Special City Council Meeting — Strategic Plan Workshop October 28, 2023

0:04:56Look who are here today, who are watching on livestream and on zoom, and our staff, as you know, we 10 years ago now we embarked upon our first strategic planning process in El Cerrito. I believe it has guided us. Very well.

0:05:11And so now it is. It is time to update it. It's been time to update it. But that nasty pandemic sort of gotten away. So here we are. We have been through a lot over the past few years. And I

0:05:23I think again, the strategic plan goals that we had had in the past 10 years really still held up. And I think, as you'll see. And as we talk about, there's still a lot that we want to do that are all sort of in the same kind of thematic areas. And so it's really great to be able to hear from all sorts of different members of the community on what's important to them and kind of being able to synthesize all of this for all of you, as the city council, as we look toward the next 5 years, and even beyond that

0:05:53I will say that as far as the strategic planning process for this organization your employees also had a lot of input into this, too, and we are definitely looking to the city council as our leaders, and helping us with these goals to set the tone for what it is. We are then going to be able to do for the community.

0:06:14That is what we are here to be able to make sure that we're fulfilling all of the policy goals that the City Council has determined in the best way we can in providing the best service to the community. Doing a strategic plan brings it all together. It gives us all that same roadmap, the big, exciting ideas and all the stuff

0:06:32underneath the ideas that we need to be able to fulfill. So I'm very excited about this. I'm really glad for all of the participation again. Thank you all for being here on a Saturday, and I'd like to introduce my friend Nancy Hetrick. Who, as you know has been here for the duration she was with us. For our first strategic plan. And so it's a joy to be able to have her come in and and help us update this. And I wanna thank her for all of her work

0:06:57as well. So, Nancy, I'll turn it over to you. Alright. alright! Hi! I think everyone there. Holly. Okay, great. I'm so glad that it's not booming in this room. That's terrific. We wanna make sure that people can hear. However, on zoom. So good morning, everybody. Thank you for all being here delighted to be back.

0:07:19I'm joined today by Leslie, Sam and Zhu. Who those of you who have been around with the process in the past may remember those who were able to participate in the focus group. So we held

0:07:30over the last couple of months, also had a chance to see Leslie at work. And so we're delighted to have her talent here to help really record the energy as well as the discussion that occurs today. I know Leslie is going to want to make a couple of comments in just terms of the process. So let me just do a little bit of an overview. And then I'm gonna hand the mic to her to make herself introduction.

0:07:52as Karen said. And thank you, Karen, for having me back. Nancy Hetrick.

0:07:57I am with a company called Baker Tilly was management partners, which is the name I think most people would feel familiar with. We had a change where we became a part of Baker Tilly last October. And so that's the change. Our work focuses on local government. So what we do we are here for public service, just as those around the table and around the room. And hopefully those viewing on the table. Really appreciating and valuing the services that occur every day.

0:08:24We have a full day, not a full day, a full morning, plus through lunch, or the the new hour scheduled. And so we have a lot to cover. I'm sure you have seen the agenda, and can appreciate the the depth and the richness of the information that we'll be covering. So it's my job here to help to try to keep us moving forward, and so I will do my best to do that

0:08:44to make sure we can have time adequate time, especially on the later parts of the agenda, the goals, the strategies, those pieces. And so we'll walk through the logistics and those pieces. But first I wanted to give Leslie a chance to introduce herself.

0:09:01Okay, good morning. So I'm a graphic recorder, and that means I'm gonna be listening to your conversations and trying to capture sort of some keywords or highlights on the papers here, and some blank papers as well. I just wanna point out one thing. This, this is my whiteout label, old style stuff. So please correct me. Because I will make mistakes, and if I turn around, ask someone to repeat it. Just so, you know, I'm not facilitating. It means I just needed to get it down

0:09:26kind of in the core, the core essence of what you've said so, I might ask you to repeat it. Thank you. Really happy to be here.

0:09:33Alright excellent! And we have the mics. But even so, you know. I just ask everybody to make sure that we are projecting so everybody can hear in the room. I appreciate that. Okay, I don't know, holly. Are we able to bring up the slide deck that we can use along our our journey? So we do have a Powerpoint slide deck that we'll use to help keep us on track and to have a shared conversation.

0:09:55Also you have received a packet that summarized some of the content that was that will be presented in the Powerpoint. Hopefully, you've had a chance to preview that

0:10:05that will help facilitate our conversations in a way that is hopefully meaningful and efficient.

0:10:13Also, pre, posted was the environmental scan which we'll talk more about. There's a wealth of tremendous information in there lots of detail. We will hit some of the highlights as we walk through the Powerpoint slides themselves, but we'll have chance to reflect or ask questions on that as well.

0:10:31Alright. So we're gonna move ourselves through some of these early pieces that we've already covered and jump ourselves to the workshop objectives. So what we're gonna try to get through and accomplish today together.

0:10:43First of all, we will just remind ourselves about you know what what is contained in the strategic plan. We won't belabor that you have used this same model in the past. But just to make sure everybody is on the same page with the language.

0:10:55We will go through the the themes from all the engagement activities that we've had the privilege to help to facilitate, including those that the city did out in community events. And so we will be reviewing those elements. And then the big circle goes around the build consensus area. That's where we're gonna talk about mission vision values, goals and strategies. That's a lot.

0:11:19And so we want to make sure we can adequate adequately, spend time on those elements and hear your thoughts, your reaction, your ideas and your input

0:11:28today, we're not making decisions. Today. We're hearing the dialogue, and we're gonna be taking careful notes we have, you know, myself, Leslie, we'll have Alex also. So we make sure we get all of your input

0:11:40subsequent to today. We will take all of that feedback and put together a draft of a strategic plan, hopefully reflecting all of your perspectives. That draft will then come back to council for review before you adopt it, and so don't. Don't feel pressured that today is you're only at that you'll have a chance to see all of the themes come together in a final document before you adopt it. And those were our next steps. So that's our our overview of what we're trying to get through today.

0:12:10Some ground rules that we like to always set, as you can tell by all the beautiful art around the room from our focus groups. This is a workshop, right? This is not not a traditional formal council meeting. This is a chance for for all of you council to to discuss and and share your perspectives on these elements. And so you put ground rules together as our our practice.

0:12:34So keeping the big picture in mind, you know the strategic plan for an organization needs to fly at the 30,000 at least foot level. And so we wanna try to keep ourselves there. Recognizing that the elements of this plan will translate into the details within your budget within individual department work plans

0:12:54the implementation plan of the city. So keeping the big picture in mind, very helpful, very important. Listen with respect and inquiry. We want to hear different perspectives and input that's very valuable and important to our process assuming good intent. You know, I can tell you from all of our engagement activities. There's a lot of love for El Cerrito and everybody is coming here with that in mind. And that's why we're here

0:13:18staying focused again. That's my job to help keep that. We do use tools like our all that. If there are topics that come up that you just need more time on or somehow it sort of falls off the agenda, we will document that. So we don't lose the idea. We'll keep ourselves moving along and then ultimately, when we get to the vision mission values goals and strategies, we wanna be listening for those areas of consensus where there's agreement on direction.

0:13:43Okay? Everybody. Good with this terrific. Okay?

0:13:48So I mentioned the bike rack oops and it just went away. There we go. We're mo. See how efficient we're gonna be today. We're just gonna go quick. Clip. So here's our agenda. I know you have seen this already. So we're gonna start off with the the framework again, kinda getting grounded on the elements of the strategic plan. Why, it's important the benefits of it.

0:14:07Then we're going to review the themes for our engagement activities. And again, you have the environmental scan that you've been able to to preview. We're going to go through the broader themes as well.

0:14:17Then we're gonna jump and we'll take a break, and there and then we will jump to mission vision and values, and we will have conversations reflecting on the existing statements that were adopted as a part of the prior strategic plan, share some of the input that we received in the engagement activities. And then we have presented, you know, adoption just for discussion. Starting point, we'll see where people land.

0:14:42and then we'll do goals and strategies, and then by 10'clock my my objective is to make sure you have gotten through all this with adequate conversation, and we will conclude at 10'clock. Hard stop! I know you have another engagement, that all the council is is headed off to, so we will make that work. Okay? So that's our agenda.

0:15:02I hope that there's no surprises with it.

0:15:06Alright. So

0:15:08what we love about El Cerrito. So we went ahead. So when we did focus groups, which we'll talk more about, we did, Leslie. We did 5 of them.

0:15:18my focus groups

0:15:20as well as through community activities. The Fourth of July festival, the national night out other activities we asked this question, you know, what do you love about El Cerrito. It it helps to to get us grounded on those things that are core and essential. We've posted some of those around here up on the on the sheet.

0:15:39and you know the the sense of community, the diversity of the community. The restaurants, I mean, we heard very specific things, and we heard broad things which are all you know, thematically posted around the room, also reflected and incorporated into some of the stakeholder themes. But I thought it'd be nice to share with from Council's perspective.

0:15:59You know, when you think of this, what do I love about Cerrito? You know. What is 1 one, or maybe 2 things that really jump to mind just to kind of get us started as we begin our our time together. So I will not put anybody on the spot. But if anybody wants to go first.

0:16:12I would invite them.

0:16:16Okay. And I saw this also reflected on a lot of the what I love most boards.

0:16:25But what I love most about El Cerrito is that small town feel that we are like like a Mayberry, but a Mayberry, 2.0 that we are diverse and interesting, and everyone is kind to each other, and we have lots of open spaces and small shops. And

0:16:44you know, little neighborhoods.

0:16:46So that is one of the things that I love about living here.

0:16:50Thank you, Mayor.

0:16:52I'm I'm glad that the word belonging was listed and pulled out. Because I think that that's a really important piece, that everyone feels that they belong in the community and that you know, all all of these elements together ultimately make it so that people here feel like home.

0:17:07and that they know that their needs are being met here.

0:17:10Yes, I'm we're an environmentally conscious city.

0:17:16I'm very proud of that. II consider Elsuria the greenest city in Contra Costa County excellent.

0:17:23I think I would add working class people. And also one thing that's not up. There is legacy or lineage. A lot of people who are here have been here for a very, very long time. So yeah, that's my favorite thing about Elsorita. The deep roots. We heard that, too, during some of the focus groups appreciate that.

0:17:39First. I wanna say, I agree we need more bike racks

0:17:44to fight for city manager and I were talking last week just about other cities, having, like little

0:17:51mottos. Little little phrases they use that are in the entrance to the city and over the last couple days. I was just thinking. and it came to me with a glass of wine.

0:18:03does help

0:18:05bayside, hillside

0:18:08all sides, and it's like geographically. This is where we're at. But it's kind of everybody included in this city. So yes.

0:18:19alright! She's writing that down. Oh, good.

0:18:22terrific! Well, these are just some of the themes that are listed here, you know we we tried to put I think it touches on some of the ideas that you all identified. So thank you. Yeah, I think that there's a lot of sense of feeling, of welcoming was another word that we heard a lot of welcoming and home, right and and feeling as one neighborhood, which was another theme we heard was, you know, not divided into different groups, but actually one community one neighborhood, which was, I think, also an important observation.

0:18:51Okay, well, so let's get to the overview of the strategic plan itself.

