20190712 City Council RetreatF [] M ONDS CITY COUNCIL RETREAT
APPROVED MINUTES
July 12, 2019
ELECTED OFFICIALS PRESENT
Dave Earling, Mayor
Adrienne Fraley-Monillas, Council President
Michael Nelson, Councilmember
Thomas Mesaros, Councilmember
Dave Teitzel, Councilmember
Neil Tibbott, Councilmember
ELECTED OFFICIALS ABSENT
Diane Buckshnis, Councilmember
Kristiana Johnson, Councilmember
STAFF PRESENT
Jim Lawless, Assistant Police Chief
Don Anderson, Assistant Police Chief
Phil Williams, Public Works Director
Carrie Hite, Parks, Rec. & Cult. Serv. Dir.
Shannon Burley, Deputy Parks & Recreation Dir.
Patrick Doherty, Econ. Dev & Comm. Serv. Dir.
Shane Hope, Development Services Director
Scott James, Finance Director
Dave Turley, Assistant Finance Director
Rob English, City Engineer
Uneek Mayor, Court Administrator
Carolyne LaFave, Executive Assistant
Maureen Judge Council Legislative/Exec. Asst.
Jeff Taraday, City Attorney
Scott Passey, City Clerk
Jeannie Dines, Recorder
1. INTRODUCTIONS AND GREETINGS INCLUDES PURPOSE OF THIS MEETING AS WELL AS
INTENDED OUTCOMES
Council President Fraley-Monillas called the retreat to order at 10:06 a.m. and introduced the meeting
facilitator, Mike Bailey. She explained the intent of the retreat was a joint discussion about the budget, not
individual requests, the process of working together as a team. She invited Councilmembers to review the
list of ideas from the June retreat (posted in the room today) regarding where Councilmembers would like
to see the City in the next 5-10 years.
Mayor Earling commented this is an important process, staff has already begun the internal budget process.
Feedback from today's retreat will be used to work toward agreement on the process.
Councilmembers, staff and audience members introduced themselves.
2. BUDGET BASICS — ROLES AND RESPONS I R1 LI I'I I S (REFRESHER)
• "Budgeting is a team sport" / Legislative and administration roles for a successful outcome
Mr. Bailey described his background of 38+ years in local government and currently with MRSC. Today's
discussion will about the budget which is a financial planning exercise and how to work well together for
the benefit of the community. With regard to roles, policy makers should make policy. What does
policymaking look like? There is no better opportunity than during the budget process. How the Council
spends resources reflects what they feel is important. The ideal budget process starts with a policy
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conversation regarding targets to shoot for and priorities to set up the conversation in the fall around issues
that are important to electeds. Unlike school districts who have one mission, cities have numerous missions
and can be easily distracted by numerous priorities. Policy makers identify top level priorities, such as the
items identified in the exercise at the previous retreat. In the meantime staff determines how make them
happen operationally. Staff's role is to turn the Council's vision into specific action steps to make progress
on ideas.
In the strong Mayor form of government, the Mayor is charged by RCW to bring a balanced budget
recommendation to Council by the end October. The elected Mayor is responsible for the administrative
operation of the City and has an opportunity to put their vision for the City into the budget. Sometimes the
Mayor takes into account what the Council wants and sometimes not; it depends on how well the
organization works together toward a shared vision. A Councilmember has no power, but the Council as a
whole has all the power. To the extent the Council can collectively develop priorities and vision, that is the
direction the City as whole takes.
Mr. Bailey provided examples of cities where the Council and Mayor work well together to ensure the
budget reflected the Council's priorities and others that did not work well together. The success rate is much
better for communities where the Council and Mayor work well together. He referred to "Renton Results"
(defines the universe of the business), the importance of determining the community's priorities, Renton's
statistically valid community survey, and Renton's practice of holding a staff leadership retreat to determine
priorities which are then presented to the Council in a retreat. He described Renton's adopted "business
plan" (one page mission/vision and 6-8 major priority goals with objectives used to craft the budget) that is
displayed throughout city hall. Renton's aquatic center was an example one of the priority goals on their
business plan.
