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2024-02-03 Council Retreat MinutesEDMONDS CITY COUNCIL MEETING SPECIAL MEETING — COUNCIL RETREAT APPROVED MINUTES February 3, 2024 ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT Vivian Olson, Council President Chris Eck, Councilmember Will Chen, Councilmember Neil Tibbott, Council President Michelle Dotsch, Councilmember Susan Paine, Councilmember Jenna Nand, Councilmember 1. CALL TO ORDER STAFF PRESENT Beckie Peterson, Council Executive Assistant Jeannie Dines, Recorder The Edmonds City Council meeting was called to order at 1:00 p.m. by Council President Olson in the Library Plaza Room, 650 Main St, Edmonds. 2. LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT Councilmember Paine read the City Council Land Acknowledge Statement: "We acknowledge the original inhabitants of this place, the Sdohobsh (Snohomish) people and their successors the Tulalip Tribes, who since time immemorial have hunted, fished, gathered, and taken care of these lands. We respect their sovereignty, their right to self-determination, and we honor their sacred spiritual connection with the land and water." 3. ROLL CALL Council President Olson called the roll. All elected officials were present. 4. COUNCIL BUSINESS A. TAKEAWAYS/ACTION ITEMS FROM FEBRUARY 2 COUNCIL/ADMINISTRATION RETREAT — FACILITATED COUNCIL DISCUSSION Councilmembers shared takeaways from yesterday's retreat: ❖ Have meetings be as efficient and as value-added as possible ❖ Found Steve DiJulio's comparison of council duties as a municipal corporation to the administration's duties very helpful ❖ Can't do everything due to limits on time, resources and projects that can be done in a year ❖ Interesting to have staff provide input and feedback particularly this year. Need to get input from staff before making decisions such as doing a program needs assessment to provide an insider view. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 1 This is a chance to remodel things, determine overages and gaps. Hope that discussion is pursued this year. ❖ Council and staff coming together with a common sense of willingness to work together to serve the City as a whole as one team. ❖ Can't do everything. All are trying to advocate for residents, but when residents email/call about things they want done, let them know we care, but there is a process for doing business, getting projects on workplan, etc. ❖ Encouraged by interest in work sessions and that those would have value. Validated by a comment that although there are core functions of government, residents' expectations may be higher. Having more input from councilmembers and staff would be helpful to process. Reminded how important it is to communicate to residents about price tags and whether they are willing to pay or other ways to accomplish their goals such as with volunteers ❖ Comforted by the acknowledgement that tension is built into the system with that expectation. Some points are uncomfortable/unpleasant, but are not personalities or personal, but part of the balance of power and the challenge is to react and respond and work through them in a way that everyone comes away from it improved. ❖ Important for councilmembers to understand their role that is separate from administration. In discussion with administration yesterday, everyone seems to wants the same thing. Will result in better communication and more clarity. With process comes intentional priorities. Council President Olson invited councilmembers to respond to the following questions (information she sent out to councilmembers following the yesterday retreat): 1) What have you done (or would have been inclined to do) in the past that you would not do now as a result of something you learned yesterday? • Realized things I had done personally in the last year that were not the right things to do such as I would not vote to direct staff to do an action because council does not have that authority and would not share city information on media blogs of any kind due to the need to track those for public records • Should institute a formal communications policy, adopt administration's policy for council • Be mindful about what put on social media or what comment on/reply to, refer to email instead of dialogue on social media • Be mindful about what say during meetings, not intended to be a place for councilmembers to explain their thought process • Find a way to communicate with staff. Recall an instance last year where council directed staff to provide a Excel spreadsheet regarding the accumulated impact of budget amendments. That was information the council needed, but consider how to obtain that information without directing staff. A work session may be a better solution. • How things work in a well -functioning government • Found Steve DiJulio's explanation regarding the mayor's veto power and council process to override it to take legislative action very helpful. Do not recall that ever happening. Understanding that is helpful in informing the relationship between administration and the council. • Autocratic mayor, strong mayor system gives a lot of power to mayor. A lot of expectations due to the oath of office which resulted in frustrations when those were not met. Based on yesterday's training, the mayor has that authority. That was news to me that I would like to explore further. • Mr. DiJulio's presentation was a primer regarding day to day responsibilities and stay in your lane. When council inserts themselves in the day to day work of on -director level staff, it places a huge burden on them and can be intimidating. Fair and good email communications with directors is part of their role to ensure councilmembers are well informed. Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 2 • Shoreline has weak mayor/city manager form of government; council never emails staff, everything goes through the city administration. Edmonds has had a collaborative relationship, but that requires trust on both sides. Building that relationship of trust to work better together will take effort by council to be trustworthy to members of the administration. • The title of councilmember is intimidating. No matter how much the council tries to foster trust, there is still a power dynamic that makes some staff uncomfortable • A previous mayor used groups of 2-3 councilmembers so they were prepared when an item came to council. In the last two year there were times I did not feel fully prepared and more time was spent deliberating on very basic information that not helpful to making a decision. Like the idea of twos and threes and email discussion so come to council meetings prepared. • I've had relationships with some non -director level staff and would reach out to them on topics of interest. On occasion they were able to provide immediate feedback, but that is not an appropriate use of the council relationship. Need to foster good ways of coming to meetings prepared. Good discussions about that yesterday. • Individual councilmembers do not have the right to influence a work product coming to full council. • When I worked for Seattle, everything went through the mayor's office. • There are three branches of government. Councilmembers need good information to make decisions. • Seemed during yesterday's discussion that there was consensus that work sessions on bigger agenda items would be helpful. • Clarify the administration's level of comfort with sharing work product at a council meeting before it is finalized. Cities like Auburn have work session with just council and staff where a lot of information is shared that is less formal than a council meeting. Requires trust between staff, directors, mayor and council. • Options for work sessions o Special meeting on a different day/time than council meeting o Zoom meeting on council committee night o As an agenda item following council business at a regular meeting. o Council business twice a month, committees/work sessions twice a month o Committee meetings once a month, hybrid meeting on the third week with one council business, no public hearings, and a work session on a larger topic o In past, every meeting was a hybrid of council business and work sessions o Committee of the whole can be helpful for some items o Work session on first Tuesday with items/materials, second Tuesday is decision on those items, work session on third Tuesday and decisions on fourth Tuesday. Eliminate committee meetings o See logic of alternating work session and decisions, not sure about eliminating committee meetings o Need to have enough business meetings during a month for council to make decisions o Lynnwood has a second meeting one week a month that is a study session or work session o Support hybrid meetings with business items and work session o Important to engage citizens on the front end • Input regarding committees o Committees influence decisions as items go to consent for approval o Instead of OPMA committee meetings with all councilmembers attending and commenting, suggest committee meeting with 2-3 councilmembers followed by a work session where material is presented to all councilmembers o Committees require trusting other councilmembers. Committees allow members to ask questions and refine the presentation to council. Councilmembers can read committee Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 3 minutes to learn more about an item. Committees allow the council to move through more agenda items in a month. o Helpful for new councilmembers to sit in on committee meetings. Agree committees require trusting councilmembers o Committee of the whole slowed things down due to the amount of discussion which is why the council switched to committees o Committee of the whole was helpful when I was a new councilmember Council President Olson relayed she and Council Executive Assistant Beckie Peterson will synthesize these ideas and develop a Plan A and B as well as consider locations for work sessions. Council President Olson advised two topics from yesterday that the council may not get to today were town hall meetings and allowing the mayor more dialogue in council meetings. B. 2024 COUNCIL PRIORITY PLANNING EXERCISE Council President Olson explained this is related to the retreat homework that was provided to council related to 2024 council priorities which Councilmember Tibbott will facilitate. (Homework handout included an ABC List of priorities from 2023 retreat. In preparation for discussion at the 2024 retreat, councilmembers were asked to review the 2023 priorities and brainstorm additional priorities for consideration at the retreat.) While Councilmember Tibbott was preparing for the exercise, he invited councilmembers to talk to each about someone who influenced or motivated them to get involved in city politics or leadership. Councilmember Tibbott recapped how the ABC List was created and prioritized last year. He provided a grid for use in determining the urgency and importance of projects and councilmembers provided examples of items that are important and urgent, important but not urgent, not important but urgent, and not important and not urgent. 