0:18:57Why? Strategic planning? And why? Now? Well, you have had a strategic plan, and has served the city well, and you know it's provided guidance and direction from the council to staff to identify those areas, to

0:19:11make a progress on and shoot, for that's been helpful. There were plans to update that strategic plan at the conclusion of the the timeframe initially. But there have been some, you know, life altering events in everybody's lives with the pandemic and other things that demanded this get pushed out a little bit. So now is a good time. Now is the time to hit reset. The world is opening back up

0:19:37and so, you know, this provides a chance to get in alignment again. It allows. You know, the use of resources, you know, swimming in the same direction and not to be distracted in different areas.

0:19:51Here's our framework. And we it's the same model that was applied in the last strategic plan. So you have, you know, kind of the vision what you're aspiring for what you want to create as a community, the mission. This is city specific capital. C. El Cerrito. Right? The organization, the mission. Why, it exists. We will actually start with mission. And then we're gonna we're gonna shift to vision in our conversation today.

0:20:16We also will talk about organizational values. And these are sort of the behaviors and shared expectations

0:20:22that staff and policymakers have, or how services are are delivered for the community. And then we have our goals and strategies. So the goals are the high level areas of focus strategic focus.

0:20:35That really set the the tone. We've written some kind of draft goal statements that define those to some extent. And then the strategies. Those are the methods with which you are going to be pursuing those goals. Again, this is all. Still, those are the the council

0:20:54elements, right? The policy components high level. And then you can see at the bottom of the upside down. Pyramid is the implementation plan. That's where it all comes together. That's where the action occurs. This is a strategic plan that is envisioned for a 5 year horizon.

0:21:10And so there's the expectation that some things will take time. You're not going to get through them all in 6 months, or even a year, but you'll have a plan to move those forward. And so that's the structure of the strategic plan. Any questions or comments on that

0:21:28great. So here's a little bit of a process overview how we got to today. And it's been there's been a lot of activity, a lot of great work. I think the Council had their initial conversation around this at your council retreat last February, and so work has been moving forward ever since, and so in the springtime and through the summer. There were engagement activities.

0:21:51with the community through the community events, also through your community, your community facilities together. You can see, you know, some of the input requested here at City Hall.

0:22:01So that has been regular and ongoing.

0:22:03As well. We did interviews with each of you to hear your thoughts and your ideas that helped to drive and inform some of the engagement activities. We provided guidance to the city on the environmental scan which was prepared by the city staff.

0:22:22did a tremendous job in my review.

0:22:24Hopefully, you feel the same. I thought it was really well done we administered an employee survey, so we can make sure we heard voices from city staff, who are very knowledgeable about the day to day activities and the things that are underway serving the city. So we did that. We also reviewed the National Community Survey results. This is a national survey that was administered earlier this year Council has received those results, I believe, as well

0:22:49those themes and the takeaways from that also informed our understanding and knowledge.

0:22:55And then, of course, we mentioned the focus groups several times already, because they were great fun. So we heard voices from some of the people in the room today, as well as many others. One of the things that we heard about in your discussion in February, and we heard through several conversations with early focus groups, was a desire to really hear from everybody, including the youth in in El Cerrito, and so we had the tremendous opportunity to go up to El Cerrito high school

0:23:24and engage with some of the students there in a focus group. We have a couple here today. It was by far highlight. We were really grateful for the opportunity and for the really impressive input and knowledge that they imparted. It was really it was terrific. So have all those focus group themes also integrated into the work that we have before you today. And then, of course, engaging the computer voices and department heads through the process. And all of that

0:23:52leads us to where we are today. So hopefully, those who participated in the process and those who are familiar with kind of where things are. See their voices reflected in the work that we have compiled today for you. That's our goal. And hopefully, we have been dutiful in that. So

0:24:08that's our process overview. And where we are today.

0:24:12Alright. So the environmental scan. So this was a very thick document. Lots of data.

0:24:18That was provided in advance to be able to preview it again with only going to 10'clock. We weren't gonna have time to, you know, allocate through the whole thing, but hopefully had a chance to take a look. I'm gonna walk through some of the highlights, and I may ask if anybody, if there are questions. First of all, I will turn to those who are perhaps more knowledgeable than I. On the the content. But I'll I'll do my best at summarizing the themes that jumped out.

0:24:43Oh, whoops! Too much too fast.

0:24:46Okay, here we go. So so in an environmental scan, this that it seeks to look at sort of trends and and data that help to really set context. And so in an environmental scan, we're not looking for the answers per se. But to understand some of the drivers that as policymakers you want to be attentive to in developing a strategic plan.

0:25:09So we look at demographic trends as well as other areas. So these are some of the highlights.

0:25:14So population continues to to grow. Here in El Cerrito, still small community, but it's, you know, like every place else, continuing to grow. And as and as housing density increases and changes, that's gonna continue to to shift and grow. So you can see the projection farther out. Higher

0:25:34average income is relatively high here in El Cerrito, 33% higher than the California average, which is not a surprise when you could picture the Bay area compared to the balance of the State but also 6% higher than Contra Costa, generally so relatively high. It varies, however, across the community. There are, you know, different levels of of income and such throughout the community. So it's important to be inclusive in that regard.

0:26:02Residents view El Cerrito as a good place to live, and that's been continuing to rise, and there are many reasons why that is, but it's reflected in the community survey that was conducted so 85% in 2,016 expressed it as a good place to live up to 89%. Almost 90% of the community feel good about the this is a place to live. That's a tremendous watermark. So congratulations and kudos there

0:26:29top resident priorities from the survey included parks, public safety, open space and library as as areas of interest. And so, you know, we'll talk more about each of those as we get to the goal areas later this morning.

0:26:45Population, El Cerrito is very diverse. This was mentioned as a strength among from council perspective. We heard it in each of the focus groups that we conduct it as well. It's a it's a very common theme and an appreciation for that.

0:26:59Over 50% identify as non-white. So we have lots of lots of different organ or ethnicities represented. Yeah, in the community, 33% born outside of the Us.

0:27:1237 speak a language other than English at home. So you know, in engagement activities and the work that the city does, these are all things that are requiring of attentionality. To make sure that voices are brought to the table

0:27:27employees. Similarly, when you talk about the city of El Cerrito are also diverse, over 50% identify as non-white. So you know, again, there's some some parallel to the community which is always a goal not always achieved in some communities

0:27:42vary by age and tenure within the organization. So you have a whole spectrum of generations involved.

0:27:48and 39 employees receive bilingual pay. And so you do have the ability to tap into that as an important resource. So those are some of the highlights. I'm sure there are other things in there that that stood out to you as well.

0:28:02Financial highlights.

0:28:04I don't know. I don't know if it's me, or if it's the clicker, but we'll find out so some of the highlights

0:28:10there there are, first of all, will we congratulations to the city and the the financial pudding that you are now, on, which, if you go back a couple of years was was not quite as solid. So that's taken a lot of work, a lot of effort from many people. And so that's that middle box there reserves are higher than ever at 16.6 million dollars. Congratulations on that.

0:28:33There are still many unfunded cip needs. And this is not unique to El Cerrito. It's, you know, a a factor of local government and available resources generally. But it's also important to keep that in mind. Can you? use the term for cip people. So people know what Cip stands for. Capital improvement projects. So this is investment in

0:28:57and infrastructure. And these sorts of things. Thank you for that. Clarification.

0:29:02And pension costs continue to rise. And so that's something that the city just as with all other local governments in California, are, keeping it a careful eye and attention to and using new strategies to address that. But the number of the amount when it comes to pension costs

0:29:20what it is now. So our residents know what we're up against. Because I wanna make sure our residents know we need to continue to be fiscally conservative about this. And and so I wanted. We have people asking for this and that in a new library when we have this that we need to contend with, and I wanna make sure our residents, all of our residents know

0:29:44we're we're trying to do what the best of us yeah.

0:29:48understood. And I will have to turn to those who are quickly turning to their computers. So we will. We will. I'll just say that the full environmental scan will be is post. I think it's already posted online, but it'll be posted under all of this with this information.

0:30:07Alright. So those are some of the financial highlights. So so, yeah, so the importance of staying the course, but also recognizing the course that has been the path for the last few years is is equally important.

0:30:19Alright. Oh, my gosh, this is! It's on me, I swear.

0:30:24So some additional highlights related to kind of the internal operations staffing levels workload of the city to highlight. And these are these are very small little what notes up here. So I'll do my best.

0:30:37The number of authorized positions. And then this is a reflection of the the choices and the decisions over the last few years has decreased since fiscal year 20 from 1 80 to 1 70

0:30:51so that, you know, overall, you have fewer employees available as resources to support the work that you're looking to do. The city's challenged by turnover, and I will add that that is not unique to El Cerrito. This is an area that is challenging. And again, in the employment arena generally, but certainly most importantly, at the local government level. It's just a challenging label labor market at the moment.

0:31:17And so you can see the data regarding turnovers retirements. Really saw a big increase generally in the last year or so. This is, you know the

0:31:28the wave of retirements that I think perhaps have been anticipated for quite some time. And and now here we are.

0:31:34among elsewhere, among Contra Costa cities. El Cerrito has the second highest rate of property crime. You have 2 bark stations, which is probably a a factor there and 6 highest in violent crime. So again the comment that we heard earlier about public safety and

0:31:50headed in the right direction. It had been number one on property times. It's headed in the right direction. Perhaps these again, I wanted to point out. This is so important for our residents, because on the north side, where I live and where Councilmember Hessel, Brugnik, and councilmember, and Paul grew up in that neighborhood. No, that's crime is spreading.

0:32:14and we've had gun violence in my neighborhood, not once, but twice, guns and drugs and gangs. And that's going yesterday, while Mayor was there. Actually, yeah, yeah.

0:32:26always been a concern. And we need to make sure that public safety remains part of the top things that cities do because we're having this crime because Richmond defunded twice. And they have a lack of police, so they're not able to stop their crime. And it's spreading over to my neighborhood.

0:32:51And so when we talk about the goals and strategies. You'll see there's a whole section on that. I think we'll probably have additional conversation around what that might look like. Appreciate the comment.

0:33:03So the other part of public safety is a fireside. And so fire incidence, which is all categories, has increased. From

0:33:14so this these are, then we still get into technical terms. So point 1 2 to point 1 6 and and the chief can elaborate if we need to clarify that but we wanted the the bigger part of the message here is, it's increased. But the types of calls also are, I think, significant and notable. And not unusual. In some cases to other communities with a majority responding to medical calls. Ems is emergency medical

0:33:40services.

0:33:42Yes, yes, and so Ems calls are a big component of that, but also public assist and good intent. And that's that's the community of El Cerrito. I mean, that's

0:33:58the the responsiveness and being accessible. So you can see that there is a a demand and an appreciation for the the services that are pretty, provided. It's a resource that not all communities have the advantage of in terms of that kind of response. I'll tell you in San Jose when my cat was in the tree like this, and that's what you're supposed to call. No, there is no response, no, no help, no help.

0:34:21anyway. Municipal admissions to the environmental sustainability piece has decreased by 30%. And so again, this is the advantage of having a strategic plan that articulates your goals right. It keeps it in focus, and you can measure and track success and progress over time. That's a notable decrease, and that's to be commended.

