2011.09.14 Joint City Council, Planning Board and
AGENDA
Joint Meeting of the
Edmonds City Council, Planning Board and
Economic Development Commission
Council Chambers, Public Safety Complex
250 5th Ave. North, Edmonds
SEPTEMBER 14, 2011
6:30 p.m. to 8:30 p.m.
Strategic Planning and Visioning Process Kick-off - Retreat No. 1
AM-4200 Information on Strategic Planning and Visioning Process Kick-off - Retreat No. 1
1.Introduction
City Council
Economic Development Commission
Planning Board
Staff and consultant team
2.Define a strategic plan.
Objectives and scope
Content and particulars
3.Review scope of work concerning:
Task sequence
Calendar schedule
4.Identify issues of interest.
City Council
Economic Development Commission
Planning Board
Others
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5.Review content in regard to item #3 for:
Task 2 - internal/external scans
Task 3 - stakeholders to be interviewed
Task 5 - owner, employee, customer mail-back surveys
Task 6 - student hand-back/internet survey
Task 7 - resident internet survey #1
Task 9 - charrette delegate recruitment
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AM-4200 Item #:
Joint City Council, Planning Board and EDC
Meeting
Date: 09/14/2011
Time:
Submitted By:Stephen Clifton
Department:Community Services
Review
Committee:
Committee
Action:
Type:Information
Information
Subject Title
Information on Strategic Planning and Visioning Process Kick-off - Retreat No. 1
Recommendation from Mayor and Staff
Previous Council Action
March 16, 2010 - The Edmonds City Council approved Resolution 1224, which expressed support for the
Edmonds Economic Development Commission (EDC) and Planning Board to move forward with their
six higher priority recommendations. One of the proposals was for the “City Council to commit to
developing a strategic plan, then reviewing/updating every year, ideally corresponding to the City
Council’s annual retreat; this includes setting goals and continually assessing progress metrics” and to
“develop a community vision that addresses a balance between quality of life and growth objectives while
furthering Edmonds’ “green” initiatives”.
December 21, 2010 - The Edmonds City Council voted to approve funding to pay for a strategic planning
process and plan as part of the 2011 budget.
April 5, 2011 - The Edmonds City Council voted to authorize City staff to advertise/issue Request for
Proposal (RFP) for a Strategic Plan.
June 21, 2011 - The Edmonds City Council voted to enter into a contract with Beckwith Consulting
Group to prepare a strategic plan.
July 12, 2011 - The City Council Finance Committee voted to forward a recommendation to the full City
Council supporting authorizing the Mayor to sign the Professional Services Agreement and to place the
draft agreement on the July 19, 2011 City Council Agenda as an action item.
July 19, 2011 - The City Council authorized Mayor to sign a Professional Services Agreement with
Beckwith Consulting Group for Strategic Planning and Visioning Consulting Services.
Narrative
Attachments
Press Release for Strategic Planning and Visioning Kickoff Retreat #1
Edmonds EDC Strategic Planning and Visioning - Subgroup Report
Professional Services Agreement with Beckwith Consulting Group
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Form Review
Inbox Reviewed By Date
City Clerk Sandy Chase 09/09/2011 09:30 AM
Mayor Mike Cooper 09/09/2011 10:26 AM
Final Approval Sandy Chase 09/09/2011 10:28 AM
Form Started By: Stephen Clifton Started On: 09/09/2011 08:59 AM
Final Approval Date: 09/09/2011
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Press Release
City of Edmonds
DATE: August 26, 2011
For Immediate Release
To: City Council
The Edmonds Beacon editor@edmondsbeacon.com
The Edmonds Enterprise mwilliams@heraldnet.com
The Seattle Times lthompson@seattletimes.com
The Everett Herald ohalpert@heraldnet.com
My Edmonds News teresa@myedmondsnews.com
Edmonds Patch heidi.dietrich@patch.com
Edmonds KOMO susieberesford@hotmail.com
Contact: Stephen Clifton, Community Services and Economic Development Director
425-771-0251 or Clifton@ci.edmonds.wa.us.