0 Urgent 4Not A B z 0 C D Councilmember Tibbott explained the intent this year is to be more collaborative with the administration, have the council's and administration's A list synch up, and to calendar the items on an extended agenda. Ms. Peterson explained the extended agenda is a working, constantly changing document that represents staff s ideal sequencing of items that need to go to council. Mayor Rosen has suggested a legislative calendar that staff would create using their work plans for the year and sequencing coordinated between departments. Staff is in the process of building a vision for the year, in addition to the extended agenda, of items that need to come to council. This exercise is for the council to provide administration the primary outcomes they want to see happen during this year so they can be included in the legislative calendar. It was suggested items on the extended agenda and/or legislative calendar be color coded to distinguish between mandatory and discretionary items. Councilmember Tibbott reviewed what that been accomplished in Q1-3 on the 2023 A list. Of the 14 items, there has been significant progress on 5, and several others are underway. He reviewed a list of top priorities from the 2023 ABC List identified by councilmembers and councilmembers commented on why they identified those items as top priorities to be moved onto the 2024 list of top priorities: Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 4 ❖ Revenue requirements evaluated - Long -Range Financial Planning, Taxation and Banking Capacity Options ❖ Evaluate Staffing / Review Budget of Staffing, staff efficiencies and retention ❖ Aging infrastructure, explore fire station facilities ❖ Environmental funding for Watershed/Erosion planned and pursued ❖ Consider reorganizing boards and commissions ❖ Engagement zones considered for implementation Discussion followed regarding why some of 2023 A list items were not accomplished. Councilmembers brainstormed the following: Known Priorities ❖ Comprehensive Plan Process ❖ Fire and Safety Contract ❖ Landmark 99 Project ❖ Budget Review: Expenses and Revenues, Biennial Budget ❖ Emergency Management ❖ Climate Resiliency ❖ Communication Top Priorities — Important and Urgent Objectives ❖ Program review and workforce needs assessment ❖ WWTP ❖ Preventative infrastructure and facility maintenance ❖ Full ADA compliance ❖ Timely financial reporting Fire ballot measure 44- Maintain all existing city programs until financial reviews and opportunities are understood ❖ Create Citizens Financial Committee/Board ❖ Building trust in government ❖ Hwy 99 redevelopment and vitality ❖ Community renewal ❖ Cost reduction opportunities — identify redundances or waste of resources ❖ Public services for vulnerable community members, particularly disabled, senior, and financially stressed community members Police Police substation s• Response to extreme weather events ❖ (Councilmembers wrote additional top priorities on post -it notes that were not shared during the discussion) Councilmember Tibbott drew a three-ring target on the whiteboard. Ms. Peterson placed post -it notes with the top priorities from 2023 and the known priorities in the second/inner ring of the target. Councilmember Tibbott provided an analogy of the target he drew to fly fishing; the whiteboard is the river, the first/outer ring is the time of day, the second circle is the place on the river where fish hang out, and the center is the sweet spot which this exercise seeks to identify. He invited councilmembers to put post -it notes with their top priorities in the outer circle. Next, councilmembers participated in an exercise where they placed six checkmarks each next to topics/projects the identified as top priorities. The results were as follows: Votes I Topic/Project Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 5 6 Infrastructure 5 Budget 5 Staff 5 Comp Plan 4 Public Safety 3 Landmark 3 Public Engagement/Communication 3 Environment 3 Human Services 3 Fire Safety 1 Boards 1 CEMP Councilmember Tibbott commented some of the categories have significant overlaps and can be combined; the intent was to provide the administration 3-5 primary outcomes to focus on in 2024 with topics/projects under each. Discussion followed regarding how the topics/projects could be combined into 3-5 primary outcomes, other cities that do not have boards/commissions who have to pay to hire consultants to get public feedback, and likelihood that anything that made it to the whiteboard would be worked on this year, and yesterday's discussion regarding priorities. Councilmember Tibbott relayed he will work with Ms. Peterson to create the primary outcomes with subcategories and bring that back as a council work session item. C. WHAT IS FIRST THING THAT COMES TO YOUR MIND? FACILITATED COUNCIL DISCUSSION Ms. Peterson led this exercise, explaining councilmembers had post -it notes corresponding to each of the 4 subtopics on the agenda. The relationship between the four subtopics is they are part of the process of how the council does its work as well as an exchange of information. The goal is to identify what is working, what is needed, and what the council might consider implementing. No conclusions will be reached; this is intended to be brainstorming