Strategic Planning/
Goal Setting Session
Summary
April 11, 2025
Submitted By:
Patrick Ibarra
The Mejorando Group
13 Muirfield Road
Cumberland, Maine 04021
925-518-0187
www.gettingbetterallthetime.com
City of Tracy Meeting Summary
The Mejorando Group 2
INTRODUCTION AND BACKGROUND
The City of Tracy Mayor and Council held their Strategic Planning/Goal Setting session on April 6, 2025, to explore and discuss issues relevant to the City’s strategy towards building an even stronger community. The following summary represents the product of these discussions.
MEETING OBJECTIVES
The objectives for the session:
1. Fortify relationships among elected officials to ensure the clarity necessary to keep the community moving forward.
2. Review a status update from the City Manager on existing goals, specifically what has been accomplished over the last year and what’s in the queue for 2025.
3. Referring to the goals currently underway, establish a set of priorities for 2025 to ensure the City Manager and staff are focused on appropriate priorities.
4. To strengthen the relationship and mutual understanding between members of the governing body and executive management.
The outcome of the session was to create a consensus on the future challenges confronting the community of Tracy, the role the City organization plays in responding to current and potential challenges/issues, and prioritizing goals including specific activities intended to impact those challenges.
ACTIVITIES
After some preliminary comments about the purpose of the session, the next segment to identify the Benefits of Good Government . In short, what is occurring in the community as a result of the decisions made by Mayor and Council and executed by city staff:
• Quality of life
• Multi-gen center
• New kinds of businesses
• Improving public safety
• Maintain balance
• Financially prudent
• Restore public trust
• Restore our brand and pursue better recognition
• Community engagement
City of Tracy Meeting Summary The Mejorando Group
3 Next up was a refresher on the Council -Manager form of government ; in particular, clarifying expectations and the roles of each party (comments from the discussion are provided after each bullet point). These comments were not intended to be exhaustive:
• Elected Officials:
➢ Interact with the City Manager
➢ Represent people
➢ Act with civility
➢ Set policy
➢ Collaborate
➢ Focus on results
➢ Be engaged
➢ Accomplish stuff
➢ Champions of Tracy
➢ Community investors
➢ Listen to staff
➢ Listen to community
➢ Build relationships
➢ Recognize resource limits
➢ Set tone
• City Manager
➢ Create balance
➢ Manage workload
➢ CEO
➢ Prioritize
➢ Keep Council updated
➢ Oversee department directors and all city staff
➢ Captain of the Ship
➢ Champion of the City
➢ Cheerleader for the staff
➢ Build/develop staff
➢ Carry out objectives
➢ Implement Council priorities
➢ Oversee the budget
➢ Respect the city’s image
➢ Look ahead
➢ Adviser and counselor
➢ Realistic about resources
• Department Directors
➢ Provide supervision
➢ Solve problems
➢ Demonstrate expertise
➢ Motivate staff
➢ Act to support the mission
City of Tracy Meeting Summary The Mejorando Group
4 ➢ Champions of the department
➢ Set expectations
➢ Offer insight
➢ Build and develop their team
➢ Prioritize tasks
➢ Bridge policies and execution
➢ Honesty and transparency
• City Staff
➢ Be respectful of the public
➢ Day to day operations
➢ Execute policy
➢ Represent the city
➢ Identify problems and generate solutions
➢ Team player
➢ Listen to community
• Community members/Citizens
➢ Participate in local government
➢ Communicate
➢ Integrate
➢ Provide ideas
➢ Educate themselves
➢ Listen
➢ Work and contribute
➢ Thrive
The Council then discussed Local and National Trends, Opportunities, and Constraints on Horizon
It is extremely valuable to explore the potential impacts occurring from trends impacting the community and the city organization itself. The focus of this session is to strike the right balance between being responsive and proactive.
That being said, there was a discussion of various trends which could feature either a constraint or an opportunity. The facilitator provided an overview of various trends related to political activism, consumer/economic changes, shifting demographics, technological advancements and city service delivery methods.
Critical to understand about trends for any local government, the City of Tracy in particular, is that it is often beyond their reach/span of control to fix the trends per se, however analyzing the potential impacts from these trends are essential as future plans are developed.
City of Tracy Meeting Summary The Mejorando Group
5 Goal Update
Next was an update by the City Manager on specific goals to pursue moving forward.
This discussion was extremely rich with texture and dimension s covering a range of issues and exploring potential pitfalls and opportunities. After much discussion, the following goals were selected by the Mayor and Council as being the top priorities in 2025:
PUBLIC SAFETY
(1) Implement Tracy Police Department's Strategic Plan (2) Invest in Technology & Infrastructure that Enhances Public Safety (3) Construct Public Safety Facilities (Police, Fire, Animal Shelter) (4) Develop Emergency Communications Strategies
(5) Enhance Community Outreach & Engagement
GOVERNMENT ACCOUNTABILITY
(1) Maintain Fiscal Responsibility
(2) Enhance Civic & Workplace Culture at City Hall
(3) Develop Platforms for Public Transparency
(4) Update the City of Tracy's General Plan
LOCAL ECONOMY
(1) Implement Tracy's Economic Development Strategic Plan (2) Enhance City's Reputation as a Business-Friendly City (3) Support Economic Programs that Prioritize Tracy Youth (4) Address Vacant Properties in the City
(5) Advance Downtown Tracy Vision Plan
INFRASTRUCTURE
(1) Enhance the City's Roadways & Sidewalks
(2) Enhance the City's Parks & Public Spaces
(3) Develop Funding Strategies for Amenities, Infrastructure, & Utilities (4) Support Regional Transit Systems & Infrastructure
City of Tracy Meeting Summary
The Mejorando Group 6
QUALITY OF LIFE
(1) Implement Tracy's Homelessness Strategic Plan
(2) Develop Sustainability Strategies for the City
(3) Develop Arts & Culture Plan for the City
(4) Advance the City of Tracy's Housing Element
NEXT STEPS
The City Manager wrapped up the Council goal-setting session by sharing she would be translating the energy and ideas from the meeting to the next phase of providing additional detail and reporting these back to the Mayor and Council on June 8, 2025.