__________________________________________________________________________________________
City of Edmonds Kicks Off City-wide Strategic Planning Process
Edmonds, WA – The City of Edmonds will kick off a City-wide Strategic Planning process on September 14,
2011 from 6:30 – 8:30 p.m. The City Council, Planning Board and Economic Development Commission
Workshop or Retreat #1 is open to the public and will take place within the City Council Chambers located at
250 – 5th Avenue North. The retreat and strategic planning process will be facilitated by Tom Beckwith of
Beckwith Consulting Group which is located in LaConner Washington.
The proposal to develop a strategic plan is one of six recommended higher priority initiatives presented to the
City Council in early 2010 by the City’s Economic Development Commission and Planning Board. To
understand why a community-wide strategic planning effort is such a priority, it’s important to understand what
a strategic plan is and as importantly, what it is not.
The foundations of strategic planning are statements the City makes that describe WHO we are, WHERE we
want to go, HOW we will strive for our goals and MEASURE success over time. While the City of
Edmonds plans on many levels, primarily for elements tied to the City Comprehensive Plan, and while these
elements involve strategic planning for particular areas, an overall city strategic plan is different: it serves as a
community’s roadmap and is used to prioritize initiatives, resources, goals, and department operations and
projects. As such, it helps prioritize and organize efforts based on community consensus within an observable
and trackable timeline. In this way, a strategic plan guides near-term progress towards achieving long-term
visions.
Having an adopted strategic plan is as important to a community’s future as architectural plans are to building a
home. A Strategic Plan is a crucial tool for city decision makers and can be used to shape decisions by
establishing a framework for setting priorities and informing leadership about citizens’ priorities. It is a tool
that helps ensure the most effective use of a city’s limited resources by focusing the resources on key priorities.
Developed in concert with its citizens and various stakeholders, a strategic plan helps city leaders allocate
limited resources to programs that matter most to a community.
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Following the September 14, 2011 retreat, the City and its consultants will be working to engage the entire
Edmonds community in developing a strategic plan over a nine-month timeframe. Establishing a process that
ensures broad community input is essential to the credibility of a strategic plan and its success. By conducting
interviews, hosting open houses and workshops, meeting folks one-on-one, and conducting surveys, the City is
hoping to use community input to develop a strategic plan that helps city leadership to make decisions with the
confidence that they are responding to the citizens’ stated desires. Web pages devoted to the strategic planning
process will be created to provide information readily accessible to the public and notices of community
meetings and events related to the process will also be posted on the City’s government channel. For additional
information, please contact Stephen Clifton, Community Services and Economic Development Director at 425-
771-0251 or Clifton@ci.edmonds.wa.us.
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Economic Development Commission
Strategic Planning Process Initiative Report
Introduction
The structure of the City’s economy influences the City’s physical development and determines the
City’s capacity to fund essential services. Economic prosperity and development increase wealth
and the standard of living for many who live and work within the City of Edmonds and are a key
component of quality of life. Aside from a national or global economic recession, the Citizens of
Edmonds deserve predictability and reliability regarding the government services they fund. A
strong economy requires a strong, healthy and balanced community as a foundation. Thus, it is
imperative that the City of Edmonds is positioned to create and maintain economic sustainability.
Strategic planning, helping to prioritize and balance community interests, is a valuable guide towards
achieving economic sustainability. A well-conceived strategic plan, tied closely to measurable
outcomes and a realistic implementation process, provides a city’s leadership with the direction and
authority to act decisively and seize opportunities as they arrive, and overcome obstacles. A
strategic plan allows city leadership to make decisions with the confidence that they are responding
to the citizens’ needs and desires.