Mr. Bailey explained the Mayor proposes his budget to Council. Once the first hearing is held, it becomes
the Council's budget. If the Mayor's proposed budget does not reflect the Council's priorities, it is up to
the Council to make necessary edits. Staffs role is to operationalize priorities and policies. The Council
establishes priorities and staff identifies action steps to pursue them. Staff also provides feedback regarding
whether the City is on track operationally. The Council's action to adopt the budget hands the budget to
administration to operationalize.
Mr. Bailey recommended establishing a budget calendar that includes a deadline for policy direction such
as the end of July or first week of August. He also recommended updating financial policies. He described
the difference between financial policies and policy priorities.
Discussion and questions included timing for the 6-8 items in the business plan; King County's use of their
strategic plan to create their budget; access to staff to make tweaks to the budget; staffs role in the Council's
priorities; how the survey works into the budget process; benefits of cooperation between Council, Mayor
and staff; functioning effectively as team; importance of consistency and the difficulty with consistency
when the makeup of the Council can change every two years; more senior Councilmembers mentoring
incoming Councilmembers; various plans that compete for resources; reviewing plans in advance to
determine priorities; timing of the Council identifying its priorities; biennial budgeting; taking 1-2 years to
consider a biennial budgeting process; preferred method for conducting a statistically valid survey; a
healthy working relationship between Council and Mayor is in both parties' best interest; and priorities in
other cities that are initiated by the mayor.
3. HOW LAST STRATEGIC PLANNING/BUDGET EFFORTS GO?
Mr. Bailey asked for suggestions of what could be done differently to make the process the better (his
responses are in italics):
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• It's important for Council collectively to agree on a process, give policy direction to staff, and be
succinct in their priorities to avoid amendments late in process. Would result in a smoother process.
• Although the Council has overarching priorities, they have not been identified in the budget
process. Last year the Council had 46 budget requests because priorities were not identified. Until
there is a process to approach the budget as team, there will never be agreement to avoid
amendments. In a well-functioning Council/administration, there are few budget amendments
because they work as a team. Until a process is developed, it will be difficult to avoid amendments.
• Need a way to review the plans together and identify priorities.
• Comprehensive Plan is the only plan that State law requires the budget be consistent with and that
is a good starting point.
• Last year the Council identified its priorities well in advance but did not learn the administration's
priorities until the budget was presented in October. If budgeting is a team sport, the Council also
needs to see the administration's priorities early on.
• Once the Mayor delivers the budget, what is a reasonable amount of time for Councilmembers to
make changes? Suggest building into the budget calendar workshops during first week of November
for staff to describe how the budget is relevant to the Council priorities and the rest of month to
discuss edits.
• Historically time is spent in Council meetings on staff presentations. Is there another way to do that
without taking Council meeting time? Some Councils devote a day such as a Saturday, in others
staff provides spreadsheets to Council. Goals and performance measures are discussed during
Council meetings.
• Federal Way held 1-2 special meetings during the budget season for presentations. Presentations
are very valuable but take up Council meeting time. Redmond's Council meetings are on Tuesdays
and during budget season they also meet on Thursdays.
4. REPORT OUTS AND GROUP DISCUSSION (LEARNING FROM THE EXPERIENCE)
5. LUNCH — WORKING LUNCH
Mr. Bailey invited additional comments:
• It's human nature in the budget to want to buy/build new things. Maintenance, although not much
fun, needs to be a priority. How do you deal with that natural tendency? New electeds have things
they want to do differently. After a citizen complained about maintenance, Redmond Council made
a priority statement about maintenance/refurbishment.
• It's not fun to think about failing plumbing versus improving safety on Hwy 99 but the Council has
to balance those.
