EAST PALO ALTO
CITY COUNCIL
STAFF REPORT
DATE: April 18, 2023
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
VIA: Melvin E. Gaines, City Manager
BY: Melvin Gaines, City Manager
SUBJECT: 2023-2024 City Council Priorities
Recommendation
Adopt a Resolution setting the 2023-2024 City Council Priorities.
Alignment with City Council Strategic Plan
This recommendation is primarily aligned with:
• Promote Housing, Economic and Workforce Development
• Implement the Comprehensive Transportation and Mobility Plan • Promote Health & Public Safety
• Ensure Our Financial and Organizational Health
• Improve the City's Water Infrastructure
• Develop and Implement a Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan • Enhance Community Services and Parks for Residents
Background
On Saturday, January 21, 2023, the City of East Palo Alto hosted the FY 2023-2024 Priority Setting session, an annual City Council retreat, via Zoom. For the fourth year in a row, the retreat was facilitated by consultant Greg Larson. 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.
At the conclusion of the retreat, staff committed to returning to the City Council in Spring 2023 to seek formal adoption of the City Council Priorities for the years 2023 and 2024. The East Palo Alto City Council Priority Work Plan is Attachment 1 to this report.
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
As part of the interview process before the workshop, the City Council ranked the Priorities and the Goals under each Priority for presentation purposes. During the Priority Setting session on January 21, 2023, the City Council reviewed the previous FY 2022/23 priorities and goals.
Ultimately, the Council kept the FY 2022/23 priorities as the priorities for FY 2023/24 and clarified goals that reflect those priorities.
The seven priorities are listed below in Table 1 along with the staff lead for each priority. Most priorities will require contributions from various City departments; however, staff leads are specified to both manage workloads and to ensure accountability.
Table 1: Proposed FY 2023/24 Council Priorities
CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES for FY 2023-2024
Priority Policy Area Staff Lead(s)
Promote Housing, Economic and Workforce Development Chen Implement the Comprehensive Transportation and Mobility Plan Javed
Promote Health & Public Safety Javed/Liu/McKenzie
Ensure Our Financial and Organizational Health Oku/Gaines Improve the City's Water Infrastructure Javed/Gaines
Develop and Implement a Comprehensive Facilities Master Plan
Javed/Gaines
Enhance Community Services and Parks for Residents McKenzie/Gaines Each of the seven priorities has two to five goals. Each goal is supported by several actions which staff have proposed as ways to accomplish the City Council’s priorities and goals. The City Council Priority Work Plan reflects the priorities, goals, and actions with a tentative timeline for when staff will undertake actions. Many actions occur over multiple fiscal years, which is why the workplan timeline includes three fiscal years.
Next Steps
Following City Council adoption of the FY 2023-2024 City Council Priorities, staff will ensure that proposed budget activities reflect the City Council’s priorities. Staff will also monitor progress toward accomplishing goals by completing actions, and will provide periodic updates to the Council and public throughout the fiscal year.
Fiscal Impact
There is no fiscal impact associated with this 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 proposed action is not a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378(b)(2), in that it is government administrative activity that will not result in direct or indirect changes in the environment.
Attachments
1. Exhibit A - FY 2023/24 East Palo Alto City Council Priority Work Plan
2. Resolution