HomeMy WebLinkAbout2020 Strategic Plan Summary Maintain High Quality, Efϔicient Public Service Delivery Standards Develop Leadership Training and Succession Planning Implement Organization Study Recommendations Support Partnerships for Collaboration/Joint Services with other Communities & Organizations Implement Software Integration and Update City Facilities Deϔine Economic Development and Branding Strategies Promote Economic Development and Housing Affordability Become a Year Round Destination City with a Sustainable Downtown Foster Community Engagement; Recognize Diversity, Inclusion and Equity Update City Infrastructure , Including Parks and Recreation Facilities Enhance City Policies/Ordinances Commit to Annual Strategic Planning Develop a Legislative Agenda Strategic Plan Summary 2020‐2025 Revised September 2020 How can the City of Stillwater….. Develop Organization Excellence Sustain Strategic Planning and Implementation Develop Our Community MISSION STATEMENT To provide the community with a quality living environment, quali-ty public services and facilities while protecting cultural, histori-cal and natural resources through fair and open government, careful planning, effective management and efϐicient ϐiscal policy CORE VALUES *Respect* Honor the diverse contributions of all to the betterment of the or-ganization and community; treat all parties equitably. *Integrity* Ethical and principled approach dealing with issues, individuals and community; Earns others’ trust and respect through con-sistent honesty and professional-ism in all interactions. *Trust* Truthful, open and accountable in all interactions *Quality* Excellence, pride and stewardship in delivery of best possible cus-tomer service with effective and efϐicient outcomes. *Competence* Strives for continuous improve-ment in self, community assets and management of resources.
Develop Organization Excellence Develop Performance Measures for program /service delivery Continue Leadership and Succession Training Programs Develop Transition Plans to Implement Organizational Study Recommendations Build Partnerships with Communities and Organizations for collaborative / joint service delivery Develop strategy for software integration and efϐiciency and continue to update City facilities Develop Community Analyze options for creation of an Economic Development Authority Develop Economic Development and Branding Strategies Develop & Implement Community Engagement & Communication Practices; join the Government Alliance on Race & Equity (GARE) through LMC Update ordinances to align with 2040 Comprehensive Plan Work with Sustainable Stillwater to develop attainable tasks Develop outdoor recreation properties that includes the river and plan for the parks and trails in Downtown Explore sustainable funding to continue updating City infrastructure Develop a Housing Strategy Plan, Housing Rental & Building Maintenance Ordinance and Review the Leasing Policy Strategic Planning & Implementation Conduct yearly Strategic Planning Sessions and provide quarterly reports Continue to review Department Vision and Goals Develop a Legislative Agenda for high priority City issues
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City of Stillwater
Strategic Planning Workshop
Stillwater City Hall
July 1, 2020
SUMMARY OF THE SESSION
Attendees: Mayor Ted Kozlowski, Councilmembers Collins, Junker, Weidner and Polehna,
City Administrator McCarty, City Clerk Wolf, Community Development Director
Turnblad, Finance Director Provos, Fire Chief Glaser, Human Resources
Manager Robole, IT Manager Holman, Police Chief Gannaway, Public Works
Director Sanders and Facilitator Dr. Craig Waldron.
Introductions
The participants discussed their respective backgrounds, and number of years either on
the Council or on the Staff. Waldron also discussed his background as a City Council
Member, city administrator/manager, and a university faculty member.
General Municipal Trends
Waldron proceeded to discuss five primary recently observed municipal trends:
1. There is currently significant discussion in our communities on COVID-19 and how do
cities come back from COVID safely. There are underlying discussions on what should
be done to address the financial problems that our communities ‘loss of revenue is
causing. Major cutbacks are under consideration. There is also a countervailing
discussion maintaining that in a recession, the community needs to spend in order to
stimulate the local economy. Some communities are asking how they can maintain
expenditures, keep people employed, and how they can complete more critical
infrastructure projects.
2. Successful cities have clear direction with respect to where they want to go and
everyone, including Council and staff are on board. These communities are looking out
at one year in terms of the short term and often five years with respect to the long term.
As part of the strategic effort they are ensuring accountability and are utilizing
performance standards to ascertain their success. Often times these efforts are focused
around 3 to 5 general pillars or guiding perspectives. Stillwater currently uses three.
3. Cities are trying to figure out how to address the affordable housing needs and how to
preserve the existing housing that is aging in place. Rental unit licensing,
redevelopment funds, etc. seem to come up quite often. As part of the housing issue we
are also hearing a lot about the social equity issues which, in turn, lead to some of the
more substantial discussions we have recently observed regarding police reform.
