (b)(5), in that it is a government administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Resolution
2. Exhibit A - Workplans for Each FY 2022-2023 City Council Priority
3. 2022 City Council Priority Setting Workshop Report