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HomeMy WebLinkAboutCM San Rafael Action Plan 2013-14CITY of Agenda Item No: 5.9 no Meeting Date: March 18, 2013 SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT Department: CITY MANAGER Prepared by: Jim Schutz, Assistant City ManagerjS City Manager Approvat'l SUBJECT: ACCEPTANCE OF SAN RAFAEL ACTION PLAN 2013-14 RECOMMENDATION: Accept Action Plan and Provide Direction to Staff. BACKGROUND: On March 16, 2009, the City Council approved a Recession Action Plan. At the time, the City was in the beginning throes of what was to become the Great Recession. The Plan states, "To withstand these economic challenges, we must respond swiftly and appropriately to maintain the strength of our City while controlling costs and finding innovative ways to create new revenues. This Recession Action Plan is a brief summary of the strategies that are currently in place and are being considered by the City to counter the decline in the economy over the course of the next two years (2009 — 2011)." Since its initial approval in 2009, staff brought "status report updates" on the Recession Action Plan to the City Council approximately every six months until the final update in June of 2012. At that time, it was concluded that the Recession Action Plan had served its purpose as a response to free -falling revenues and increasing costs and that the Plan was fundamentally implemented. On September 12, 2012, all management staff participated in a strategic planning retreat focused on improving the organization and envisioning it from a post -Great Recession standpoint. This retreat led to a Department Directors' workshop on September 26th and ultimately a portion of the City Council retreat on November 9th. The City Council directed staff to capture, in one concise document, specific recommendations or action steps taken from these meetings that could be used as a guiding document for the next year. ANALYSIS: The attached Action Plan reflects the dialogue at the City Council retreat and the management retreats. It begins with an overall purpose of the Plan and the philosophy behind it. In short, there have been significant reductions to staffing and budget levels due to the Great Recession. Now that a basic level of some financial stability has been achieved, a strategy is needed as the organization moves forward from this extremely difficult period. However, it is not anticipated FOR CITY CLERK ONLY File No.: 19-6 Council Meeting: [ �f Disposition: SAN RAFAEL CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT / Page: 2 that the organization will grow to replace all of the eliminated staff positions (approximately 70) or assume the exact same manner of service delivery. Instead, "a new normal" is likely to be created. The Action Plan lays out objectives as this "new normal" is created. The term "reimagining" is used as it makes sense to take a fresh look at, or reimagine, several areas of City operations. The Plan is divided into four "reimagining" areas: Operational, Financial, External Communications, and Quality of Life. Each area includes a number of objectives that focus on the City from a post -Great Recession standpoint. A "Partnership Wheel" is also included as a basic illustration of the importance of community partnerships in addressing key issues and building a strong community. FISCAL IMPACT: There is no direct fiscal impact in accepting this Action Plan. However, several of the objectives relate to financial issues that would reduce costs or increase revenues over time. In several cases, staff would need to return to the City Council for formal approval of individual actions. In addition, staff would work closely with our bargaining units where appropriate as our employees are the greatest resource for quality service delivery. RECOMMENDED ACTION: Accept Informational Report and Provide Direction to Staff. OPTIONS: 1. Accept informational report as is or with modifications. Direct staff to pursue outreach 2. Provide staff with direction to modify and return to the Council at a later date with a revised Plan. EXHIBITS: A. San Rafael Action Plan 2013-14 Purpose of the Plan In the beginning throes of the 2008-12 Great Recession, the San Rafael [jLy Council approved a ^^RCCCGSiOn 4ztjun Pian" which carried the City through the reduction Vfalmost 7Ostaff positions and massive budget deficits. Now that a level of some financial stability has been achieved, anevv plan is needed to guide the City into what some are calling "the new nOrrnai" or the "Great Past Great Depression or Recession -type events have ked to new systems of doing things that replaced the old way over a period of years. Cities need to "meinna 'ne" and evolve to a new way of prioritizing and providing community services with new fiscal constraints. This Action Pbmm document is a brief summary Of the strategies and action steps that illustrate what the City ofSan Rafael expects tVembark upon as anorganization in the near future. March 2013 "Thie City organization eD7OvDg beyond e%isting Community service o.oloR3aChesfo create something new — operationally, fisCafl\(and i7feKn3of c0O7mUDicCJ',-Ionsand quality C}flife." M(JyDFPh////Ds �^����°������°��"����v� U���"����������%� _ - ��. ~ �� Philosophy ��.