0:34:42Also, streets are a a big part of the responsibility, you know. Infrastructure of what a community of what a city provides. So 68 miles of streets are maintained. With a Cpi rating of 70

0:34:56globally. That's a good or better, and you want it. You want to be, I mean, that's good to be at 70 and higher. So that's a good rating. So those are some of the highlights as you saw. There's a whole heck of a lot more in the environmental scan. If I might be so bold as to go through the balance of the engagement activities, and then we'll have a conversation around all of these themes.

0:35:19Because the the focus groups and the engagement activities really serve as the qualitative component to an environmental scan. We have the data, and then we have the voices.

0:35:29So I'll go through these themes, and then we will come back and we'll capture some observations, surprises, themes that stood out for each view.

0:35:36Alright. So here's our. Here's our teams, right? Yep, all right. So we're going to go through strengths, challenges, opportunities, and threats. Here are the strengths

0:35:46that we consistently heard. So there may have been a number of other things, but these were the areas that really stood out as consistent ideas. So the location, certainly a strength right, having access the diversity of the community, having access to bard and other transit options

0:36:06as a strength commitment to environmental sustainability.

0:36:09strength. The parks, the trails, open spaces. You know the hillside open space area is is, you know, noted as a real tremendous asset to the community being community focused and the commitment of city staff.

0:36:23The recreation programs and facilities that the city provides are a strength and appreciated the family orientation. Also is something that is a strength seen as a strength for the community, and that comes in a lot of different forms, you know, from your events to your summer camps, to the the resources and amenities that serve the full of the the family

0:36:46dedicated Public Safety Departments. You know a city the size of El Cerrito doesn't always have the luxury of having their own public safety departments in the scene as a real strength here for the community and the pro pro housing designation, which is also not something that everybody can celebrate in terms of other communities. And so that's also considered a strength.

0:37:07Alright. Here are some of the challenges could also call them as limitations or threats. So some of the challenges that just have to be either addressed or factored in you have limited budget and staffing resources. We talked about the decrease in staff and the the pressures on the budget. That's a challenge and or a limitation right to keep always in mind

0:37:27the impacts of vacancies and lean staff. We talked about turnover rates. It takes time not only to fill vacancies, but then to get people yeah, up to speed and ready to be performing the full scope of of work. So that that's a challenge that takes time and effort

0:37:43heavily rely heavy reliance on property tax base for revenue. Now, the good news is that property taxes probably the most stable source you can have. You know, if it's in the challenge, arena is that it's a huge part of your revenue source. And so there's not a flex, a lot of flexibility in that and so that's just one of the. And now you have had so many conversations around finances. I know you know this, but it's important to keep that in mind. You know the the balance of revenue sources that are available.

0:38:11the space and condition of public facilities. Yes.

0:38:14in that specific category we should also add aging public safety building, and I think that it's important to explicitly call that one out because our public safety building is incredibly old. It doesn't have facilities for women, and if we are prioritizing public safety is something that is at the top of our list. We also need to think about the facilities we're providing right, I think explicitly calling that one out will be really important. Okay, when we and again, we get to the goals and strategies, we can talk more specifically about some of these things.

0:38:42But that was certainly part of the the facilities. And you know, perhaps, with with the exception, although this this building II heard today 2,008 like this is still the new City Hall. But it's it's also been a while right. But so then, you know other facilities. This goes back to the the Capital Improvement Project component and the the needs that exist. So that's a challenge and something that requires intention and choice and and planning.

0:39:11not something that happens overnight, for sure.

0:39:14Managing community expectations. You have a highly engaged community which is amazing. It's fantastic. There's also very high expectations. Now it's a challenge when you overlay that to the staffing constraints and the the limitations of resources. And so it's just that push, pull, balancer.

0:39:33lack of retail businesses. And so this is shifting and growing. But there's, you know, continues to be a real interest and need, particularly as people are, you know, partially or completely working from home, you know, looking for things in the community and not have to leave El Cerrito for for retail

0:39:49restaurants, maybe the exception. II don't. I tell you I'm I'm still waiting for my list. Cause comes up in every group.

0:39:57East West mobility. So we heard a lot about, you know the, you know, kind of going north south. There are options. There are transit options, but it's much more challenging when you're talking about up the hill and not everybody's gonna be able to hop on a bike and and make their way up. So that's a challenge is getting people up and down.

0:40:16balancing aspirations with basic service delivery core service functions that the city has to require has to provide. You know, are the baseline. And so the the margin of resources above that, you know, typically can be 10 or some such, you know, some percentage. That's not a lot. And so it's really being thoughtful and intentional about those choices.

0:40:40And then no central or downtown gathering place. And so again, this is something that the city has been working toward. But it's still a challenge at this point there's you have the plaza, but you don't have

0:40:52kind of a true downtown.

0:40:54Alright. 2 more slides to go through, and then I will stop talking for a moment, so opportunities here are some of the opportunities that we heard about the opportunity to support economic growth and small business. So really, you know, paying attention and focusing in that area

0:41:09developing San Pablo Avenue as a livable, vibrant corridor, and certainly with a strategy with a specific plan. And that work that has already been underway. Yeah, there. This has been something that has been a priority. But it's continued to be an opportunity

0:41:24creating a downtown community hub anchored by the plaza. The Plaza transit oriented development

0:41:30plan easy for me to say, so that's an opportunity there. Yeah, increasing community emergency preparedness. And we heard a lot about that. And we'll you'll talk more about that, I'm sure. This, as we move through into the goals and strategies, the the necessity, importance of emergency preparedness

0:41:47investing in community facilities and assets. Again addressing the challenge on the opposite side, improving bicycle and pedestrian safety and access. And this is, you know, both walking, you know, walking on sidewalks, but also visibility and other kind of infrastructure types of concerns and then updating technology systems and increased for increased automation. You know, moving that forward

0:42:09last one is the threats, threats generally. We think of these as sort of external in nature, but things that you have to be attentive to, and and paying attention, moving forward

0:42:19natural disasters. You know that's a threat to all of us here in the Bay area and beyond. And increasingly, right, increasingly and and no longer is it just the threat of an earthquake, which is what the historic frame of reference was we have, we have new natural disasters. We can be worried about

0:42:37economic downturn. Yeah, that's always an area to be alert to and making sure that you are on solid footing that anticipates that

0:42:45cause that can affect. You know, the local economy local businesses, but also has then an effect on your jurisdiction. State mandates that just keep coming. You know those are also a threat and the requirements that they impose on local government

0:42:59inflation, rising home prices, quality of cost of living continues to be a threat and can continue homelessness.

0:43:09So particularly, you know, regionally focused like the threat of you know, increases there the the impacts and to the individuals and also to the community. As a threat. Just trust in government, you know, there's a lot a lot going on, and that can have an impact

0:43:24even at the local level on things, and then the vulnerability to climate change. You know the location of El Cerrito, so

0:43:31that attempts to summarize the many conversations we were able to have with with residents and others. So I will. Oh, this is just a summary slide. It basically pulls together from different perspectives.

0:43:45Some of the major themes. And so you can take a look at this, and you'll see that there are kind of overlaps in different areas.

0:43:53Yeah, you have public safety, I think, on all 3 which was raised previously. Emergency preparedness also in all 3. So there's there are some themes that you know, span, depending on the, you know, related all the perspectives, some that are unique to the individual so infrastructure investment, for example, came through the staff surveying conversations, and that's probably because

0:44:19of the the day-to-day interaction with with those amenities. So this summarizes that

0:44:26now I will stop talking for a moment and ask you all. what stands? Oh, yeah, no stretch, break what stands out to you

0:44:37from all of this information. And I recognize this is really a flood and a wave of information that we have just deposited. But anything stands out. And are there any surprises from the information? So

0:44:51absolutely none. These are all the same things that we're talking about so much in community every single day, whether it's the priorities that we're trying to, you know, get to community to support us in our White Council member, keen to say the Ca, the issues that we're trying to get people to understand more. So they all made perfect sense to me. Okay, no surprises. It's just yeah. But I'm hard to surprise.

0:45:14We're actually gonna keep it as a council. This is a council. I'm sorry.

0:45:17I also think is an appropriate scale. I think that's what I really appreciate about this specific swat is that it's really aligned to the expectations that we have. And it's not. It's kind of not too big, if not too small, does feel just right as far as priorities and you know our strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats.

0:45:38I'm not surprised at all. And and I agree with Councilmember Weisinger. We did. We have spoken for last 3 years, dealing with the same thing and speaking about what we need to do in the future. So but yeah, and our residents for the most part know cause, that's all we've been talking about. But making sure within all of this.

0:46:02that we know our constraints and our constraints is, you know, dealing with the unfunded liabilities, and and for the next few years at least. You know, and and making sure we continue to be fiscally responsible, because, you know, one bad move, we can go back to our old ways, and you know. But I wanna make sure that we are honest.

0:46:26for now on and that we are, everything is on the table. Things were hidden the past 10 years about unfunded liabilities, and and it was skewed to make it one way, for now on, we're gonna just have everything out on the table, and and that includes our financial position, for now on

0:46:45Great.

0:46:46And we'll talk about values, too, and that may make its way into some of that conversation, too. Anything stand out. I just want to agree with what's been said here. These are things we've talked about, things we're familiar with.

0:47:01and I agree. You know, the public safety factor is important. But I don't. Wanna, I think, with what we've had before, with vision and goals, we can interchange those top 5 and move them around. They're all still pretty good

0:47:14and I don't wanna say one's more important than the other. But you know public safety does start at the top. And I wanna agree with Gabe. None of the other stuff matters unless we're financially stable. And we kinda have finally gotten there. So we can

0:47:27say, what's our next move? What's the second step. What's the third step that we care about? Because goal one was financial stability because we were on the brink. So now we're not. So we could talk about these things.

0:47:40So. And this is precisely why this is such a good time to kind of have this conversation and think about. Okay, you know, in light of where we've been and where we are, you know. How do we start planning for the next step? We can kind of take a deep breath, not lose sight of where? Start to think about where you want to go. As well so may, or anything that went out.

0:48:05The whole community understands where we are right now. So there are not these kind of big expectations that don't fit with kind of what we can do. So I think that that's a really heartening thing that we are all starting together the same place so that we can move forward together on the strategic plan.

0:48:24Thank you. And you know one of the things I think that you know, as we get to the I'm jumping ahead a little bit to the goals in terms of degree of priority. You know one of the things that was incorporated in the last strategic plan, not necessarily. Aside from the last few years which there was, you know, goal number one, right? But going back to even Prior, that with the strategic plan for

0:48:49operational purposes, for identifying and trying to communicate which we're we're goal we're talking about. We. We put letters to them right? We didn't put numbers because we wanted to not do that. But I think even with that what I heard in in February, when we met, and then, you know, through even through focus groups, is like, well, what the priority. And so the conversation I think we wanna have today is, you know, what are the specific areas of strategic focus? You wanna

0:49:17keep an eye on and move progress toward, but not necessarily at, the plan level as a prior, as a ranking right. That they are, you know, equally balanced so that you can have the lens in those areas.

