Strategic Planning
Workshop
D e c embe r
1 7 th
City of
202 5
Follow-up Report
San
Bernardino
San
Bernardino
On December 17, 2025, the members of the City Council of San Bernardino and the City Manager’s Team convened for an offsite Strategic Planning Workshop.
All City Council members attended, except for Council Member Ibarra, who was excused. The gathering also included the City Manager, City Attorney, and City Clerk. The workshop aimed to give the City Council a platform to explore and refine their visions for the city’s future, engage in collaborative discussions regarding communication among Council Members, review their roles and responsibilities in decision-making, and establish new strategic goals.
Marie Knight, Owner of Knight Leadership Solutions, facilitated the retreat. This report summarizes many discussions and activities from the workshop, providing a roadmap that outlines the City Council's strategic priorities and aspirations for the community
The Agenda for the Day:
Morning Discussions:
Foundational
• What is the Purpose of the Workshop?
• Roles, Responsibilities, and Lanes
• Mutual Purpose/Common Ground/Decision Making
• Accomplishments and Achievements
• Personal Core Values
• City Council Pre-workshop Interview Summary
Potential
• Vision for the future
• Future Challenges and Opportunities
Afternoon Discussion:
Directional
• Previous 2020-2025 Strategic Goal Review
• Set New 3- year goals
• Discuss/Brainstorm Potential SMART Goal Objectives
• Next steps
Introduction
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Prouds:
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Crime is down
Mt. Vernon Bridge
Software modernization
Commercial development corridors
The “Love Your Block” grant
Passing a balanced budget
New City Manager *
New City Clerk *
Park improvements
The approval of several affordable housing projects
Relationships with partners - the County, School Districts, etc.
New Pavement plan means our streets are all getting paved * *Multiple shared sentiments
The City Council discussed Accomplishments and Achievements in the past year:
Group Discussions
My Vision for today is:
Overall big-picture plan and goals
A list of priorities
Success in becoming a better team
To develop and curate a vision with specific priorities, collaboratively, as a Council body, aimed at truly changing the trajectory of the city To work closer with my colleagues to understand them more, and understand how our vision can be put into place
Getting a better understanding of City Council and create 2-year goals that staff can follow-up with on and create specific work strategies Painting a collective picture of what the City can look like in the next 3-5 years
Big picture plans and goals
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I Bring to the group:
Support, institutional knowledge and memory, optimism, different perspective, a reflective discomfort, dreams, and a readiness A readiness to listen
Institutional memory
Experience in Life, Business, and City governance for the City of San Bernardino
An optimism, readiness to put in what’s needed to realize change, and a head filled with dreams for the city that raised me
A different and younger perspective
Accountability, transparency, uncomfortable reflection
Trying to bring the vision through the organization, also bringing problem solving skills and (hopefully) desired outcomes
I Need from the group:
Participation, support, respect
Ideas on solving the many challenges facing the city
To understand our roles, stay in our lanes, and work as a team Open-mindedness and the spirit of collaboration
An effort to understand without judgement, open-mindedness, and respect for different opinions
Step up for the community, do the right thing, and follow through Vision and goal setting, clear direction, and collaboration Utilizing all of our collective experience
Group Discussions continued
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5 years from now what do you want the headline to be for the City of San Bernardino?
Headlines for the Future
San Bernardino gets a one hundred million dollar grant to revamp their Downtown area.
San Bernardino is booming! They have a thriving downtown and are leading innovation in _________.
San Bernardino is back on track! En route to becoming an All-American city! Re-imagination of Carousel Mall was successful this past year and San Bernardino is a leader in the region for economic development and creating housing.
Eric Levitt has been reappointed as the City Manager for the 5 year! th
San Bernardino breaks ground on Downtown and Carousel Mall rebuilds.
San Bernardino strikes deal with ____ (MLB or NFL) to bring their team in! Challenges/Opportunities On The Horizon
CITY COUNCIL:
City Hall is not currently a one-stop-shop for all services we offer Deferred infrastructure and facility maintenance
Homelessness
City revenue and budget
Asset management
Community bonding opportunities
Changing the culture at City Hall
Planning for the future
CITY MANAGER:
Land utilization (both vacant and not) as a part of economic development Setting New Strategic Goals: Recap
The City Council reviewed the previous Strategic Goals that were established in 2020:
• Financial Stability
• Focused, Aligned Leadership and Unified Community
• Improved Quality of Life
• Economic Growth and Development
During their discussion, the Council considered whether these goals and their corresponding objectives remained relevant, were completed, required refinement, or if anything was missing. It was highlighted that there were currently no metrics available to measure the progress of these objectives, making it challenging to assess their relevance or completion status.
