DATE: April 23, 2024
TO: Mayor and City Council
FROM: City Manager
SUBJECT: FY2025 Strategic Roadmap: Discussion of Updates to Strategic Roadmap for FY 2025
RECOMMENDATION
That Council receives this report on the proposed Strategic Roadmap metrics and projects for FY 2025 and provides feedback.
SUMMARY
Each year starting in 2020, the City Council has adopted a Strategic Roadmap to help the City prioritize projects and initiatives and to help staff understand where to focus resources. This year, Council held a retreat on February 10 to discuss and provide direction on the Strategic Roadmap for FY 2025. Staff has prepared the attached document with responses to Council’s comments at the retreat (Attachment II). At this work session, staff is seeking another round of feedback on FY 2025 priorities before the budget work session on May 11, 2024.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
Vision Statement and Priority Areas
Based on Council comments at the February retreat, staff has made the following updates. Staff is seeking Council feedback confirming these edits:
Added to the vision statement: “a regional leader in addressing the housing & homelessness crises.” Added to the vision statement: “vibrant neighborhoods across the city.” Split the Quality of Life priority into two priorities: Community Safety and Vibrant Neighborhoods.
Updated the language for the climate/environment priority to read “Champion Climate Resilience & Environmental Justice.” Proposed Updated Vision Statement
The City of Hayward is a place where people want to be. It has a growing economy, good housing options, cradle-to-career educational opportunities, an inviting downtown, and vibrant neighborhoods across the city. Its diverse and inclusive community is well supported with robust city services and is kept healthy and safe through innovative programs. It is a regional leader in addressing the housing & homelessness crises. It is also a leader in climate resilience and environmental justice to prepare residents to face the impacts of climate change. City staff have what they need to thrive in their work and take pride in helping Hayward continually improve.
Proposed Updated Priority Areas
Special Projects and Metrics
The Strategic Roadmap includes special projects that support Council’s priority areas. Starting in FY25, the Roadmap will also include metrics that measure the City’s progress at advancing Council’s priority areas. Attachment II includes a summary of comments that Council provided at the February 10 retreat, along with staff’s responses.
At this work session, staff if seeking another round of feedback from Council Members on the proposed metrics and projects before finalizing a draft of the Roadmap for adoption. In some cases, staff does not recommend adding an item as a project due to competing priorities (noted in the “staff comments” column in Attachment II). If Council members express a desire on April 23 to move forward with any of these items, staff will present a tradeoff analysis at the next work session.
FY 2025 Context
As Council considers individual projects for FY 2025, staff encourages Council to keep the following items in mind. These will require extensive input from Council, the community, and other stakeholders. These items will also require focus from top leadership and key staff.
Recruitment for the next City Manager
Contract negotiations with several bargaining units
Establishing district maps and elections
Consideration of an extension of the ½ cent sales tax
Added Projects
Based on Council feedback at the retreat and Council actions taken over the past two months, staff has added the following special projects for FY25:
Launched a Downtown Working Group to focus on immediate improvements that can be taken on Foothill Blvd and B Street.
Added a work session on August 20 on special events, which includes implementation steps based on Council feedback.
Added a work session in November on a public art impact fee, which includes implementation steps based on Council feedback.
Added the creation of an ad hoc committee to review the scope and bylaws of Council appointed bodies.
Added a report to CBFC on visioning for Cinema Place on April 29, which includes any follow up steps and a possible report to the full Council.
Seeking Prioritization
There are three divisions that are seeking prioritization from Council on their work tasks: Code Enforcement, Economic Development, and Planning. Staff will be sending Council a brief pre-survey to rank these priorities, the results of which will be shared at the Work Session.
Code Enforcement: Code Enforcement staff have finite staff capacity for special program work on top of their regular duties of the rental housing inspection program and community preservation program compliance. Staff is requesting that Council rank the below special program work for the coming months to help the division know where to focus efforts first. Note that the below items are in addition to the additional enforcement needed for the Fireworks ban.
Street Vendor Enforcement
Vacant Property Enforcement
Tobacco/Cannabis Enforcement (Smoke-Free Housing)
Economic Development/Planning: The following projects impact Economic Development and Planning. In each case, Council has requested an informational report with recommendations. Researching and creating an informational report can take staff anywhere between 20-80 hours. However, most reports result in recommendations on next steps, which can take hundreds of hours on top of other priority projects and daily tasks. Staff is requesting that Council rank the items below. Staff is comfortable committing to one to two items in FY 2025, which can be revisited at midyear.
Ordinances that may have an adverse impact on our local economy (such as Cabaret Ordinance and alcohol and entertainment uses) Recommendations for encouraging development of worker-cooperatives in Hayward Amenities and branding in the industrial area
Zoning changes to better allow popups and small businesses in residential areas How other midsized cities around the nation have revitalized their downtowns In addition to the divisions above, Environmental Services may seek Council’s feedback at a future date on priorities for the Climate Action Plan and Environmental Justice Element implementation. The related projects included in Attachment II assume the approval of proposed position requests. If these are not included in the FY 2025 budget, Environmental Services will conduct a analysis of which items are feasible.
FISCAL IMPACT
There is no fiscal impact from receiving this report. Staff will incorporate feedback from this work session into the budget work session on May 11.
Prepared by: Mary Thomas, Assistant to the City Manager Approved by:
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Kelly McAdoo, City Manager