0:49:31not doing everything but focusing on those what we'll call big blocks, right? Those big areas of interest that you want to progress on. So we we also have changing demographics. And and you know the Flatlands used to be first time housing. And then when I bought when we bought our house back in 2,001, we it was a starter home. Now these are upper middle class people buying these homes at over a million dollars

0:49:55now. So I'm so proud that this city looked ahead and made sure that we are building housing for everyone. So now the working class can continue. We'll have a new generation of working class people moving here and this, these are the original people. My my parents are working class people, and they we were able to move

0:50:15to El Sorita back in the day, and I and we continue to do that to bring a new generation of people moving here which will make hopefully make our retail. We've been. We've been redlined to tell you the truth, when it comes to retail stores. They don't want to come here, and that's the truth. They don't want to come here because we're next to a city with

0:50:39a lot of problems and a lot of client that spills over here, and the data proves it. And we just need to be honest about that. That. Retail doesn't want to come here. But we're just so creative about small businesses moving here. And II commend our chamber for doing that. And so we have mom and pops moving in here, mom and pop. Small business owners.

0:51:02people from our city opening small businesses. And this is something that we don't see in a lot of cities because they're afraid of the crime. You know, so definitely, public safety is a priority. And to protect our small businesses because you look at the failures of bad policy and the other cities surrounding us, and we did not go that way. So

0:51:26right, and the the small business is part of the character of El Cerrito, and I think that we, you know we heard that, and I think that everybody would reflect on that. It makes it unique and special. So alright.

0:51:38very good. So that's that's our setting the table. So look at that. This is good. We're right on time. So far so good. Here we go. Let's take a quick 10 min stretch right? So use the facilities if you need to. You know whatever. We will start back at 10 after. And we're gonna jump right into mission vision values.

1:07:19you know. Alright.

1:07:21so

1:07:33pardon me.

1:07:34Next surface is on Vision Mission Vision Mission.

1:07:39There's a Mr. Levin.

1:07:45So we're gonna they should. Okay.

1:07:49that's great stuff. Additional opportunity for public.

1:07:53So between this segment strategies. strategies keep in mind

1:08:13station's on the same

1:08:16opportunity to do something.

1:08:24So wanna make sure that we have time.

1:08:28So that's they have the benefit of.

1:08:33But

1:08:36to

1:08:46that we will have opportunity

1:08:52to counsel regarding up to bills and strategies

1:08:56possible

1:08:58for everybody.

1:09:01Process change. Thank you. Possibly.

1:09:06Okay. So now, everybody.

1:09:12okay.

1:09:13mission vision and values. You know, these really set tone

1:09:19for details.

1:09:21They they bring together basically.

1:09:27So members to a strategic plan.

1:09:31So as I mentioned. we're going to start with mission. So

1:09:38it's it's kind of minded sound.

1:09:43Why do you have local government organization?

1:09:55Sorry the mission. So we have the existing mission statement. And this was provided same exact content in the packet. So we're hopefully had a chance to review this. So in your existing mission statement

1:10:11existing, the city of El Cerrito serves, leads, and supports our diverse and transit rich community by providing exemplary and innovative services, public places and infrastructure, ensuring public safety and creating an economically and environmentally sustainable future.

1:10:37It's

1:10:42different.

1:10:45And

1:10:47question

1:10:49would like to read the vision, saying that there was previous adoption.

1:10:56The city of El Cerrito is a safe, connected transit, oriented and environmentally focused destination with welcoming neighborhoods, thriving businesses, and vibrant public spaces and diverse cultural, educational and recreational opportunities for people of all ages

1:11:29here's a meeting

1:11:32who's spoken about.

1:11:36Hmm.

1:11:38Admission from this app from vision.

1:11:45So here's some of the feedback that we heard. Hopefully, the topics, the issues that

1:11:55were attended.

1:11:58Page them

1:12:00Ms.

1:12:01here's a movie

1:12:03and felt that they're long. They're marching

1:12:08and share it

1:12:09like the both things you want to do. So maybe streamlined in a shortening or shortening each of them.

1:12:18Desire to make more people

1:12:21something that is easier back guard. Considering all the reasons why I'll show both of them together differentiate between the mission, the mission

1:12:31and then, lastly.

1:12:35that really set the stage.

1:12:50So that's a little bit of

1:12:52now. I wanted to do

1:12:55so. Yeah.

1:12:58mission statement. So mission mission statement. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry. Sorry.

1:13:06Articulates the purpose. Sorry about that. Everybody who might be listening. The purpose of the organization and why it exists. And so we want it to be, you know, clear and understandable, achievable, succinct and shared feeling that everybody can say, Yeah, that's that's why we're here. So we do.

1:13:23So that's the definition of a good mission statement.

1:13:27So we just saw this is the existing one. Again oops. It was on the prior slide. We just read it and shared as well. So II put the existing here, and then kind of reflecting on

1:13:38kind of the key themes that we were hearing about through the engage the employee engagement activities attempted to do a shorter, more succinct version to reflect the essence of why the organization exists. This is just to feed the conversation, so don't don't take it as prescriptive. If you hate it, just say I hate it.

1:13:56But here's the option. I'll read it for you. So the city of El Cerrito serves our our diverse community by reliably providing quality services that create a safe and sustainable future for all.

1:14:08Yes. so I feel.

1:14:11oh, fairly strongly about this, but not do or die strong about this. I'd give it like a 6 or 7, and how strong I feel about it!

1:14:22Replacing the word sustainable with resilient.

1:14:25And the reason why is that sustainable often can be inferred as sustaining the status quo. When I think that a lot of what resiliency is, and being a resilient community, is being able to be dynamic during times of change and be resilient. So that's why I would. I really appreciate that it's short and succinct. But I would say safe and resilient future for all.

1:14:48Okay? So that's a great comment. So let me let me do this in terms of process. First of all, let me just

1:14:53do a quick around the table to kinda get a a gauge of where you are like. Don't change it. We like what we have or want to focus on the option. And so, yeah, there's the only right answer is there? Answer, that's right for you. And so I just wanna maybe hear from each of you first, and then we can dive in on which direction we wanna head in terms of streamlining. So I like the optional that I would like to include.

1:15:18Let me plug you there. I'm gonna come back to that. What we want to include or change. And so so you like the idea of a tighter, a shorter version. Yes, okay, we'll come back to the more I promise you. Okay. And I feel that must be the same for you. Okay, yes. I like the optional. Okay.

1:15:35yes, I like the option. This is what the city. Yes, that's right. Okay, purpose of the organization, but not what the city should be. We'll come to that next.

1:15:48Okay? So it sounds like there's consensus that we wanna look at. You know, a version, perhaps, of the optional. Mission. Okay, just wanted. I wanted to see where we want to jump from first before we jumped.

1:16:00So please continue but one thing I want to make sure that that we are mindful of always is something that we miss for the last 10 years is being fiscally responsible. So whatever we can do to to add a blurb about that, I think, can have residents will know

1:16:20we're not gonna go back to our old ways. We're not gonna follow what Richmond and Berkeley does anymore. We're gonna do what else Rito needs to do and what our responsibility.

1:19:06But the vision is to be something. So let's come back on the on the mission side, on the vision side. Sorry when we talk about the aspirational elements. And again, that's

1:19:18we often see vision statements as a statement of a desired future. But it could also be a statement that, you know, says this is our desired future or seeks to. So it's a stylistic choice.

1:19:31I don't know that there's a right or wrong answer, I guess, is very unsatisfying. It helps me identify the difference between the mission and the vision. We're seeking to do something. It's our vision and our mission is a statement of.

1:19:44So

1:19:45we're getting them. I think so. The presenter.

1:19:50Right?

1:19:5248,

1:19:56yes. one of those

1:19:5928 to 30 somewhere in there.

1:20:03so was talking about the mission right now, then. So we're okay, with the idea of saying, Yeah, yeah, is as opposed to seeks to or will be, okay. Okay. So the suggestions that I'm hearing potentially around financial focus, changing, sustainable.

1:20:24too resilient

1:20:26feature for all, and then switching quality services to exceptional services, exemplary exemplary exemplary exem. Sorry, yes, exemplary

1:20:37thoughts or comments to councilmember Fideli's question. Yeah, the mission statement is the the why, yeah.

1:20:44And then I think, especially when we think about vision

1:20:47is when we're really thinking about kind of the the fiscal component to it versus the mission, which is the why we accept exactly. But I think that the the vision is more that the house.

1:21:00And and they said, the the whats. And how's versus the whys, some strategies don't forget about those as well. Yeah, that's the means. Okay? Okay, so are we.

1:21:10are we interested in making the modification to use the word resilience rather than sustainable? That's one question kind of on the. And this is just I want to hear from each of you on this topic the new, up or down, and then changing from quality to this is the exceptional again. But

1:21:28can we see it? Can we see the statement? So we know what we're talking about?

1:21:35There we go.

1:21:38There we go. Fine. It knows it's Saturday

1:21:43just keeping us all on our toes, making sure everybody's paying attention. So here's what we have it. And so what we're suggesting

1:21:50is providing

1:21:53exemplary exemplary

1:21:55services that create a safe and resilient future for all.

1:22:04Could we change reliably to consistently?

1:22:11But just leave it out.

1:22:13Just why not just be providing Quality service exemplary service.

1:22:19Bye? Okay, with taking it all the way out, because it doesn't have to be fit.

1:22:30too. And that's incorporated, you know and implied there. So we're moving reliably, changing it to exemplary services and then creating a safe and resilient future for all.

1:22:40So the city of El Cerrito serves our diverse community by providing exemplary services that create a safe and resilient future for all.

1:22:49Yeah, you guys like it. Yup, yeah.

1:22:51I'm not gonna drop the mic. Alright. So that's that's great, and we will be able to hear from others when we hear about the comment. But let's talk about vision now. So vision

1:23:05is that stated future like, you're trying to create the desired future for the organization where you want to go. Right? This is your north star of what you're trying to create. So it's future focused

1:23:18challenging. So it's not just what is restated. It's that it's aspirational. Inspiring. So people are like, Yeah, that's that's where we wanna go. We wanna get behind that. And we're excited by that.

1:23:31And it's also succinct. So the arguably, the vision. You may have additional elements that you would weave in more than the mission statement. However, you know, not having, you know, a paragraph or some long, long thing that's not memorable is important. The vision say, well, one more comment that I can tell you, ready to go. The vision statement also

1:23:50serves as a touchstone for the goals and strategies that we'll be talking about later. So you want to. You see some connection between where we want to go, and then, of course, the goals and strategies that we'll lay that out from there.

1:24:03And so let me just give us the

1:24:07the background, and then we'll open it up for discussion. So here's the vision, the existing oh, no! See, this is one. This is wow!

1:24:18This second way and

1:24:21alright existing vision statement, are you playing with me over there? Holly?

1:24:27So we heard this already. We don't hear. Read it again. That's your existing Mission state vision statement here. It's just jumping on, as I promise you.

1:24:37That's okay. Here is option

1:24:42that was intended to reflect. So I want to jump to past the feedback slide to share with you from here. I'm not going to try and go back, because we'll spend our whole morning just jumping between slides.

1:24:52So first of all, some of the feedback. So in the existing, we talk about where to go a destination.