Before exploring potential new strategic goals, the facilitator reviewed responses from the City Council gathered in the Pre-Workshop Interviews concerning their top priorities for the Community in the coming years. These priorities generally fell into the following categories:
Infrastructure & Services
Economic Development
Streamlining permitting processes
Public Safety
Homelessness & Blight
Equity & Quality of Life
Community Engagement & Communication
Leadership & Consistency
The City Council felt that a few of the previous goals needed some refinement to reflect the current needs of the Community and the Organization, and to provide greater clarity in outcomes that were desired from the goals. The following are the new 3-Year Strategic Goals set by the City Council:
New 2026-2029 Strategic Goals
• Fiscal Sustainability
• Become an Organization of Excellence
• Improved Quality of Life
• Economic Growth and Development
Previous strategic goals:
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GOAL 1: FISCAL SUSTAINABILITY
Potential Pillar: Identify Additional Revenue Streams
Revenue Streams Tracking Reserves
Review Investment Portfolio
Property Taxes /fire District
Tax Revenue Options (ie) CDPs, EIFDs, community facilities district, special finance districts
Potential Pillar: Internal Fiscal Health Review
Auditing Services (spending wisely) *Fee study (2020)
Citywide Forensic Audit
Preview Class & Comp Study
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Setting Potential Strategic Goal Objectives
The City Council participated in an exercise aimed at pinpointing actionable items that could drive success for each of the new three-year Strategic Goals. The City Manager and his Executive Team will utilize this feedback to formulate a list of SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Relevant, and Time-Based) Objectives for each goal area. These will be presented to the City Council at an upcoming meeting for their review and approval. The objectives developed by the staff will be feasible for completion within the next three years, considering the organization's current resources and capacities, workload, or with additional resources that may need to be allocated. The Council recommended that while staff is drafting the Potential Objectives, they should take into account “Pillars” under each Goal Area to more clearly delineate the major areas of work required.
Brainstorming Potential Strategic Goal Objectives:
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Setting Potential Strategic Goal Objectives
GOAL 3: IMPROVED QUALITY OF LIFE
Potential Pillar: Increase Community Engagement
Increase culturally relevant city events (Festival; Mt Vernon Bridge w classic cars) and strategize the placement of events.
PR Campaigns (Love Your Block), on multiple Mediums - Printed and social media *meet where they are at
Potential Pillar: Focus on Public Safety
Increase housing and decrease homelessness
Create Enhanced Park Programs for underserved populations (ie: teens etc.) Focus on Walkability
Potential Pillar: Community Beautification
Focus on Public Safety and Beautification
Clean Parks (address trash and illegal dumping *Burrtec), better lighting, paved streets.
Increase Code Enforcement efforts and address slum lords.
Develop a plan to address blight (building vacancies)
GOAL 2: BECOME AN ORGANIZATION OF EXCELLENCE
Potential Pillar: Leadership Development
Create a Succession Plan for Management and Leadership positions.
Create plans for coaching and staff development, and build the capacities of current leaders, fostering strong and stable Leadership Potential Pillar: Creating a Healthy Organization focused on a positive culture and environment.
Create Policy Manuals and Guidelines prioritizing: planning and development, permits and processes, human resources, and smart city innovations.
Assess current staffing to ensure it reflects Council’s priorities Create Organizational Values
Provide customer service training to raise the bar and create consistant standards.
Focus on "Smart" practices vs "Best" practices
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Setting Potential Strategic Goal Objectives
GOAL 4: ECONOMIC GROWTH AND DEVELOPMENT
Potential Pillar: Business and Asset Development
Focus on redevelopment of business corridors (ie) Baseline Mt. Vernon, 40 . Highland, Waterman, etc.
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Focus on Downtown redevelopments
Leveraging assets and city-owned properties as well as private assets 3 space walkability that attracts and serves the students in the city rd
Review permitting system - improve & expedite
Potential Pillar: Leveraging Community Partnerships and Opportunities.
Increase inter-agency partnerships (ie) Chamber of Commerce, School Districts, County...
Work-force development
Job creation opportunities
Explore High-tech opportunities with universities and medical/health institutions Explore creation of internships, apprenticeships, and externships - youth-focused Big Ideas
Here are some ideas you wanted to capture, and/or circle back to in the future:
The City Council has committed to ensuring that all new proposed agenda items are directly aligned with the new Strategic Goals and Objectives established during the Workshop.
Regular updates and progress reports will be required by the City Council, along with data and tracking metrics for all finalized Strategic Goal Objectives.
The City Council proposed a review of the current procedures for setting both the Council Meeting Agenda and adding future agenda items, asking the City Manager to present potential options for revising and improving these processes.
It was recommended that all outstanding additional agenda items be evaluated for their relevance to the new 3-Year Strategic Goals and Objectives.
The City Council aims to provide dashboards and metrics to our constituents, showcasing the progress of our goals and objectives that are currently being implemented.
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03 Next Steps...
City Manager and Executive Team Review: The City Manager and Executive Team will evaluate the City Council’s new Strategic Goals, along with insights on potential Objectives and Pillars. They will then formulate actionable SMART Objectives that can be implemented within the next 1 to 3 years for each Goal. Some Draft Objectives may be introduced in a phased manner, while others might necessitate the allocation of additional resources. These Draft Objectives will clarify:
**WHO** will take the lead
**WHAT** the intended outcomes are
**WHEN** the action is expected to be completed, presented to the City Council, or approved by the City Manager
The City Manager will present the Draft Objectives to the City Council at a future meeting for input and final adoption, as well as an agreed upon process for progress reports and updates to the City Council. .
Once the Strategic Plan is adopted by the City Council, the City Manager and Executive Team will work within the organization to create the necessary staff work plans to ove the needle forard towards completion of the Objectives.
We thank you for engaging us to facilitate
your path forward to continued success.
04 The Team will begin to work the plan and the City Manager will provide regular progress reports to the City Council.