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4. Cities are aggressively addressing economic and redevelopment in an effort to shape
their own futures. Different forms of commissions, EDAs, HRAs, are part of that
consideration.
5. As taxpayers demand more services, but don’t necessarily want to pay for those
services, we are seeing more discussion with respect to efficiency, consolidation, etc.
This can relate to fire departments, avoiding freestanding utilities, and contracting
back-and-forth for services, for example a county conducting elections for cities.
There were two issues of primary concern that the participants thought were extremely
important to address as part of the strategic planning process. These issues focused on the
impact of COVID-19 as well as a recent incident downtown with an individual feeling
threatened by a motorcycle group.
Downtown Incident
Substantial discussion ensued regarding the downtown incident and what the issues
really are (the facts) and what basic items actually need to be addressed. The
concerns are as follows:
It has to be ascertained if a chargeable crime occurred.
Should an article from the Human Resource Commission proceed with publication?
There is no other documentation of a similar incident in Stillwater .Thus is this
really a major systemic problem?
There appears to be two basic concerns regarding this event. The residents are concerned
about the incident itself involving the treatment of a Muslim woman, AND there appears to
be a concern simply over the presence of a Nazi oriented bike gang and /or the respective
of behavior of this group. After a substantial discussion, an approach was formulated as
follows:
Publish the Human Rights Commission article.
Continue to ascertain whether a crime actually occurred.
Create a more visible police presence in these situation .A significant presence of the
fire department is also helpful.
Make sure that the City controls the narrative of what is occurring, not other
entities.
Develop a strong diversity equity and inclusion effort in the strategic plan for the
next year. Include extensive training for staff. This addition to the plan would not
simply be a reaction to the downtown event but would serve as a very major
initiative for the City that is a result of the larger events occurring in the Minnesota
and the nation.
The staff needs to provide more formal, timely updates to the Council on these
incidents and what is occurring on an ongoing basis
Eventually a formal communications process should be developed. At a minimum
staff needs to swiftly identify critical issues, and get those to the Department Heads,
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who in turn get that information to the Administrator in order that he can forward
timely information to the Mayor and Council. It is always important that the Mayor
and Council be apprised of major issues before learning of them in the media or
hearing from constituents.
With respect to the response to the incident occurred, the Mayor should continue to
take the lead and be the face of the City.
COVID and the Challenges Downtown
The City has made a major effort to help downtown businesses survive the COVID financial
ramifications. Other cities have been complementing Stillwater for the rapidity of its action
to provide flexibility and space for the local establishments. It’s been reported that some
facilities are pushing the City’s flexibility and is creating problems in terms of music and
volume. The core residents of Stillwater are becoming concerned.
It was agreed that the city should not over react however, the City does need to manage the
music and figure out an appropriate approach. It was agreed that the Administrator would
work on an approach to continue to support local business as well as reasonably working
to manage the loud music.
Accomplishments and Results
The City Administrator proceeded to review the accomplishments and results with respect
to 2020. These items were pre-mailed in a document to the participants before the meeting
which can subsequently be referred to for more detail. However there were a number of
items that stood out to the consultant as quite significant. They are as follows:
The City moved quickly with the COVID preparedness plan. The Council approved waiver of
downtown parking permit permits, approved waiver of late utility bill fees, provided two
months of liquor license fees, and authorized outdoor seating for bars and restaurants
through November.
The City commenced its efforts with the State in terms of performance measures and filed a
program application in May.
A staff transition planning team was formed and a report was prepared with respect to the
potential public works/water board integration.
The City canceled the GO bond borrowing and used fund balance to complete high priority
capital infrastructure projects.
The historic lift bridge opened in June.
Challenges Facing Stillwater
Each participant was subsequently asked to think about the challenges that are facing
Stillwater. Here is a listing of what was suggested by the participants:
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How to address the long term and short term impact of COVID-19.
Prepare for the Department Head transitions that are going to occur.
The need to develop leadership to meet new challenges and to develop new
paradigms and innovation.
Overall, consider appropriate staffing capacity in terms of fire response
Developing the budget and having the appropriate funds
Addressing the City health retirement commitment that represents 8 to 10% of the
budget.
Moving forward with the riverfront assets.
Addressing problem properties.
Obtaining the funding and subsequently implementing major capital projects, for
example the downtown and infrastructure needs.