The Edmonds City Council approved Resolution 1224 which included a commitment to develop a
strategic plan; this includes setting goals and continually assessing progress metrics. The Edmonds
Economic Development Commission submits this report to the City Council for consideration and
requests funding and authorization to undertake a strategic planning process consistent with
Resolution 1224.
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What is a Strategic Plan?
A strategic plan serves as a community’s roadmap that will take us from where we are today to
where we want to go in the coming years. The foundations of strategic planning are the statements
we make that describe WHO we are, WHERE we want to go, and HOW we will strive for our goals
and MEASURE success over time. That is, the strategic plan establishes a framework for carrying
out strategic thinking, direction, and action. It also ensures the most effective use of limited
resources by focusing those resources on key priorities.
Establishing a process that ensures broad community input is essential to the credibility of a
strategic plan and its success. Developed in concert with its stakeholders, a strategic plan helps city
leaders allocate limited resources to the programs that matter most to a community.
A strategic plan differs from other plans typically adopted by local governments in Washington –
such as comprehensive plans or functional plans related to the Growth Management Act – in that it
serves as a way to organize and prioritize initiatives and resources to achieve specific goals within a
relatively short (3 - 5 year) time period. In this way, a strategic plan focuses on establishing
near/mid-term goals, tactical approaches, and performance measures supporting a city’s overall
vision.
Currently, Edmonds prepares, reviews, and adopts many plans. Although the plans are consistent
with one another, as required under the Growth Management Act, not all of the programs within
each plan are prioritized against those in other plans. As such, the City has been following
somewhat independent long term planning and goal setting processes by Council and staff. The
Edmonds City Council represents seven individual views regarding priorities and vision, while a
strategic plan helps decision makers establish a general consensus (representing all stakeholders)
that city leaders can use to balance and direct limited resources, as well as rely on in their decision-
making process.
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Strategic planning offers:
• A data- and analytically-based process
• Utilization of several input tools - citizen’s local organizations - business owners – city
employees, including managers, supervisors and senior staff - City Council, commissions
and committees
• Comprehensive direction setting process with City Council, administration, and staff together
utilizing input from the above sources
• Financial analysis of optimal strategies and direction setting
• An implementation process with specific departmental action plans
• Design of integration tools and monitoring processes
Strategic planning allows:
• A general alignment and focus of City Council, administration, and staff in addition to
citizens, business interests, community groups, etc.
• Identification of how resources should be allocated
• A road map for achieving that direction – the plan
• Engagement - energizing and empowering the community and city leadership
• Thought provoking discussion and solicitation of new ideas
• Linkage to existing systems and processes within the city
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A key element of the strategic planning process is that it is established proactively and transparently
with community acceptance from the outset. The process should allow for both active and passive
involvement ensuring diverse and extensive community participation. While the details of the
strategic planning process are to be determined, a four step process may be considered:
1) Set Direction (Environmental Scan and Vision)
2) Focus Efforts (Goals and Priorities)
3) Implement (Department/Citywide Plans)
4) Reporting (Progress).
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1. Set Direction (Visioning Process & Consensus Building): An initial step is to facilitate
community input and assess assets and liabilities (environmental scan) to provide a vision
and overall direction for the city.
a. Environmental Scan
Conducting an internal and external environment scan means taking a look at, or
reviewing, a community’s resources, strengths and assets in light of trends and
influences affecting the community. From this snapshot, a city can later extract key
strengths of the community and develop strategies that support its priorities.
An internal environmental scan takes an inventory of your community resources. For
example, these can include the people, health, education, businesses and job
opportunities, housing, art and culture, leisure and entertainment, and geography.
An external environmental scan looks at what is happening outside of a community
on a local, regional, national and possibly global level that may affect a community.