1:25:02The future that focused on destination, we heard consistently. And the focus groups said, You know, we we just like to be home like we're a community. We're not trying to be the destination that people are all headed to. We want to be able to go places, and we appreciate the access to

1:25:20other, you know, regional amenities and such, but that this is a one community, and that's that's welcoming. Welcoming was another word that we kept circling that people really valued and appreciated

1:25:32for this. And so those elements, and then also the other area that

1:25:38around was around the transit oriented

1:25:41and that was kind of coupled in the conversation around destination. So, seeing that as a strength and a resource, the transit, but not as a part of the vision statement. And so that's not the identity. It's just one of the nice features of right. So those were some of the

1:26:00comments that we emphasizing, welcoming. I mentioned that and again the the the

1:26:06key elements of it. There seem to be a lot of agreement. Yeah, those still reflects the things we care about. But it's just a lot in one statement, and we want to be more focused. So here is our attempt

1:26:17to incorporate the elements with a more streamlined version of the vision statement. So the city of El Cerrito will come back to your comments about the seeks to or pursuing the city of El Cerrito is a welcoming and culturally rich community committed to fostering a high quality of life, thriving businesses and public spaces and diverse cultural, educational and recreational opportunities for people of all ages, so it still has some of the essence that were in the original one, because there was agreement that there were really important elements

1:26:47but underscoring the welcoming and the culturally rich identity of El Cerrito, and building and kind of the high quality of life component which, really resonated in terms of the focus group and the other engagement activities. So I'll stop again. So noted around the comment around, we can be, change the wording to be more seeks to be or create

1:27:11we can't have any of that unless we're a safe city. And I, wanna you know, just I'm a stickler with that because we see what's going on surrounding El Cerrito and and failed policies that the other cities have done, we did not, you know, follow what the other cities were doing, and we did the right thing. So I wanna make sure that you know, we we include safe in that.

1:27:35So maybe like a safe and welcoming something along those lines. Okay? And you know I would have to counter that point because I and I remember we had a long conversation about this in my interview. The thing about the word safe is that safe means so many different things to so many different people that it starts to other people, if it's not

1:27:54performed in the way that they that they are made to feel safe. So I think that in this particular option you get the safe. When you say that we are welcoming, we are culturally rich, we are diverse. We are providing a high quality of life. But when you start prioritizing, especially as the first thing in your vision as safe. That's when you're gonna start getting a lot a lot of people, especially the new people that are moving into feeling ever othered by that

1:28:18word. And I was I was a stickler for not having that word

1:28:21in the vision. Well, we'll have. We'll talk again. When we get to the goals and strategies. We'll talk about spotlighting the, you know, defi the definition around that and what that looks like as well as that, and then we'll come back in.

1:28:33I agree with customer. We singer's point. I also think we use culturally rich and diverse cultural in the same, bring that up. Yeah. So I think that a welcoming

1:28:45community. And because again, we have

1:28:49diverse cultural already in there. So I just don't want it. Say it twice. I like the idea of emphasizing that we are something about acknowledging our fiscal responsibility and our fiduciary duty to the community. I don't think those words would fit in here, but just the notion that we do want to create.

1:29:09you know that we want economic stability for our community in a vision.

1:29:17I would. I agree with the cultural. I think we can strike the culturally rich. Since we're saying diverse cultural, I would get rid of the word and

1:29:25before their cultural community. And and then at the very end, we're talking, get rid of

1:29:32of all ages for all people which incorporates all ages, all people, all diverse people. Yeah, ages. I don't think we need all people who's what we're talking about. Also what I like about that too sorry is that we end our mission with this word all, so that our mission and vision would both end in the word all. So if we say for all people, then it ends in people. But you could just say, for all

1:29:57you can say for all. But then both mission and vision end in all. Oh, that's true. Yeah.

1:30:02So 4 ages, if all people includes people of all ages and all

1:30:08types. But I think

1:30:102 cultural.

1:30:12I love cultural being in there, but we don't need to say it twice, or you could say for everyone and take out the people in the all in the ages, everyone, everyone.

1:30:22So I

1:30:25have some strong feelings about the vision statement, because I think what we're missing here. I think these are all great comments, and I appreciate, you know, the the feedback from everyone that this this is, in the general sense, what we value. But this isn't a value statement. This is a vision statement, and I think you know what what make bothers me is, you know.

1:30:52quoting Yoda, try or do or do not, but you know there is no try. And you know the fostering and trying to do these. I don't like that in a vision statement. I said, we're gonna do

1:31:04this. So we don't have to lose. We're gonna try to foster this. No, we're gonna have a high quality of life, thriving businesses and public spaces, diverse, cultural and educational operating. For all you know, everyone. I think the the trying part needs to come out the vision cause it's like this broader debate. It's stylistic

1:31:29debate around. Are we going to include in the statement the, you know, kind of striving to or create? You know that

1:31:36qualifier in terms of what we want to become or just stating it as a statement. And that's it's a stylistic difference. But I think the the vision statement should have a certain sense of boldness. Cause that's what we're striving to achieve. And I think the if it's too kind of like, yeah, we we achieved it because we tried is to me a failure and kind of the bigness of a vision. So

1:32:01that's I think. So. That's

1:32:05so. It's like fostering sets a very low bar, because if you barely make it, and you only achieve it, a substantive quality of life and not a high quality of life. But you. Still, we try. Okay. So I think that's what II wanna take out that sense of. And

1:32:22you know.

1:32:23and I really appreciate the discussion about home, because it it was very external facing. And now this is the vision is about how we feel about our home.

1:32:35So here, did you ever the common escape? I well, like, yeah.

1:32:39our new people are moving here because they know it's safe. And and that's why. And and a lot the majority of the people moving here are coming from Oakland and San Francisco. So that's part of the the great things that.

1:32:55Why, we're getting a new a new generation of people moving in here because they know well they're moving elsewhere because Elito is cheaper.

1:33:17So again, values right values are safety. I think when we talk about the goals, and we talk about the values. And so you part of this, we can always zoom back right when you come back and say, well in light of these other things, does it make sense? So let me let me read that the areas I heard consensus about thus far, and see where we are, and

1:33:44see if we can, for you have the same thing. All right. So with my notes, I have. The city of El Cerrito is a welcoming community committed to a high quality of life, thriving businesses and public spaces and diverse cultural, educational and recreational opportunities for all people.

1:34:00and how we agreed to everyone.

1:34:02I like everyone.

1:34:08We didn't include anything about kind of being well managed or fiscally sustainable. I don't know what words. What's Buzzy? And a good word to use for it, but something that acknowledges that you know part of our vision is making sure that

1:34:24I think the experience of of talking to people in the community is that when we're doing well, they it's invisible. Yeah.

1:34:33that's good service is when you don't. Yeah, it's happening. We don't know what's happening. So I think that if we're if we're creating this high quality of life that it

1:34:41implies that we're doing what we're supposed to do. So

1:34:45okay.

1:34:47Alright, how are we feeling generally about? But again, this is, we're just hearing the conversation, and we'll bring back to you. So you'll have, you know with fresh eyes, be like, is that what we went? Yeah, hopefully. But love steel. Say, yes, that's what we meant. And we like it.

1:35:01Okay.

1:35:02let's go on to values. Cause again the all of these pieces come together. They touch each piece. And so we wanna make sure that we have them in different places. And so talking about values. Now

1:35:16these are the existing values. Nope, I

1:35:21oh, Melanie, maybe not.

1:35:27Oh, well, Salah, see, it's not just me first slide that shows the existing

1:35:33keep going. Keep going

1:35:35there now. One more. There we go alright. So these are the existing values.

1:35:40No, I tell you. It's it's jumping. Yeah.

1:35:45alright, zoom. So you have this in the packet. Okay?

1:35:49I will say them all out. So we all honestly continue to jump. So the existing organizational values there are 8 of them. And so that's a lot. Again, you wanna make sure that you can kind of

1:36:02have them be memorable and incorporated into the work that is done every day. And so ethics and integrity. And you know, we'll just go through them. Fiscal responsibility.

1:36:13transparency and open communication, professional excellence, inclusiveness and respect for diversity, innovation and creativity, responsiveness and sustainability. Those were the

1:36:26the the values that were incorporated into the prior strategic plan in. In that document there were some behaviors that were also identified. There weren't value statements, but there were behaviors that were identified to reflect those. So that's the existing set. So when we met we did interviews, and then also in a survey. But I asked if she had to pick only 3. What would those be right to understand? Kind of what's most important, what elevates high to the top? And so

1:36:54through that we had

1:36:563 of the existing organizational values stand out among the group, including staff councilmembers. First of all, ethics and integrity values for the city. Or, yes.

1:37:07right? Exactly so this is how the city, with as policymakers and staff, expect to behave and serve the community. Ethics and integrity, fiscal responsibility gave to your point and transparency also to your point and open communication. Those were the things that that jumped out as themes

1:37:26from council. And then

1:37:29for the in the employee survey, we had ethics and integrity also. We had fiscal responsibility again, and we had professional excellence. As the one. And so, you know, taking those into consideration as well as the broader themes around goals. And what you want to accomplish through the vision.

1:37:49We have a set of 5 proposed, and this is again just for table conversation to start 5 organizational values with statements that intend to incorporate the other elements.

1:38:01to make it memorable. And then maybe, if we can jump through, even though we're in the not showing view. Holly.

1:38:12I'll present right? And you can. Just

1:38:17yeah. Good good idea. Suggestion.

1:38:27Somebody should be that.

1:38:30Alright? So we

1:38:34I think we need to go one more forward.

1:38:39One sorry one more, the one with lots and lots of words.

1:38:43There we go so apologies to those who are trying to make sense of this from behind. But in your packets you have them also. So I'm going to review what what's included there? And so remember we had 8. And so here at the top 5

1:38:59reflect those that we heard about long with inclusiveness and respect for diversity, because that was such a big theme and so much that we heard. So 5 key organizational values, the 3 at the bottom of the existing values are incorporated into some of the definition, because there, there's overlap

1:39:17right? And so innovation and creativity, responsiveness and sustainability are all incorporated in other components. So they're not lost. Because we they all are important. They just you know how they how you elevate them. So

1:39:34for that

1:39:35the proposed for discussion set of of values, ethics, and integrity, which is continuing from before with a

1:39:45please pause.

1:39:46Yes, hyper

1:39:48regarding ethics and integrity. I want to make sure if we can add that councils at council seats are nonpartisan.

1:39:57This council through the years have been ideology, was included. I don't want to ever go that way with ideology and politics, and look at the cities that have problems now up and down the state is because they include politics and ideology.

1:40:16So we just wanted to do the right thing. Gotcha, we are nonpartisan. Why, okay? So we can think about that for the value statement. And or when we talk about a high performing organization and the important role of council, and and the strategy that you will use to lean on that. Maybe that has a place there as well. Okay, so let me just go through these really quickly, cause I want to make sure the people that can't read the tiny font on the screen and know what's there.

1:40:41But now nobody will know ethics and integrity with the proposed statement that says, we exercise good judgment while keeping the public's interest in mind. We know and follow ethical rules and do the right thing even when no one is looking.