-^ We can no longer count 0n growingstaff numbers and growing resources to return to the exact service levels of the pre -Great Recession. The City has eliminated close to ZO% Ofits workforce in the past few years and only expects to add staff in dvery limited and strategic way moving forward. Therefore, the City must reimagine and reform itself to be successful into the future. This means a more strategic view Of efficiency, innOwdd0n' creativity, technology, and partnerships. Another part of the C]Lv`S plan must be a very deliberate focus On specific core 8rniCC5. The City must dOdsuperior job a1carrying outa newly formed set of services, rather than doing merely satisfactory 'Ob trying to Offer widely comprehensive services tOmeet all requests. Moving into the future, local governments may likely have even fewer resources than they have today. Part Of the City's piBD must include 2YeO more partnerships to deliver the n25u[t5 that our [O0O[AUDity desires. It is going to take the additional pQvY2r Of our business and residential [0[DrDuOitj2s to help address significant 5OCia[' 2nYinOD[DeDtD[, and cultural issues. Four " Reimagining'- Areas The philosophy is expressed through specific actions in four key areas: r 'Operational - Focuses on the internal structure and management of the City's employees, The If N "Reirnagining" view is an organization that focuses on the most efficient way of delivering needed services white utilizing creativity, technology, innovation, and a shared service mentality. Financial - Focuses on how the City should approach its municipal finances. The "Reiragining" view is an organization that is planning strategically for slow long terra growth rather than the *`survival mode" of the past several years. External Communications - Focuses on the importance of communications with neighborhood r groups,business groups, visitors, and all those who make up the San Rafael corrnunit The "Reimagining" view is an organization that is actively open and transparent. Quality of Life - Focuses on community interests and improving San Rafael for its residents, .w w businesses, tourists; etc. The "Reimaginis g" view acknowledges that the past tools e.g. Redevelopment,, staffing levels) are no longer available and new ways of doing business are required. Operational Actions Focus on Shared Services. The City must move from "shared services" being the exception to shared services being the norm. • Create new shared management and staffing services with nearby agencies. • Create new shared services with nearby jurisdictions such as vehicle maintenance. • Continue the successful shared services efforts such as Battalion Chief services with the City of Larkspur, pool management services with the City of Novato, etc. Analyze and Reimagine Existing Services. Department Directors will work with their management and line staff to analyze existing services and make recommendations regarding: • Whether the service should continue and in what form • The most cost effective delivery method • Ways to improve the current practice. Analyzing services will include consideration of needed staffing levels and abilities and public input will be sought. The City Council will assess these recommendations and delineate staff priorities. This will be the measuring stick to which requests for new services will be considered. Formalizing this will help align expectations with organizational capacity. Further Streamline Regulations. • Staff will analyze existing regulations (e.g. planning, building, and other permits) and the impact versus capacity with a goal of facilitating permits to improve the business' climate and overall health. Reinvigorate Accountability and Incentives. Staff accountability, which is always important, becomes even more important in a smaller'` organization. • Managers will work with the Human Resources Department to fully implement a new Performance Appraisal system that reinvigorates accountability. • Create new recognition and incentive programs to acknowledge excellent staff. Enhance Internal Communications. • Create new communications toots from the City Council to managers to all employees. • Engage mid -management staff and managers to jointly focus on key issues. • Create a series of informational "brown bags" on topics of interest to employees. Financial Actions Fund Current Obligations with Current Operating Revenues. During the Great Recession, the City made many strategic decisions to use reserve or one-time funds to pay for on-going needs. • The City will fund current operating costs with current operating revenues. Eliminate Reliance on One -Time Solutions to Balance Budget. The City made many strategic decisions during the Great Recession to use one-time funds to pay for on- going needs and balance the budget. Examples include the use of furloughs, other employee concessions, bond proceeds, and special funds. • The City will use one-time funds for one-time uses and on-going funds for on-going uses. Grow Emergency Reserve. The Great Recession severely eroded the City's emergency reserves. • The City will grow emergency