6. BEGIN PRIORITIZING BUDGET POLICY GOALS
Mr. Bailey read the list of Council items from the June retreat which he suggested were the foundation for
policy priorities:
• Future building with more underground parking
• Facility maintenance schedule prioritized and budgeted
• Updated codes
• Support small business beyond BID and DEMA
• More people working and living in Edmonds
• Board/commission ordinance streamlined and standardized
• More diversity in racial and cultural mix
• Art District fully recognized and engaged
• More diversity in business mix
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■ Connected walkway, alternative transportation systems
• More housing density in certain areas
■ Completion of the 4" Avenue Arts corridor
• Annex City office on Hwy 99
• Public walkway around marsh
• Environmental and tree protection
■ 500 units of affordable housing
• Redevelop Hwy 99
• Close Main Street to vehicular traffic from Yd to 6th
• Rehabilitation of Edmonds Marsh
• More affordable housing units
■ Interconnected park system with trail and walking connections
• Complete walkway system
• Underground utilities
• Ideally located fire stations
• New ferry dock
• Clean energy
• Vibrant Hwy 99
He suggested in developing policy priority goals, think about a high level end result and fill in the "so that"
statement; for example, City annex on Hwy 99 — so that community members have access to city
functions/facilities both in the core downtown and the east corridor.
Question and discussions included none of the parks priorities are on the above list even though the PRO
Plans is updated via a robust public process every six years, how plans dovetail into setting priority goals,
how the Council's personality and input from the community affects priorities, the exercise at the June
retreat not intended to be inclusive and was off the top of Councilmembers' heads, and reviewing top
priorities in the City' plans.
Mr. Bailey proposed an exercise for Councilmembers and staff to identify the top 2-3 things to inform the
work of building the budget. These can include process, maintenance, level of service, initiatives, priorities
such as the Council identified, etc. Following discussion in small groups, Councilmembers and staff shared
their thoughts:
• Start the budget process earlier, in May even, to get administrative and Council goals and have an
idea of what working toward. Communication earlier in year
• Think about a 2 -year budget, allows thinking more about the big picture
• Have Council -approved budget calendar to start budget process. Then hold a Council/Director
retreat on high level priorities. Priorities set by reviewing current statutory plans
• Align new budget items within the context of the City's needs
• Establish revenue number early and come to agreement on it
• Council/Director roundtable at the beginning of the year to develop budget calendar, preview
coming attractions, build into it a sense of accountability for accomplishing and reaching objectives
• Link budget requests to City vision and outcomes
• Enhanced communication process between Council and administration
• Use social media to better engage the public and obtain citizen input more conveniently than
attending public hearings
• Need a better way to obtain citizen input early in process whether about the budget, large capital
projects, etc.
■ Rebuild trust by improving communication amongst staff and elected officials and the public and
focus on an outreach strategy that is ongoing, not limited to the budget process or a specific project
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• Overall enhanced City communications
• Separate, streamlined process for review of the CIP so there is sufficient time to understand it
• Mayor have preview chats with Councilmembers about the budget to provide opportunity for input
before the budget is published
• Mayor meet with Councilmembers so it is a Council -Mayor budget, people are on same page, and
the budget is not a surprise
• Provide a summation of the budget — budget in brief, budget highlights
• Collegiality — communication/agreement among colleagues, everyone's goal is to serve the public.
To accomplish, need collaboration, understanding, trust, and compromise
Mr. Bailey highlighted the importance o£
■ Council approved calendar
• Council approved priorities
• Form guides content
• Communication before the budget is presented — midyear check-in, opportunity to talk about
resources for the next year, status of items in current year's budget
Mr. Bailey commented Redmond created a "budget philosophy," philosophical statements around resources
to communicate their thinking amongst themselves and the community and to creates a history regarding
how the philosophy informed decisions. Redmond's budget philosophy includes statements like we will
never adopt B&O tax, we will have a head tax and identifying what it will fund, we will take advantageous
of the I% annual property tax increase, etc.
Questions and discussion included steps to take now to put the City on the path for a biennial 2021-2022
budget, benefits of biennial budget such as allows budget discussions to occur in non -election year and
opportunity to focus on other things in the off-year, requirement with a biennial budget to have a mid -
biennium review, being intentional about how to spend the off year in a biennial budget, and what to include
in decision packages. Council and staff suggestions included:
• Set aside 1-2 Saturdays for budget workshops with staff presentations, then discussion at Council
meetings. Saturday workshops would allow the public to attend
• Record staff budget presentations, Councilmembers watch when convenient. Expectation is
everyone will watch by a certain date and then schedule meeting for questions. Provides flexibility
• Limit budget presentations to 5 minutes per department
• Schedule additional meeting for budget presentations. Ask the Council and citizens what they want
to hear.