1:40:55So that would be, you know, kind of a statement of what that looks like fiscal responsibility, we ensure responsible spending of the city's revenues while delivering services in the most cost, effective and efficient manner.

1:41:08transparency and open communication. We champion public transparency to enhance accountability and build trust. We foster community participation and inclusion and provide access to information regarding matters of public interest.

1:41:23professional excellence. We strive to deliver best practices, encourage innovative and creative approaches to problem solving, commit to timely response and foster a positive work environment that is sensitive to the needs of others.

1:41:37Yes, I would also like to add in continuous improvement. Because there's a lot of ways to frame having professional development, and just that we are constantly striving to do better. But I think that explicitly saying in here continuous improvement, so that relates to that professional excellence.

1:41:55value Leslie.

1:41:57and then, last, one is inclusiveness and respect for diversity. We demonstrate compassion and respect for others. Cultivate a welcoming sense of belonging, and ensure our actions, reflect an equity lens in everything we do.

1:42:10And so so the innovation and creativity that's incorporated into the public professional excellence, responsiveness, same thing. And then sustainability is in the mission statement. Wasn't the mission statement you've modified that but also

1:42:24a whole goal area. And so for those reasons we felt like it was probably addressed as something that will be spotlighted and paid attention to. But this is for you to talk about. Now, what are your what are your additional thoughts? Mayor? I have a P. Thought.

1:42:40for fiscal responsibility. I really want to take the singular focus on spending away, because it's really not about spending. It's about marshaling our resources. So you know, in my, in my mind, fiscal responsibility is not just watching the spending, but ensuring that we're doing things that encourage revenue, for example, supporting small businesses

1:43:04and streamlining, permitting, for example, to encourage people to add value to their home. So there's like, both sides of that ledger, right? The both revenues and expenses.

1:43:15Well, it could almost be responsible stewardship of the one I was gonna use. It's that, but it's the boat

1:43:26for professional excellence. I don't think we strive to to deliver best practices. We implement best practices to deliver services. But we're not delivering best practices.

1:43:40I think that's kind of a weird grammatical structure. I really appreciate the continuous improvement, and then, on the inclusiveness and respect for diversity.

1:43:52I think what I would like to add there, and I know that you mentioned that we have environmental considerations elsewhere, but to have inclusiveness and respect for

1:44:04respect for for people and the environments, instead of just diversity is a kind of a catch all, and then, I think, and rather than kind of to to mirror the professional excellence. I think, reflecting an equity lens is not enough that we need to continually seek to

1:44:26continually improve, because I mean ideas of what that inclusiveness, what what we mean by equity and diversity always change right. And I don't want to say, well, we we did it check. But to say that, are we doing it the best way possible? Are we really being inclusive? Are we leaving anybody out

1:44:45so that there's like a continual growth, mindset personality behind it.

1:44:52So just to kind of.

1:44:54I appreciate everything the mayor said. For the fiscal responsibility we ensure responsibility. We ensure responsibility, but basically stewards instead of spending. And then, instead of revenue sync finances

1:45:06and kind of pickling it to make it sound a little nicer, but basically that we are stewards of the city's finances while delivering services in the most cost, effective and efficient manner. Finances and assets. If you there you have finances and assets

1:45:18and then for the inclusive and respect for diversity, I do.

1:45:24It'd be great if we could use the word open or something around that. Because again, as you said, that our notion of what equity is continuously shifts and changes of being open.

1:45:36Okay. other comments on all of these.

1:45:41Paul. But no, I think they're basically good. I like most of the comments. So I'll be interested to see what word submitting. Okay, OP-ups. Okay, perfect. Perfect. Here something about the transparency and open communication I don't like. Okay, so and it's it's it's it's

1:46:00it's kind of on the same lens, same lane as what Mia was saying about the the vision.

1:46:07There's something very begging about it that I don't like. I think that that's the thing that when we're when we're saying this and all, whether it's the mission where there's division, I think a lot of it is sounding very reactive to things that have happened in the past. And I think that's why all these words are included here like fostering. And we're striving because we're trying to show community that we're different, but I always believe in showing better than you can tell, and we don't have to tell you kind of what the mayor said. So it's something about that transparency that I don't like. I haven't

1:46:38put the words together yet, but I just don't want it to be like we're begging the community to know that we're being transparent with. As Mayor said before, we should be just saying, this is what we are doing to be transparent. But I haven't put the words together yet. Okay, I might have to keep writing on that. That's fine, that's fine. But the your perspective is just a desire to be explicit and not pursuing I think that the intent with the foster, if it helps or not.

1:47:05Is that I don't also don't like the champion that doesn't make sense to me. We champion public transparency, because that's another another thing we should just be doing.

1:47:17But I don't know what the word is, I would replace it with.

1:47:20we practice public transparency that that could work.

1:47:24We practice public transparency. Oh, and it was the enhanced that I didn't like. why are we enhancing? We don't enhance accountability and build. Trust. Those were definitely you're right. The 2 words I did not like. I didn't like champion. I didn't like enhance, and I didn't like Foster yet again.

1:47:41But really that enhance didn't. Yeah. it's a good. It's good in in theory, though. So I'm hearing agreement around the principles of it is just how it's phrased. Is that right? Yeah. Okay.

1:47:53were there other comments you had on any of the others? Not right now. Not okay. Okay.

1:48:00Alright.

1:48:01Gabe. Does this address your questions around? Okay, very good. Good.

1:48:06All right. Any other comments related to the organizational values. And we will put them all together and hopefully reflect the themes we've just heard.

1:48:15Okay.

1:48:17excellent, alright. Well, so that that brings us through mission division values. So now, what we can do we can open public comment and take a quick break.

1:48:37Do we have? Okay? So let's we're gonna do open comment, public comments. So reflections on any of these topics or the goals and priorities. If you have thoughts on this excellent, I was, gonna say, we'll just you raise a hand. If you would like to speak, I would just ask that you please share your name for the record, and then Alex will bring a mic over to you. So is there any members of the public who would like to provide some comments?

1:49:05Static El Cerrito? I looked at that old mission statement. I've seen it a thousand times. I gag. There is no better example of hyperbola within that mission statement. So congratulations. Now you've got something

1:49:20tentative down to 22 words. I'd like to see it down to 15, and the goal would be 10, because your average resident doesn't give a damn.

1:49:32Your average resident is here. Because number one, we're a safe city. We have public safety. That's number one. And I think the Council recognizes that

1:49:41we're a full servicing. We like these full services. We like our bucks, we like our streets, and

1:49:49we also appreciate a city hall that works.

1:49:52And this city Hall does.

1:49:54Because I spent a lot of time here. These people are fantastic that run this city and we are getting quality services. So you don't need a big language and stable that nobody gives a damn about. And you know I have to

1:50:07on the back of business cards and all that stuff you want

1:50:11reality, that we're here because this is a city where actually works. And it's a good city. It's a well run city. And after the last couple of years now, we're very financially aware of where we're spending our money, and we're not gonna go back down that hole again so dumb it down. This is what we like

1:50:30have your like.

1:50:35I'm Jack. I'm frustrated. I just want to ask for clarification where the mission statements are. Gonna be like, who's who's gonna be seeing them.

1:50:46It's a great question so the step one is that it will be in the strategic Plan document. So we will be producing a document that records all of this for the Council, for the public to reference. It'll be available on the city's website and everywhere and then in the past. There are other ways in which it can be highlighted right? It can be incorporated into staff reports. It can be utilized

1:51:12in the budget document. So there! I don't know. Karen, do you wanna add anything else? But yeah, sure for the past. Well, 10 years on every single staff report. We had a consideration as to what action was being taken and what part of the strategic plan it would be referring to. And the same is true for the budget. The past few budgets have been different because of the pandemic and going through the past few years, but in previous

1:51:37budgets we were very careful and and intentional about everything that we put in the budget was a corresponding specifically to a strategic plan goal and to our mission. So it. Not only these aren't just words, these are things that we will absolutely incorporate into our work. Plan.

1:51:54Thank you. Great question.

1:51:57Say.

1:52:02Kathy Caesar, from here in Las Vega I was just.

1:52:06This is common, since over 50% of our population are non whites. The challenge is, how do we incorporate them

1:52:14into our vision and the way we do things, because at most of these meetings they are not present.

1:52:27Mark Watson, elsewhere following up on her comment, could you give a brief description on how the focus groups were conducted, you know not too much detail, but just to give us an idea on how all this great information was

1:52:42gathered and compiled. You bet I'd be happy to and so for the focus groups we tried to with the support of staff. II did. I had to rely on the team, the the team here send out invitations to broad arrays of individuals that represent various groups

1:53:00and so, as you can imagine for a focus group, you don't wanna have 50 people. You wanna have a conversation. And so we tried to identify representatives from the schools, from the Chamber, from you know, right? Public faith communities, from boards and commissions. And so people that were connected in different ways.

1:53:22We're invited to participate in the focus groups. We had a number of options in terms of different times of the day and and place and days of the week to be able to accommodate different schedules and invitations went out to encourage them, and then we facilit. We facilitated those who were able to join us.

1:53:43And so that's that's how we got to the information that we had trying to, you know. Listen carefully that they were reflecting a lot of different perspectives. I hope that answer your question.

1:53:55There was diversity built into this world.

1:53:59So the attempt was to to reach a lot of voices. Now, part of the challenge which is part of the reason why it's fostering public community participation and encouraging it. And I get your point is that it's hard sometimes to to have people to be able to get people to come, attend, and participate. So yes, we had a diversity of

1:54:20of different backgrounds and perspectives. I feel very comfortable with that piece of it. Did we touch all corners of the community through the focus groups? Probably not. But we also utilize the National Community Survey, which was, it's a more formal survey that that goes out to everybody to understand priorities, perspectives. And so that has also incorporated into this work.

1:54:44So we we made every effort to try to reach a lot of people. Is there anything, Karen, that you would want to add to Nancy. We have one more comment from the audience.

1:54:54Thank you.

1:54:56Click a search and

1:55:00city to one for 5 years.

1:55:03I just don't like to comment about Gee.

1:55:08and but

1:55:09be effective with the public as they see the comments and statements a little about the city of El Cerrito's vision.

1:55:18Exemplary. I think about. You know the John queue public person, and

1:55:25just wants to look and see what's going

1:55:28exemplary.

1:55:30Not sure that that's really important, potent, that is understood well by the public.

1:55:37The other comment I'd like to make is that we've talked a lot about three-year-olds.

1:55:45That's fine. like just like to to sort of doesn't have. It's such a

1:55:55institution, cultural institution and education.

1:55:59Each bay, the Solar Center.

1:56:16I'm Ann. I'm Oganovsky. I've lived in El Cerrita for

1:56:2123 years, 24 years!

1:56:24I understand the process a little bit more now, and I'm I'm glad to hear, especially the last section was very interesting. I felt the first section was repeating things a lot of which I did not. I do not experience as a resident of El Cerrito. I do not experience, you know.

1:56:46housing opportunities and

1:56:50some aspects of public safety or public health. So I really appreciated kind of the back and forth about taking your the terms that are used apart

1:57:02do have some questions about resilient versus sustainable, because I really don't hear an overt

1:57:12reference to climate change and the impact it's going to have on the city.

