Future Fortuna Strategic Priorities
Staff + Council Workshop | April 30, 2026
A Note to Council Before We Gather
On April 30, you will join City senior staff for a two-hour working session built on nearly a year of listening — to community members, business owners, teens, Spanish-speaking neighbors, each of you, and all City departments.
This packet is a short orientation, so you arrive ready to engage, not catch up.
The work you will see is first-draft thinking from staff who know these priorities better than anyone. Some presentations will be polished; others will be works in progress. That is appropriate — these are living documents, and April 30 is the moment when your engagement shapes them. The goal is not to evaluate presentation or content polish. It is checking in to confirm a shared direction before we dig into draft documents.
What You Contributed to This Process
Each of you was interviewed as part of the listening campaign. Your observations, frustrations, and hopes are woven into the priorities staff will present. You attended one or both of the two public workshops, where 150+ participants confirmed the same themes you named in your interviews. This is not a staff wish list — it reflects what Fortuna asked for, across groups that often are assumed to not agree.
The rare thing that happened: Community members, City staff, and Council members were interviewed separately, asked open-ended questions, and came back with strikingly similar answers that were repeatedly validated and emphasized during public workshops. When resources are thin and decisions are necessarily challenging, local governments do not often have this type of clarity about the future as a guide.
When that happens across months, ages, departments, and backgrounds, it is a mandate – or political cover – to make tough decisions with strong backing.
How April 30 Is Designed
The session is designed so staff leads and Council responds. You will hear from staff first, ask clarifying questions, and then engage with direction and support. The agenda will move through six segments:
Time What happens Your role
4:00–4:15 Welcome & framing: why this workshop, what was built from Listen 4:15–4:30 The Compass: guiding principles, how they arose, how to use them Questions, confirm 4:30–4:50 Applied Compass Scenario: test the decision filters on a real situation Engage 4:50–5:30 Staff Priority Presentations: each team presents current reality, future ideal, and direction (2 min each). Clarifying questions only, after each.
Listen, note and ask
clarifying questions
5:30–5:45 Council Role: staff requests of Council, open discussion Listen, ask questions 5:45–6:00 Timeline, next steps, and close Questions, close Documents that will follow in early May, to be finalized in June, include a Draft Strategic Plan and Draft GPU Recommendations. Our workshop on Thursday, April 30 is the moment to shape them, before they are written.
Staff & Council Workshop Preparation Packet: April 30, 2026 2 of 4 How to Engage on April 30
About Staff Presentations
Each team or individual will summarize you three points in two minutes each:
1. Where things stand now (current reality)
2. Where we want to be in 5-10 years (future ideal), and
3. The proposed near term and longer term steps to get us to that ideal – including Strategic Plan priorities and (if relevant) what staff need from the General Plan Update in a list we will provide to Planwest.
We will ask for clarifying questions only at the end of each presentation — please save substantive responses for the Council Role discussion that follows.
As you listen, consider two questions we will work from in the discussion segment:
● Where, when, and how can I champion this publicly?
● Where do I need more information before I can?
A Preview: What Staff Will Ask of Council
At the end of the session, staff will share two categories of requests. Here is a preview so nothing lands as a surprise.
Make the call — and champion it
• Use the Compass for transparent decisions
— lead with the shared principles, not
individual preferences
• Name economic development as a City
priority and give staff dedicated time and
capacity to pursue it
• Champion the tax measure: canvass door to
door, support correct messaging, establish a
volunteer committee. The ballot language
was tested through polling — do not alter it.
• Competitive pay is essential — acknowledge
it and support it in the budget
• Allocate and/or allow time for
infrastructure funding/grants to attract
development, starting with the Mill Site
Support staff to lead execution
• Set broad policy direction, then let staff
implement — trust staff diligence and
ministerial decisions on design standards
• Hold developers accountable for application
quality at the dais – the community
overwhelmingly wants to protect Fortuna’s
character and attract the right kind of
growth
• No handshake deals on project costs or
conditions – we must be fair, transparent,
and honor what came up again and again in
this process
• When pulling agenda items: give staff
maximum advance notice and name the
driving question and Compass principle
What comes next: The Strategic Plan will then be finalized in June and back to you for adoption. The GPU Recommendations will be provided to the Planwest team at that time.
The beginnings of these documents that you will inform on April 30 will guide City decisions, budgeting, hiring, and land use planning for the next five years and beyond.
Staff & Council Workshop Preparation Packet: April 30, 2026 3 of 4 Fortuna’s Compass: A Preview A tool for confirmation on April 30 The Compass is the most durable output of this planning process. It is not a mission statement to laminate on a wall — it is a working navigation tool designed to help staff and Council make consistent decisions, no matter how challenging, whoever is at the helm. Every element emerged from the listening campaign and was tested during the public workshops.
On April 30, staff will share how they have begun using the Compass and how they request that Council use it.
Council will be asked to confirm the elements, not adopt them as a final document — that comes with the Strategic Plan.
Draft City Vision
Fortuna is a vital economic engine and a thriving, connected community for people of all ages. The City leads with clear direction, delivers capable services, and finds a way forward — together.
Core Values
• Quality of life — Safety, family life, care for
youth, cleanliness, parks, forests, and river
• Community connection and care — Closeknit feel, showing up for each other • Economic resilience — Building a
foundation that can sustain the Fortuna we
want
• Clear direction — Consistent decisions based
on shared principles that outlast any one
leader
• Community character — Keeping the historic
feel and access to outdoors with room for
growth
• Dedicated service — Recognizing that staff
work hard, care, and deserve support
Council-Level Policy Decision Filters
Questions staff and Council use when facing difficult decisions. Not a checklist — a discipline. This tool helps staff and Council members keep the City on course: does this decision move us toward our vision? Reflect our values and priorities? Striking the right balance between strategic tensions? Staff-Level Operational Decision Filters
We have been experimenting with these “decision-making criteria” since November and find them to be a very helpful mindset as we develop proposals collaboratively and prepare to bring them to you. The more we practice them, the more the questions become automatic and give us a better result for Fortuna.
See the draft Compass on the following page.
Why this matters for Council: Every Council member interviewed said a version of the same thing: Fortuna needs a clear, consistent direction that doesn’t leave when a City Manager does.
The Compass is that direction — not a personality, not one leader’s priorities, but shared principles the City owns together and can use to transparently make decisions the community is watching for. On April 30, make it yours.
Staff & Council Workshop Preparation Packet: April 30, 2026 4 of 4