and prioritize 1-2 of the topics. i. PUBLIC ENGAGEMENT Ms. Peterson invited councilmembers to respond to the following on the blue post -it: how can we receive public input most effectively and how can we do our best outreach? H. WORK MEETINGS VS BUSINESS MEETINGS Ms. Peterson invited councilmembers to respond to the following on the orange post -it: in a measurement of minutes, what is ideal length of time per topic for a work session/meeting: 30, 60, 90 minutes? iii. SKILL BUILDING Ms. Peterson invited councilmembers to respond to the following on the green post -it: what is a needed area of growth and learning as an elected officials? State whether you have a particular skill set or resource that could provide training, preferable at no charge. iv. COUNCIL COMMENTS Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 6 Ms. Peterson invited councilmembers to respond to the following on the pink post -it: what's working, what could be done better to use that time most effectively? She asked councilmembers to give her their favorite/best idea (from all 4 categories). Councilmembers returned 3 post -its regarding public engagement and 3 regarding skill building as their favorite/best idea so those topics were identified as top priorities. Council input regarding public input/public outreach included: Public Engagement • How can we receive public input most effectively? o Full council quarterly town halls o Boards/committees/commissions o Receive public input most effective in person or hybrid open house o Database to retain emails o Surveys through different methods o Boards and commissions o Email in comments • How can we do our best outreach? o Refer people to our emails from media blogs o Local media/social media with a formal written communication policy o Engage local neighborhood leadership and groups o Town hall o Public forums in various parts of the city o Staff led outreach workshops o Articles, opinions, letters, posts and our own social media platforms Discussion followed regarding using the City's Facebook more effectively, potential OPMA issue with use of social media, Mr. Dijulio's discouraging council from outreach on social media, importance of council talking to community members where they get information, value of a formal written communication policy for government outreach on social media and the internet, Snohomish County councilmembers publishing their own electronic newsletter and possibility of Edmonds city council doing a mini version, publishing a quarterly council newsletter, zone representation, holding quarterly town halls in different areas of town with the entire council, inviting neighborhoods to events, council office hours at the neighborhood city hall or public works, coffee with council events, identifying topics/themes for discussion during work meetings and town hall, DADUs as a topic for public engagement, remote council meetings/work sessions at schools, and creating directory of public places available for remote meetings. Skill Building • Needed area of growth and learning as an elected officials? o City administration & city planning o Understanding trauma as a root cause for vulnerability and need for human services o Understanding more about how city administration works o Using digital docs - spreadsheet and finance training o Levies and public funding o OPMA refresher o Work relationships o Budgeting by priorities and long range financial planning o Networking with municipal officers from other cites • Skill/Resources to provide training? o AWC Certificate of Municipal Leadership (CML), MSRC o AWC and SCC o City Attorney Jeff Taraday o Legal, journalist, small business owner (Councilmember Nand) Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 7 Ms. Peterson advised she would put the council's input regarding the other topics in a document and provided it to council. Council President Olson asked councilmembers to complete the two pages she emailed. Council President Olson asked for council input about allowing the mayor to have more dialogue at work sessions. Councilmembers agreed that would be appropriate. She invited councilmembers to contact her with ideas regarding how to allow the mayor to have more dialogue at regular council meetings. 5. CLOSING REMARKS Councilmember Chen provided closing remarks, thanking the mayor and directors for attending yesterday's retreat, support staff who made the retreat possible, and councilmembers for making time to attend both days of the retreat and for participating in the exercises. He commented on yesterday's presentations that clarified the roles of administration and council and the need to update the CEMP and today's exercises related to setting priorities for the coming year. He was excited about the new year and the new council, and about the administration's and council's willingness to work toward a common goal to serve the City as a whole. He was touched by what he has seen and experienced and was confident the council with the support of citizens, volunteers, administration, executive team, and staff will get through the difficulties facing the City. He assured citizens that elected officials and the administration are doing the best they can, operating lean and not duplicating resources, to provide the services that citizens deserve. ADJOURNMENT With no further business, the Council retreat was adjourned at 3:57 p.m. cs;- - SCOTT PASSEY; CLERK Edmonds City Council Approved Minutes February 3, 2024 Page 8