• After each budget cycle, survey to debrief regarding what worked well and not so well
• So not see 5 minute presentations working for Edmonds
• Rather than 46 amendments during process, get amendments ahead of time. Budget calendar can
include time for submitting amendments
• Different people need different forms of communication. Not need minutia about small
expenditures in presentations, just need high level and can look in budget for minutia
• Reconsider threshold for decision packages, $500 may be too granular
• Council President, Mayor and Finance Director develop strategies for implementation
• Start with Council priorities, Mayor priorities and a calendar
Council President Fraley-Monillas summarized the Council and Mayor should develop overarching
priorities and then she, the Mayor and the Finance Director develop a strategy for implementing a process.
(Councilmember Nelson left the retreat at 2:00 p.m.)
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7. WHAT DOES COUNCIL WANTS TO COMMUNICATE TO THE ADMINISTRATION AS IT
RELATES TO THE UPCOMING BUDGET
8. WRAP-UP / NEXT STEPS FOR BUDGET
Identifying Council priorities
• Council and Staff suggestions:
o Council meet in the next IAV2 weeks to identify overarching priorities
o Meet at 5:00 or 6:00 p.m. before Tuesday meetings or on a Saturday
o May be helpful to hear from staff before the priority setting meeting about projects already in
process so they are not left out and are part of a team discussion
o Assume priority setting meeting will take at least 3 hours
o Mayor attend the priority setting meeting
o Identify anticipated revenues for 2020 and future projections
■ Agreed to:
o Directors inform the Mayor about projects in process and the Mayor attend the Council priority
setting meeting
o Ms. Judge will poll Councilmembers and Mayor about a meeting date/time.
Calendar
• Suggestions:
o Council approve calendar
o Include on calendar a date for approving available revenue
o This year's calendar will be compressed, develop calendar for next year.
o Next year's process will need to start earlier due to new Councilmembers
• Agreed to:
o Council President Fraley-Monillas work with the Mayor and Mr. James to develop a calendar
in next 2 weeks
Format for department budget presentations
• Agreed to:
o Council President Fraley-Monillas meet with Mr. James to discuss.
To discuss next year
• Suggestions:
o Develop a budget policy
o Develop a priority matrix for capital projects
Discussion followed regarding ability for the current Councilmembers act on behalf of the City until the
end of the year, adopting a resolution if the Council wants to move in the direction of a biennial budget,
delaying a decision regarding a biennial budget until new Councilmembers take office, current Council
providing guidance to incoming Councilmembers, and a concept suggested at the previous retreat whereby
1-3 Councilmembers meet with staff to create dialogue, understanding and trust.
PART 2
CITY ATTORNEY BRIEFING
Community Engaptement
Mr. Taraday introduced the topic, commenting the recent public outcry about the Waterfront Connector
project as well as other projects where citizens wanted to go in a different direction late in the process
indicates the need to evaluate how the City does public outreach. The earlier the City can tap into that
energy when evaluating a project, the better. Some have suggested more resources such as a full-time staff
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position devoted to outreach and social media. Changing something in the way the City does outreach is
necessary to break the cycle of work hard, work hard, reset.
Staff and Council brainstormed ideas:
• Federal Way had similar issues and hired a full-time public information/engagement specialist.
Important to look at projects coming up in the whole year in a strategic way and strategize public
engagement. Multiple points of engagement and multiple venues of engagement, not everyone
responds to same opportunity like evening meetings, newspaper ads, etc. No magic pill to eliminate
all possibility that people will engage at the last minute. With more resources, could strategize more
effectively and successfully
• Strategy to change the culture, be more deliberate, and incorporate community engagement in
everything we do.
• Individual projects have consultant assisting with community outreach; need comprehensive
approach to community engagement and what that looks like in today's age of communication.