This would include demographics, economy and lifestyle trends.
b. Input
Community input is solicited in a variety of ways to ensure extensive breadth. By way
of example, this could include (but is not limited to):
i. Surveys via telephone, mail (i.e. via utility bills), on-line or in person (local
festivals/events)
ii. Diverse community outreach (i.e. stakeholder groups, neighborhood
meetings)
iii. Surveys and outreach that includes City Council, local organizations,
commissions, committees, City employees, etc.
c. Visioning
One component of the strategic planning process includes a community visioning
process consisting of public meetings, focus-group sessions, open houses, and other
outreach forums. These gatherings would result in the submission of a multitude of
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suggestions from members of the Edmonds community. The hopeful outcome is a
community vision entailing guiding goals, each with specific visioning targets that
could serve as a framework for the following phases of a strategic planning process.
2. Focus Efforts (Goals and Priorities): The environmental scan, community-wide survey and
public visioning exercises will help provide information that can be used to focus the city’s
actions towards achieving the vision. Specifically, the City Council would for example,
identify long term (5 and 10-years) strategic goals that will direct long-term decision making
for the city. Short term (3-year) priority goals will also be established that direct actions over
a Council member’s term.
3. Implement (Department/Citywide Plans): The initiatives necessary to implement the
strategic plan will be summarized in department business plans (and incorporated into
citywide plans). Departments will outline the actions they will undertake to achieve the short
term priority goals and specify operating budgets necessary to support these activities.
4. Reporting (Progress): The strategic plan includes performance measures for the long term
strategic goals. These measures will form the basis for an annual reporting of progress
towards the long term goals and in realizing the vision. Measurements of strategy success
will undergo a regular review by City Council.
a. As short term goals will guide the decision-making at the department level, the
progress of the city in support of these priority goals will be reflected in department
operational and capital plans.
Periodic Review: A strategic plan is a “living document”; it undergoes periodic review and
adjustment to reflect progress towards achievement of goals and/or changes in the
“environmental scan” and resulting modifications of the goals.
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Why Should Edmonds Develop a Strategic Plan?
Having an adopted strategic plan is as important to a community’s future as architectural plans are
to building a home. The development of a strategic plan allows city leadership to make decisions
with the confidence that they are responding to the citizens’ stated desires.
Local economies are always changing and the greater Edmonds area is no exception. Specifically
related to the City of Edmonds, its financial stability has been slowly deteriorating for the past
several years and current projections show that annual revenues generated within, and collected by,
the City will fall below expenses within the next couple of years. Without change and adaptability, a
community can become stagnant or decline which has a direct effect on a city’s ability to fund
operations, services and capital projects. This includes the kinds of investments that augment our
quality of living. There have been lost opportunities in Edmonds’ past such as decisions to not
annex Aurora and James Villages, no action taken in 2006 to undertake a recommended Waterfront
Redevelopment Planning Process, decision to not approve The Hotel Group Development Project
on Sunset Avenue, etc., and it is important not to miss future opportunities. Successful communities
today acknowledge their past and allow a vision for the future to guide them through the changes
needed to prosper; Edmonds is no different and needs a roadmap for addressing future directions
using a proactive approach (based on established consensus) that enables us to seize
opportunities.
A strategic plan is a crucial tool for city decision makers. It can inform decisions by establishing a
framework for setting priorities and educating leadership about the citizens’ priorities for public and
private funding. A strategic plan helps inform a Mayor and City Council about city services,
programs, and infrastructure that matter most to the citizens and which should receive paramount
attention in budgets. While the City of Edmonds plans on many levels, primarily for elements tied to
the City Comprehensive Plan, and while these elements involve strategic planning for particular
areas, an overall city strategic plan is different: it is used to prioritize initiatives, resources, goals,
and department operations and projects, in addition to making that information readily accessible to
the public. In this way, it helps prioritize and organize efforts within an observable and
understandable timeline, and ensures that all stakeholders are working together toward the same
goals and priorities. These aspects of a strategic plan are especially important in an era when
government is faced with the challenge of doing more with less and allocating tax dollars where they
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are most needed. It ensures the most effective use of a city’s limited resources by focusing the
resources on key priorities. A strategic plan provides a framework for city leaders.