Enhancing public engagement and effectively utilizing social media.
Maintaining the existing housing stock.
Reducing overall borrowing while still accomplishing major priorities.
How to communicate with residents with very diverse backgrounds and different
communication preferences.
Moving quickly with the provision and ability to provide information to citizens in a
very timely manner.
Facilitating the availability of affordable housing.
Encouraging public transportation that gets out to Stillwater.
Figuring out the most appropriate economic development approach and
organization.
Addressing the sustainability issue in the City ranging from infrastructure to the
environment.
Developing partnerships with other key organizations.
Identifying the values of inclusivity, and how those can become operational in the
city.
Staying current and keeping up with critical IT improvements.
Five‐year Vision for Stillwater
The Council and Staff were asked to provide their five-year vision as it relates to the City.
The responses were as follows:
Improved integration of departments that work as a cohesive whole.
The new branding and vision statements are complete for the city.
The budget has the capacity to support the demands that the City experiences.
Major capital projects that are on the books are completed as well as internal.
infrastructure projects.
Performance standards are in place.
Stillwater becomes or remains a destination City with a sustainable downtown.
The hospital remains in the City and the southwest part of the City redevelopment
effort is underway.
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Downtown is properly resourced to meet a variety of needs including the residents
and visitors. This will require significant change management as well as the
appropriate funding.
Everything will be online as the City keeps up with emerging and critical
technologies.
There will be better internal communications and a more cohesive team.
There will be significant progress on the integrated street and bike system.
A housing rental and building maintenance licensing program will be in place.
The City will have many tools for extended outreach.
All the parks will have been redeveloped.
There will be more utilization of parks and trails as they will be designed to be
usable for many different segments of the community.
Downtown is a hub attraction with significant year-round activities, as an overriding
question is what will be the future of retail five years hence.
Additional amenities are in place that allow the City to be a year-round destination.
Fair payment by other communities that use Stillwater amenities and fair
partnerships to facilitate the equitable payments.
Strategic Plan Additions for 2021
The participants divided into three groups, and the consultant asked that they discuss
priorities for inclusion into next year’s strategic plan. What follows are the results from
those group discussions:
The City needs to develop its economic development model including its branding
effort.
Implementation of the software integration should occur.
Transition planning needs to happen with the special focus towards knowledge
transfer.
An effort needs to be undertaken with respect to the housing affordability issue.
The Aiple property, Riverwalk project, Chestnut Street plaza, and 36/ Manning
projects should be priorities.
Drafting of ordinance updates for building maintenance and housing rental licenses.
New mechanisms need to be created for the 2021 budget.
Engagement and enhanced communications with the residents need to occur
utilizing the most efficient and effective tools.
Service delivery needs to be reviewed, particularly in light of the COVID crisis.
The service delivery component needs special attention in the 2021 budget.
As part of the above service delivery priority, the City needs to analyze the response
to mental health issues and the potential of effective partnering to address this need.
ADDITIONAL FINDINGS BY THE CONSULTANT
The COVID problem has presented major problems for communities. Stillwater reacted
progressively and quickly to help local businesses. Although this is put a strain on the City
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with respect to some of the downtown activities that are occurring, these positive efforts
are to be commended.
Additional work should occur with respect to a quick update and information flow to the
Council on difficult political and problematic issues. In some of these difficult
circumstances where the narrative is extremely important, the City may want to utilize a
public relations firm on a short term basis when needed.
The downtown is going to be a long term challenge. In a way, this is a good problem to have
because this has certainly been one of the most successful downtown/destinations outside
of Minneapolis and St. Paul. Sustainability will be a long-term issue, however the Council
and Staff certainly have the desire, vision, and the skill to ensure sustainable downtown.
As the article from the LMC Director Dave Unmacht discussed, the ability of a city to plan
and be on the same page is absolutely critical. Stillwater is extremely impressive with its
ongoing strategic planning process. The strategic planning and the discussion that centers
around the plan, is extremely impressive. The process is simply part of Stillwater’s DNA.
The Council and the Staff have a very good working relationship. The discussions appear to
be very open and trust is very significant between all parties.
The City decided to continue to utilize the three main pillars: Develop Organizational
Excellence, Develop Community, and Strategic Planning and Implementation. It should be
pointed out that there was a significant discussion on diversity, inclusion and equity, which
was not suggested as a pillar, however it will be an area that is substantially addressed in
the plan.