1:57:17I mean, it's sort of there in the background, but it is not explicit. And I think it is an explicit danger.

1:57:26and also I don't know. I didn't understand what was said about politics and ideology.

1:57:36Politics is such a nebulous word. It politics is the body, the body, public body, that's all of us, and I think

1:57:46I can understand not wanting to use labels.

1:57:49But I don't see how that figures in the vision statement.

1:57:55and I guess generally I just

1:57:58I had a lot of reactions to the first part of things that I thought were, Yeah, that's they sound good. But that's not where it is on the street.

1:58:10Thank you for that one. The front section was really setting the table for all of this important part that conversations that are happening now appreciate your comments. Can we get to make a comment? Or

1:58:28I was, gonna I was, gonna make a comment and to the 2 people that were made here, which was very important, going back to the conversation about the vision. Because and this is something that Customer Fideli stated months and months ago, and I'm not taking it and run with it, especially since he's the long, long time community member here in El Cerrito.

1:58:49But yes, we're talking about that. We're safe. And we're talking about people who do not come into the room. How hard it is to get people into that

1:59:03especially. There is a history for certain people when it comes to the city of El Cerrito, and you know. And I get this a lot of times from people walking on the street. Who are? They'll watch our counsel from television or they're watching from Youtube. But they haven't made it into council chambers yet, because they're trying to decide if this new El Cerrito is safe for them to participate in.

1:59:22So I'm I'm happy that you all made that comment because I got I got asked that question also on the campaign trail. Why did we not? We were talking about senior, I believe Buddy probably remembers we were talking about senior services, and someone say, Well, why don't I ever see any of the African American seniors?

1:59:35And I said, it's because a lot of them don't feel that these services by the city are for them. So I that's why I don't want anyone to feel othered by our, especially by our vision, because our vision is for people not to feel other, and if they feel that that word safe means that they will be in somewhere other. They won't come into the room to continue to have these conversations about building the vision of our city.

1:59:56Yeah.

1:59:58yeah. II agree with my colleague, but I also wanted to point out, yeah, we are a diverse city. Yes, especially in the daytime, when kids from all over West County, attend our schools, and and the teachers come here to teach

2:00:15You know. So, looking at our demographics who actually live here, we're only like 4 or 5% African, American. And so it's true, they are not attending a lot of our programs. And I would like for them to.

2:00:31Yeah, we are 30% Asian American, but we are one of the last predominantly Caucasian cities as well. So diversity, yes. But we have a predominantly Caucasian city. And and when people move here they are here for the long term.

2:00:48So, but just wanted to point that out and know that, you know, because of our high cost of living. They're not choosing El Cerino to to live here. They can't afford to live here, but looking at what we need to do the future. We're doing this to create more diversity which is sorely needed. You look at other cities like Richmond, San Pablo, Penol and Hercules. They actually look like the State of California because their housing stock is cheaper.

2:01:25Hi, my name is Max. I'm a city bell, Cerrito resident. I was just wondering, circling back to your point. Council. Member Kinto, do we have any information about like is Elsir to get getting more diverse? Are more people moving in. And

2:01:39is that what's happening? Or is it? Are we gentrifying?

2:01:44so in the environmental scan document which has been posted now? To the city's website. There's a whole lot of data that's included in there which we were kind of touching on in the first part of our day. A lot of that data and information is contained in there. I'd encourage you to go. Take a look at that, too.

2:02:01And I would just add that, according to census data. And again, this is all in the environmental scan. But yes, we are getting diverse in different ways.

2:02:11As the councilmember noted, our Asian population has definitely increased. We're getting we have a very we have for for a really long time had had a very robust senior population, but as homes have been flipping over. And this is actually true, I'm looking at our recreation director families and young people have definitely increased, not just in the census data. But anecdotally they're using our services a lot more. And so there is a shift that is happening.

2:02:41And owing to councilmember Weisinger's comment about affordability for El Cerrito. But that is absolutely

2:02:50huh yeah thing trying to be diplomatic. But definitely, even though our home prices have increased, it is still one of the more affordable places to live in the Bay Area, for now we'll see what happens. But definitely, and that's that's part of what we're looking at as far as shifting some of our focus, particularly within our departments and the services that we offer. So the answer is, yes, and yes.

2:03:14There's a lot of different layers to that that we are trying to. It's it's hard to be everything for everybody. But that is exactly what we do try to look at. I also want to point out that you look at our medium price of our homes here, and and these are the these are the lucky ones that can afford to move here and buy a home. So it's not working class people that can afford to to purchase a home. It's the upper middle class, both. Yeah. But if if a couple is moving in, both have to work

2:03:47you know, and unless you're an attorney or a doctor, and and we're getting those again. but no, yeah. 40 years ago we had this huge white flight of people moving to the new suburbs of Danville and and San Ramon and Walnut Creek and that happened 40 years ago, and the corporations moved out there as well, because our large cities were not working.

2:04:11and we're going through a repeat of that. Now, where you look at San Francisco and Oakland, and you look at the large cities and

2:04:19not able to get things done. And we see the problems that the large cities are going through. So the majority of the people moving here are the people that have had it with Oakland and San Francisco

2:04:31that are purchasing homes and and leaving those areas because of high crimes. Okay?

2:04:36Yes, I just want to make a comment for the public, and also to thank my colleagues.

2:04:43I think most people don't realize that we actually don't ever get to talk about this together because of the way the Brown At Work Act works. So this is our only chance to talk amongst ourselves about what we think about all this work that's done. So this is our kind of our workshop, so that we have a chance to talk and really get our opinions out so that we can share them before we get to the Dyess, and then have to make a decision about it. So

2:05:13thank you for listening us to talk amongst ourselves. But again, this is our only chance. We we do not meet secretly, we do not meet when no one's looking. This is our only chance to talk about this, and it's a really important time for all of us to get all these.

2:05:28Okay. So public comment

2:05:54back.

2:05:57one thing occurred to me, a comment came from the city Council, but I think suggested that there's some difficulty in getting other communities to come in and be more involved.

2:06:12One of the recommendations I would like to make in relation to that issue would be the government giving one of them and

2:06:20the blood

2:06:22the road bubble on. That would be

2:06:25kind of mind. January and sof

2:06:28actively involved in the St. Peter Cv. Church.

2:06:33I'm not seeing as much participation on the part of the city council now in church.

2:06:38I'd like to recommend that that change. Thank you.

2:06:44Alright. That's wonderful. So let's do a short stand up, stretch, get the blood flowing again. And we're gonna come back at the 20 when that clock using that user watch. But the 25 after start again, is that okay? Give me short into 5 min. Absolutely on the floor, on the floor.

2:15:10Task manager of of plans. plans sheet to walk in and say, All right.

2:15:20master's Lashley.

2:15:44Right?

2:15:46Yeah.

2:15:49ms.

2:15:50please.

2:15:52So okay, perfect

2:15:55apple juice was really good

2:16:20that

2:16:25he's not

2:16:33last segment, yeah, we're gonna talk about goals and strategies. And so we've gone through mission purpose of the city, the vision where you want to go, the values kind of shared expectations of how you will behave and work to achieve these things. Now, we're gonna get to the areas of focus and action.

2:16:57So we're gonna talk about strategic goals. And again keeping in mind when we talk about strategic goals. This is not an annual work plan. This is a 5 year plan. So the goals you should have some longevity, not be short-term. And then we're gonna talk about strategies which are the methods, the policy direction for how to move toward that goal. So that's what we're gonna walk through.

2:17:19And last time last portion of time together. So framing the conversation a little bit.

2:17:25Yeah, this. The setting of goals is intended to provide focus you. The city delivers a full array of full service. City is gone and so a lot of different types of things as the baseline, the work that the city does. But there are areas where you may wanna make improvement. You wanna prioritize. You wanna have extra spotlight. That's what we're talking about here. So not the day to day. So much

2:17:51can't do everything. But you can do some things really well with focus. And so again, that's that's the purpose. Here. We like to talk about the idea of these big rocks. You probably have heard this before as a Stephen covey concept. You wanna identify the big rocks first, so that you can focus on those and don't fill up with all the other stuff that just happens and lose sight of the ability to to focus on those big ones. So that's what we're talking about. What are the big rocks here today?

2:18:18We're gonna put those into your your, you know, virtual bucket first.

2:18:23The small stuff fills in behind that

2:18:29alright. So strategic goals

2:18:30provide direction and focus for the organization again. This is gonna drive the budget that comes before you for consideration. This is gonna drive departmental and citywide work plans. So it's really important. And it's gonna feel high level. But it really is instructive to the day-to-day work of the city.

2:18:49These are multi year in nature, and they're achieved through a range of strategies which is oftentimes where we end up having the most discussion and conversation around. You know what are the things to to prioritize.

2:19:02So these are the strategic goals that were adopted as a part of the last strategic plan that technically ran from 2013 to 2018 sort of been extended in, you know, through the pandemic and and all the the last time. So this is a fresh set

2:19:17as was raised identified this morning. We had them organized as goal ABC. Really for a point of reference. So when they were in the council staff reports or referenced in other ways that it could be like, okay, we'd want to rewrite the whole goal, however. Not just today. But we have heard concern about. Well, is that the priority rank then.

2:19:41And so you'll see in the proposed goals for this cycle, we haven't included that we just have included the actual focus areas themselves. So that's a distinction. So here we had 6 goals last time.

2:19:55Which is, you know, it's a lot of different areas. So delivering exemplary government services. And so that was the focus on the organization long term, financial sustainability was an extra focus. So arguably, a part of the government is functioning, but it. It demanded additional attention at the time.

2:20:15deepening a sense of place and community identity, developing a rehabil and rehabilitate public facilities as community focal points, ensuring the public's health and safety and fostering environmental sustainability citywide. So that was the framework last time. So the proposed set. And again, this is informed by all that we have been talking about today thus far.

2:20:38I turned the page, but I didn't give you the luxury of seeing that here

2:20:42We have identified kind of 4 or 5 key focus areas. And they're they're named, and with some intentionality. But want your thoughts on those. And then you'll see, the goal statement is provided for the definition of what that refers to below, that we're going to walk through all of these. But I wanted to go through these first to kind of frame it.

2:21:04and then we'll go through the strategies, and then we can come back and say, Is there something missing? Or does this? Does this kind of fit the the needs of the city from your perspective?

2:21:13So we have a high-performing organization which you will see and will incorporate some of the financial components as well as the organizational elements.

2:21:24So I, the goal statements with these as well.

2:21:29So for a high performing organization, it says, to ensure the city maintains a strong financial position and a high performing organization where employees feel a sense of inclusion, and belonging

2:21:42found it the next one is. Again, we'll go through these all individually. The next one is community safety, maintain public safety, staffing and responsiveness and ensure community and emergency preparedness. And so that was a big theme we heard in the engagement activities.

2:21:59liveability. This is really run quality of life. But so the focus is liveability, promote a high quality of life and sense of community for current and future generations.

2:22:10Again, you can. You can see these are high level barometers here. The next focus is infrastructure and amenities. advanced climate focused sustainable infrastructure efforts that have community benefit.

