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."
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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
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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)