reserves and bring the level back to the 10% stated goal. Clarify Financial Goats. During the Great Recession, a "deficit" was loosely defined as any remaining gap after one time funds and all other revenues were used and all discretionary expenditures were hatted. • The City will clarify financial goals to demonstrate that there are funds (e.g. facility maintenance, capital needs, liabilities) that are underappropriated and will be a key focus of future resource allocation. • The City should adopt the Government Finance Officers Association's (GFOA) Best Practice Guidelines for Funding Defined Benefits and develop a written funding plan. Sustain Existing Funding Measures, such as Measure S and C, to Avoid Massive Backsliding. Measure S proceeds make up over 11 % of City general fund revenues and are vital to delivering services. Measure C proceeds are also crucial to the Library. • Such funds must be sustained in order to continue to provide quality services. Seek Additional Funding Measures. Many of the key issues facing the City can not be addressed with current sources of revenue. For example, many of our public safety and other buildings and infrastructure were built forty to over a hundred years ago and can not continue to serve without maintenance and care. • The City will continue to seek funding measures that will meet such needs. External Communications Improve External Communications to be Actively Open and Transparent. This is a distinctly new and different period for City government but that may not be easily recognized outside of City Hatt. • The City must actively communicate what has changed and how the community can partner with the City to bring about change and improvements. Update Communications Tools to Reach More Residents. The ways in which the community gets their news has changed dramatically over the last several years. • The City must expand on its current toots and encounter the community through social media, btogs, and other on -tine means. Use Technology to Gain Efficiencies in Communication. Toots are available to improve the efficiency of external communication. • The City should investigate "virtual city halt" and other toots such as issue tracking software. Quality of Life Re -Imagine Economic Development. In our new post -Redevelopment environment, analyze economic development approaches to create new Strategies. • Utilize new tools and strategies (e.g. Priority Development Areas around commuter rail stations) to re -imagine economic development.' • While the City is fairly built -out and therefore will not "grow our way„ to economic prosperity, the importance of business retention and attraction can not be minimized. The City should identify all means to support and incentivize local and sustainable growth. Re -imagine Affordable Housing. In our new post -Redevelopment environment, analyze affordable housing approaches to create new strategies. • Utilize new tools and strategies to imagine affordable housing including a full range from "Housing First" to market rate" developments. Partner with the Community to Take on the Key Issues Facing the City. For and non-profit businesses, neighborhoods, schools, faith -based and secular organizations will all be necessary to address key issues. Problems that can be solved by one entity are not very big problems. Continue recent efforts such as stakeholder groups, subcommittees, and focused community partnerships to address key issues. Some recent examples include the Homelessness Stakeholders Group, the Climate Change Action Plan quarterly meetings, and the series of workshops on Group Homes. • Work with the community to retain cultural and special events as public and private funding declines. San Rafael must retain its identity as an active community with a strong sense of pride. d �i Partnership K'h e er 1 White focal government is sometimes viewed at the center of change, the "reimagining" model would show local government as a spoke in the "Partnership Wheel" - requiring working with others to address key issues. CITY COUNCIL. - 485-3074 www. cityofsanrafaeLor /council -home CITY MANAGER - 485-3070 city,mana er@cityofsanrafaeLor COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT - 485-3085 planning�fsanrafael. or COMMUNITY SERVICES - 485-3333 community.services@di ofsanrafael.ori ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT - 485-3383 economic. development@cityofsanrafael. ori FINANCE DEPARTMENT . 458-5001 finance@cityofsanrafael. ori FIRE DEPARTMENT - 485-3304 firep.de artment(a@-)ciit)totfsanratfael.org LIBRARY - 485-3323 library@city ofsanrafael. ori POLICE DEPARTMENT - 485-3000 police.department@cit ofsanrafael ori PUBLIC WORKS DEPARTMENT - 485-3355 public works@cit ofsanrafael.or CITY OF SAN RAFAEL INSTRUCTIONS: USE THIS FORM WITH EACH SUBMITTAL OF A CONTRACT, AGREEMENT, ORDINANCE OR RESOLUTION BEFORE APPROVAL BY COUNCIL / AGENCY. SRRA / SRCC AGENDA ITEM NO. 5.g •it DEPARTMENT Jim Schutz March 11, 2013 DATE OF MEETING: 03/18/13 TITLE OF DOCUMENT: ACCEPTANCE OF SAN RAFAEL ACTION PLAN 2013-14 (LOWER HALF OF FORM FOR APPROVALS ONLY) APPROVED AS COUNCIL / AGENCY AGENDA ITEM: t City Manager (signature) City Attorney (signature)