Many cities have found that the development of a strategic plan has succeeded in bringing various
stakeholders together thereby facilitating a greater sense of community, reducing tensions amongst
those representing competing interests with the recognition that everyone is working towards a
common goal of creating the best city possible. A strategic plan helps to align and focus City
Council and staff. In effect, decision-making becomes easier when priorities have already been
agreed upon. A strategic plan engages and energizes both citizens and the city leadership.
The Edmonds Economic Development Commission communicated with several cities that have
developed strategic plans to learn about their experiences with their plans – are the plans used, and
have they been valuable? We learned that as the economy has become increasingly challenging,
cities have used their plans more and more. Strategic plans have proved their value.
A strategic plan is a contract between citizens and their local government that establishes where a
city is going and how it will get there……and includes transparent methods of measuring the
progress of implementing the plan. Creating a strategic plan for the City of Edmonds would help
direct the City toward positive change(s) and would serve as the City’s roadmap for policy direction.
As such, a strategic direction for the City will help establish priorities for Edmonds’ government to
focus its staff time, energy, and money.
An adopted Strategic Plan is an investment in our community.
An inclusive, well designed process may be the best investment the City can make in its
future and the potential return on this investment is substantial.
Strategic Planning Process
The development process is key to assuring that the resulting strategic plan is both useful to its
implementers and supported by its stakeholders. While funding often determines how many of the
tools available to the planner are used to solicit community opinions, there are many approaches to
gathering opinions that assure the process is inclusive even at moderate levels of funding. The
process outlined below provides an idea of the steps taken in the process of developing a strategic
plan and the many tools available.
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Staff develops RFQ (consult with Commission) including steps outlined below.
Consultant team selected through competitive process.
Selected team works with City staff:
1. Visioning process – consultant facilitates
a. Establish steering committee (staff, public officials, stakeholders)
b. Stakeholder/focus group meetings
c. Public meetings
d. Surveys
e. Open house/community feedback
f. Develop guiding principles
g. Reach consensus on 4 to 7 goals
h. Analyze key issues related to the 4 to 7 goals
i. Define and prioritize goals
2. Environmental Scan (simultaneous with visioning)
a. Internal – include City plans, what goes on in the community
b. External- bigger picture of regional/national politics, economic trends and
developments that may impact what goes on in Edmonds (e.g. current emphasis on
transit oriented development, sustainability etc.)
3. Develop and refine 4 to 7 Strategic Goals from visioning process, stating them in the context
of previous / current planning.
4. Develop implementation and funding strategies for each goal – how can these priorities be
implemented.
5. Create an inclusive document to describe strategic steps to achieve each Strategic Goal –
this can be more of a work plan, but also needs to include process for evaluation of progress
and updates.
Present prioritized recommendations to public and City Council – what do we need to do first, what
follows, and longer term. City Council and Staff, strategic planning steering committee, citizen and
business focus groups, public meetings, workshop open houses, surveys, review of existing plans –
all contribute to developing implementation strategies.
The strategic planning process involves the ENTIRE Edmonds Community! Only in
this way can it provide the necessary consensus for success.
Empowering the Community – Energizes the Community!
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Costs
Based on communications with four firms with expertise in conducting this type of study/process, the
estimated cost of undertaking a strategic planning process and creation of a strategic plan ranges
from $60,000 to $200,000. Typically, the more complex the study, the higher the price. A higher
cost study usually allows consultants to conduct a more thorough analysis and further refine
assumptions, thus improving the degree of confidence in the information gathered.
Based on the general expectations and scope of work discussed by the Edmonds Economic
Development Commission, the Commission recommends that the City Council allocate a budget
range of between $85,000 and not to exceed amount of $175,000 for this effort, which represents +/-
35% of the midpoint of $130,000. This figure is subject to revision following the review of qualified
submittals in response to a Request for Proposals, and a refined scope of work once a consultant is
hired.
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