Agenda Item13
1 DATE: May 5, 2025
TO: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council through City Manager FROM: Peggy Flynn, City Manager
Brian Cochran, Assistant City Manager
Patrick Carter, Assistant to the City Manager
SUBJECT: Updated Goals and Priorities Workplan for Fiscal Years 2024/25 and 2025/26 and Provide Direction to Staff
RECOMMENDATION
It is recommended that the City Council Finalize the Updated Goals and Priorities Workplan for Fiscal Years 2024/25 and 2025/26 and Provide Direction to Staff
BACKGROUND
The Petaluma City Council has had a regular tradition of establishing annual goals and priorities each year as a guidepost for what it would like to get accomplished in the upcoming year and to help set a workplan for City staff. On April 15, 2024, Staff presented goals and priorities which divided 26 goals into 3 different categories – 1) Legislative Initiatives, 2) Policies, Programs, and Plan, and 3) Internal/Organization Goals. As with last year, Capital Improvement Program projects will be discussed during the FY 25/26 Budget planning process and do not appear within the goals and priorities for today’s discussion.
Since then, staff have achieved a number of 2024-25 workplan items toward accomplishing the Council’s goals. A few highlights from the current year include:
•Adopted the incremental retail cannabis program, with three selected retailers currently in process to establish their licenses / permits;
•Adopted the Blueprint for Climate Action;
•Brought a voter initiative to extend the urban grown boundary timeline and successfully achieved voter approval of the extension;
•Collaborated with the 4th District Agricultural Association to stage the 2024 fair and received approval of a grant for the fairgrounds master plan; •Adopted Integrated Pest Management Plan;
•Implemented Luma Go on-demand ride-share service and fare-free transit; •Established the Public Safety Advisory Committee;
2 •Contracted with a vendor and commenced implementation of the Enterprise Resource Planning software system;
•Expanded Senior Services to seven days per week;
•Multiple milestones toward the General Plan update, including the policy frameworks and land use framework;
•Celebrated the opening of the Petaluma North SMART Station.
Some examples of other projects that will also require significant staff effort over the next one to two years while we are also trying to achieve the major goal milestones:
•Mobile Home Tenant Protections
•Fairgrounds Programming and Management
•Capital Improvements citywide
•Parklets & Parking Management Plan
•Enterprise Resource Planning (finance/human resources/payroll) implementation •Transition of Aquatics Program In-House
•Records Retention Schedule Updates and City-Wide Roll-Out •Organic Turf Management Pilot Program
•Bond Issuances & Fiscal and Organizational Sustainability •Public Safety Building Planning and Implementation
•Stormwater Permit Implementation
•Water and Sewer Master Plans
•Triennial Building Code Update
•Labor Contract Negotiations
•General Plan Update completion and Zoning Code update
•Masterplanning of Fairgrounds; both SMART stations area planning efforts
DISCUSSION
During the Goals and Priorities workshop at the February 10, 2025 City Council special meeting, Council members received feedback from staff and community members regarding progress to- date on existing activities. Though a few potential priorities were mentioned (Drone ordinances, protection against predatory lawsuits, and stakeholder meetings to create and implement agricultural protection ordinances, industrial property support, neighborhood/RV parking ordinance, establishing a program to promote Mills Act participation, and facilitating alternative locations for day laborers), either those items would be addressed in other efforts including the General Plan, or did not receive support from a majority of Council to be added to the goals list.
Priorities supported by the majority of Council included:
•Parks Master Plan—for consideration to begin teeing up in FY 26/27 •General Plan Update--currently underway; to be completed FY 25/26 •Fairgrounds Master Plan—FY 25/26
•Economic Development/Downtown focus—currently underway •Housing Development—currently underway
3 •Zoning Ordinance--to be completed FY 25/26
•Active Transportation Plan/Wayfinding--currently underway With most of these items already underway and identified in our current goals and priorities, staff’s recommendation is to continue the course of what we are working on and report out in December to provide an update on progress, completion, and potential additions to our workplan.
If Council chooses to add anything to the FY25-26 priorities, a discussion on what priorities staff is currently focused on will shift.
PUBLIC OUTREACH
This agenda item was first discussed on April 15 at a Council meeting, and subsequently appeared on the City’s tentative agenda document on April 21, 2025 which was a publicly- noticed meeting.
COUNCIL GOAL ALIGNMENT
This agenda item will set the goals for the remainder of the current 2-year period.
CLIMATE ACTION/SUSTAINABILITY EFFORTS
On November 4, 2024, the City Council adopted the Blueprint for Climate Action which contains 33 cornerstone actions necessary for Petaluma to significantly reduce it contribution to the climate crisis. The Blueprint can be found on the following webpage:
https://cityofpetaluma.org/departments/climate-ready-2030/
FINANCIAL IMPACTS
While there are no financial impacts from reviewing the goals and priorities, all initiatives require staffing and/or financial resources. Staff will be reviewing the budget in detail with the City Council and community this spring in preparation for adoption of the 2025/26 budget.
ATTACHMENTS
1. Goals and Priorities Dashboard