TO: HONORABLE MAYOR FROM: Councilmember Domingo
AND CITY COUNCIL Candelas
SUBJECT: SEE BELOW DATE: February 14, 2023
Approved Date 2/14/2023
SUBJECT: STUDY SESSION OF THE CITY COUNCIL ON THE FISCAL YEAR 2023- 2024 CITY COUNCIL PRIORITY-SETTING SESSION #1 - MAYORAL TRANSITION
COMMITTEE REPORT
RECOMMENDATION
A. Receive the Mayoral Transition Committees' reports.
B. Direct staff to bring back a proposed process, for approval by the Rules and Open Government Committee no later than 2/22, prior to the 2/28 Priority Setting Session #2 Special Meeting of the City Council on:
i. How individual Councilmembers may submit recommendations for additional City Council Priorities outside the scope of the Mayor's Transition Committees for consideration at the 2/28 Special Meeting prior to the Special Meeting. ii. How the City Council will consider the recommendations of the Administration based on discussion at the 2/14 Study Session and any additional items recommended by Councilmembers, per above, and vote to prioritize and adopt a final set of City Council Priorities for FY23/24 at the 2/28 Special Meeting.
SUMMARY
I would first like to thank the Mayor, my colleagues and members of the public for their work and the presentations on the Mayoral Transition Committees. As important as the work to address homelessness, public safety, clean neighborhoods, community safety, planning and permitting, and downtown vibrancy is, we need to recognize that in a city of one million people and in a City Hall with a workforce of over 4,000 dedicated workers our urgent needs and capacities far outnumber the strategies outlined in these report outs.
Our working families and neighborhoods have enormous needs that could go unmet if the City Council were to limit its goals to a mere handful of our most important challenges. From strengthening our neighborhood and education services, to providing quality childcare and youth services, to promoting environmental and disaster resiliency, creating safer streets and neighborhoods, and ensuring we fill the over 1,000 vacancies currently within the city workforce COUNCIL AGENDA: 2/14/2023
ITEM: 1
HONORABLE MAYOR AND CITY COUNCIL
February 14, 2023
to complete all this work, there are a number of important issues before our City outlined in the previous priority setting session which deserve to remain a priority in our work in the coming year ahead and in the FY23/24 Budget.
We need to ensure an open and transparent process that the entire City Council, our residents and stakeholders can trust. Already we have begun to hear concerns from the community about how this process will occur, and even as members of the Council, it has been unclear how we can bring our perspective to this conversation, particularly for those of us who have not been a part of this committee process. By ensuring the opportunity for Council and the public to discuss what priorities should be for the city on 2/14 in addition to reflecting on the outcomes of the Mayor's Transition Committee, we can allow the Administration to take a more informed approach to incorporating this information into a more complete and inclusive set of recommendations for our vote on 2/28 on final priorities.
Also, in the name of an open process, the Administration should outline the process as it has in the past for how priorities not identified by Mayor Mahan and his committees are to be included in the discussion on 2/28 and ranked together with existing priorities and the ideas emerging from the Mayor's Committees.
These steps combined will help us to clarify the process and ensure the City Council is making a final decision that incorporates the views of the entire Council, in a way that allows the public to have faith in the final decisions we make.