Will require hiring staff such as a Director of Community Engagement, with the right expertise and
leadership so other cities look to Edmonds as an example of success. Will require resources, but
will allow the City to respond to the public better so the right facts are on the table.
• King County had PR individual who led the strategic plan. Strategic plan was used to do community
engagement. Public engagement can include social media, news, department updates, and monthly
meetings for staff to talk about plans for the next year, success of programs and make decisions
regarding how to inform the public. Strategic plan has multiple uses.
• Waterfront Connector included numerous meetings, digital outreach, email blast, direct mailings
to every residence, Facebook, newsletters, etc. The strong reaction to that project seemed to blow
up out of nowhere due to someone with a passion that does not have the same responsibility for
telling the truth and saying things designed to anger people. Not sure how to combat that.
■ There are opportunities for additional revenue such as increasing the EMS levy and the vehicle
licensing fee (Transportation Benefit District). The City has many projects to fund including
deferred building maintenance, ADA ramps, etc. Need to engage the public about those item and
options for funding.
• Annual discussion about priorities will help internal and external communication
• Shoreline has a very robust communication program that includes a director level position and a
communication specialist that serves all the city departments. Very effective at getting the message
out.
• May need to update the 2011 strategic plan; a lot has changed. If the City hires someone, they need
to be able to reach out to multicultural communities.
■ The 2011 strategic plan was really just a list
• Civic Field is an example of strong community outreach, task force, open houses, media coverage,
etc. Even with all that, late in the process citizens raised an issue about parking. Will never able to
educate/inform everyone, but can do a better job with public outreach: For example, My Edmonds
Neighbors on Facebook is a way to push information about projects. Reduce the number of people
who do not know about projects.
■ Strategic communications is how you drive and grow your business. Communication is an
economic development opportunity. Most people do not get their news from the City's Facebook
or website; they get it from Edmonds Moms Facebook page, My Edmonds News, Edmonds
Beacon, and other external sources to get the most relevant, recent and credible information. Not
fair to require department heads to include in their strategy for a project an outreach and
engagement strategy; it needs to be somebody's sole responsibility. Most private sector entities
measure their engagement the same as revenue.
• Technology has changed which creates additional challenges. There are opportunities for
discussion on the internet but they are not always truthful; would be difficult for the City to have
conversations in that venue. Another question is where to start with community engagement.
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Everyone agrees start early, but need to have meaningful public engagement. Just asking the public
what they want can raise false hopes. Using parking as an example, people may want to park in
front of their destination, but challenges and tradeoffs to provide that.
• Title VI Coordinator reaches out to other languages spoken in the City. Having someone dedicated
to that would be beneficial.
• Would not expect the Police Department to operate without a public information officer. The City
should have the same; it should be a necessity, not optional.
■ Consultants working on specific projects will still do public outreach. Currently, each department
operates those public process independently with little coordination between them and no strategic
oversight. A dedicated staff person could do internal coordination as well as work with consultants
on specific projects.
• Some good comments on My Edmonds News and some that are not factual. Have tried to ease into
those discussions and add clarity from the City's perspective; often it's like throwing gas on a fire.
• Who manages the City's Twitter, Facebook, etc.? Need to manage information so there is a strategic
overall approach and coordinate with consultants who are doing engagement so there is a sense of
purpose to the whole as well as specific projects.
• City of Ferguson does a quarterly department update on their website. Presents facts so the public
knows what the City is doing. A way to gain trust and respect with community.
• City is doing a good job of telling what we're doing, not sure the City is doing a good job of
listening. A strategic communication specialist is about engagement, turning one way
conversations into two way conversations. Strategic communication person could get facts and be
a trusted resource when something happens.
• The Police Department's Twitter, Facebook, and Ask an Edmonds Cop is only a fraction of what
should be doing; more could be done with more resources.
Council President Fraley-Monillas summarized she and Councilmembers Teitzel and Mesaros will be
developing suggestions regarding public outreach.
The retreat was adjourned at 3:10 p.m.
DAVID O. EARLING, MAYOR
5 ASSEY, CITY CL
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