2:22:23And the last one is environmental sustainability. So there's your environmental components specifically as a goal area, promote environmental sustainability and stewardship by engaging in initiatives that reduce our ecological footprint, conserve natural resources and foster a culture of environmental responsibility. So that's a little bit longer statement. But it's you can see the emphasis emphasis there.

2:22:44So these are the the kind of the initial framing based on the the major themes that emerged through the engagement activities. We'll go through these, but then we'll take a step back and say, You know, ha! Has there anything important from your perspective that we have missed or needs to be fine tuned?

2:23:01so is that is that okay? In terms of process. Okay. alright. So we're gonna start off with

2:23:08the high performing organization. And we're capturing these. And so just for for recording processes. And we're taking notes on the the sheets here as well.

2:23:16Leslie is going to take

2:23:18comments here on the goal statement, and then discussion around the strategies will also be capturing. So

2:23:25it's it's complicated. It's also moving parts. So alright, so and hopefully, you have your packets available so that will help to to take a look at these. So we read the the statement for the high performing organization around the the 2 parts, the financial focus and the organizational effectiveness components.

2:23:44And so then we have.

2:23:46what is it?

2:23:497 strategies that have been identified? And I can either walk through each of those, or we can open the table to conversation, not what would be the preferred method. This. It's a lot of

2:24:00elements of it without reading all the details, because you have it behind you. But so that the public can be sure to understand the focus.

2:24:11So again, these are the how, the how we're going to ensure a high performance organization.

2:24:15Shifting to your budget cycle to focus on planning and performance as a part of the work that's being done.

2:24:22preserving, preserving, and expanding revenue sources that provide sufficient resources. And again, I'm just shortening some of these

2:24:29deliver financing strategies for capital investment. We talked about the the cip needs which we'll also talk about, and that addresses deferred facility and other infrastructure needs

2:24:40empowering employees to deliver outstanding services to the community with a focus on teamwork service and innovation.

2:24:48increasing public and communication and engagement to ensure access to services and promote community events. driving a positive organizational culture that fosters a sense of belonging among city staff.

2:25:02the retention component, really important and then improving technology systems to increase automation and efficiency and strengthen cyber security. So some of that is the public access, you know, to pay bills online and do those sorts of things. So again, high level strategies, but much more granular and see than some of other things.

2:25:19So I will pause there and invite discussion, comments. Reaction.

2:25:25We'd like to go first. Mayor, you look like you're ready. Okay, yes, so I I'd like to have you were

2:25:33strategy. So I would like to add the retention element, the positive organizational culture part, and add that to the empowered employees. Because if you're empowered and you have a sense of belonging.

2:25:49you're gonna stay. So I feel like those 2 could be refined a bit to combine

2:25:56I do like the idea of a 2 year budget cycle, and this is kind of getting in the leads a little bit, but I feel like. We won't be able to do that 2 year budget cycle till we get past 2026, when our redevelopment agency debt goes away and we have a better sense of of what our stable income, and what our revenues are going to be. So that's my caveat on that sitting, for what

2:26:26I can tell you that we're we're we're our. Our our goal is to do is to deliver it to your budget this year. So again, barring some crazy thing in the economy. I can tell you that this is a goal that we have amongst staff. So

2:26:40I hear you, and we'll take that into consideration. But now that we're actually fully staffed for the first time in finance, in how many years?

2:26:47We might be able to pull that off. And and can you just tell us what the difference will be to have a 2 year budget cycle as opposed to a one year by budget cycle, so to be to be clear. The city Council is required to pass a budget every year per municipal code. So it's not like we'll do a budget, and then we won't talk about it for 2 years. What it does is it creates a document that looks at the the upcoming fiscal year and the following fiscal year.

2:27:12and that will. And sometimes to be honest. That's also just sort of an extrapolation of a of a percentage. Or, you know, looking at the long range plan. However, what it does is it does provide a little bit more projection that is more more tangible than just the 5 Year Plan or the 10 Year Plan. It also allows for Staff to look forward. But for the next couple of fiscal years we've been really having, we've been, we've had to be a bit

2:27:37really a lot more focused these past 3 years because of our economic situation. We feel we're ready now to be able to take another lookout.

2:27:46It doesn't mean that if you adopt that budget document that that's set in stone, because the following year we would make left. We would then also at Midyear throughout the year, we would still be able to refine that. But the document itself would focus on being able to have a better projection. Furthermore, one of the things that we've left out of the budget again, because of staffing and and other issues with, you know, just more of our financial

2:28:10immediate budget focus is bringing in our performance metrics. We used to have those in our 2 year budgets. We aligned them specifically to the strategic plan. And again, for

2:28:21for for all those reasons but that I just stated, we have kind of left those out of the budget. We wanna bring that back because we wanna make sure that the that the that you all know and the public knows that our we're not just spending money to spend money. We're not just spending money on staff services, equal people, people, equal services. You've heard me say that a million times, but the outcomes what we deliver that's what we wanna be able to provide. So a 2 year budget document really does a lot

2:28:46allow us to have more information again, owing to more engagement and all of those things. So that's certainly our goal. And

2:28:54the new updated software that we purchased called Cleargov, which is what our budget platform is on now has a lot of that already built in. So it's going to also not be, as it'll be a much easier task to be able to provide that. So

2:29:08so that that's our goal as staff. So when I saw this, I was like, Well, that'll be one of the first things. Hopefully, we get to check off the list. But but as far as projections, you're absolutely right. In 2026 our finances will definitely change, but we pay off our redevelopment bonds and our property tax along the Avenue will shift.

2:29:28And we've talked about that before. So for the edification of the public, we know that that is coming, and that's only 2 fiscal years away.

2:29:35So we really do have a lot to look at and to. It's right. I know I'm excited to but may approach him.

2:29:46I'm excited for the 2 year Budget cycle, but I don't see that needs to be a strategy listed in this. I think that to keep it a little bit smaller we can just remove it entirely.

2:29:54She can. She can still celebrate it. I want it to don't get me wrong, so I don't get to check it out the list already. and it seems a more operation than a policy strategy.

2:30:07So in the interest of streamlining strategies. I'm hearing the suggestion that that may not need to be in the strategic plan. It is supported and then the other. The combination of the the 2 strategies you mentioned previously. Other comments related to this areas of that are missing things. That

2:30:24is the 2 year Budget plan listed in anywhere else in our I mean, we had to change back to a one year. Was there an official change of something? It was just an administrative. I wanted to pass on the technology, does that technology comment.

2:30:42yeah, feels good. Thank you for asking.

2:30:46Okay, so to the next one. Nope.

2:30:52next one is safety.

2:30:54So this is community safety. So maintaining public safety, staffing and responsiveness and ensure community emergency preparedness is a statement here. And so we have 5

2:31:06proposed strategies included among this one.

2:31:09And so I'll run through them kind of quickly. You have them in front of you. As well continue to seek funding for technology investments that promote efficient and effective public policy operations

2:31:20align public safety services with community needs based on data, driven decision making

2:31:26strengthen El Cerrito's overall emergency preparedness, capabilities, resources and tools and implement changes as needed to ensure the city is properly positioned to respond to disasters.

2:31:37That's a long one.

2:31:39Evaluate options for a new public safety center

2:31:42sustain and enhance hills, the hillside, natural area fire, resilience and forest conservation activities.

2:31:51So that's a specific one in terms of preparedness. And such. Okay. your turn.

2:31:59Would you like to go? Yeah, Councillor, and keen to? I like all of the bullet points. Knowing. And I just want residents to. To be mindful of this, we still have the second highest property crime rate of the 19 cities in Contra Costa County. So yeah, public Safety community. Safety should always be a priority for small cities, especially

2:32:23when we have this high crime rate in our town, and we have our city is also one of the cities that orders online more than most cities in West Contra Costa County. So this is how we are able to

2:32:41purchase the things we're not able to find in our downtown that we used to have years ago, because we've actually been redlined from the major department stores. They don't want to come here because of the property crime rate. So this is a way to to go around this and or making sure that you know we continue having public safety as a prior.

2:33:05and with the tech that we've invested in making sure that we continue to do that. And and in order to do that, we need to provide funding to make sure that we get the data that our police department needs our department

2:33:25power. Okay.

2:33:27I have a couple of comments about the I think, the the overarching goal of maintaining public Safety staffing. I'm concerned about the word staffing, because, you know, there's a staffing thing, but mostly what I see coming before council is that we have. You know our equipment is getting very old.

2:33:48and that is part of our responsiveness. So, rather than saying, just staffing there. Just maintain public safety and responsiveness, I think, is the the better approach to that

2:34:00for strategies. You know. I think we we have to seek funding for everything. And so I think that goes to kind of the high performance overarching part of you know, we should be like maximizing grants at every turn. So I don't wanna just limit that to technology investments for community safety

2:34:18And then, you know, when we talk about technology investments, II also would just like to add the caveat that we are looking at, you know, privacy rights as well. So I think those 2 things have to travel together, that we're just not here for technology, because for the sake of technology, but that we are aware that that there's some, you know, issues that come with that, and to be mindful

2:34:46And I really do like the other other goals so.

2:34:50And and I'd like to add, and I don't know if I don't even know if these 2 items should be separate and councilmember Rudnick might know this because she's also working in department of police accountability. You get your data from your technology investments. So we're if we do what the mayor said, as far as just say, investments overall, you are, gonna you're gonna kinda get all of those in those 2, those 2 things. So

2:35:12again, this is another one where I don't know if if the if I have the wording or the language. But I just want to make sure that we're calling that out, because that's how you get the data-driven decision making is when you're making the appropriate investments overall. So so what I'm hearing is the the investment and technology and the funding that that all can kind of be a part of the high-performing organization, and it applies more universally.

2:35:35And then, if you're focusing, then on this, the second strategy that's listed there, that that would be in utilizing those tools that have been identified in a separate goal area. Does that

2:35:47hopefully just over

2:35:50technology? No, no, right, Max, if you change. You could take the word technology out of the first strategy

2:35:57that what I was hearing. Yeah, I heard the maximizing funding. Or maybe it's continuing technology investments. But the seek funding is everywhere. Right?

2:36:08Okay.

2:36:13okay, I think that to everyone's point.

2:36:22also, training is a really important thing that's not necessarily captioned in here, and that we are consistently maintaining ongoing training, innovative training. But things that what sets apart El Cerrito's public safety from a lot of the other agencies in the region is the emphasis on community peacekeeping really being mindful about the

2:36:43about how our professionals are operating out in the fields. And we're really proud of that. And I want that to be reflected in our strategies. But to mayor modi almost point about just technology investments. And like how we can expand that out.

2:36:59yeah, definitely, including resource. But things like transparency, I think, is an important value that we can capture here.

2:37:09Great, great.

2:37:12Okay? Any other comments.

2:37:16I'm looking at the Bio resilience and forest conservation. I want to make sure that we can. You know we are a tree city, U.S.A. You look at our trees in the hillside area. Many of them are on its last legs because they were planted in in the early and and mid, and the 30 s. 40 s. And 50 s. 60 s. So, looking at that, and making sure that we continue to plant trees that will grow

2:37:46and adapt to our changing climate. So you know, I think that the hillside area natural area is ground 0 for that looking for trees that will be less of a fire.

2:38:02Burden.

2:38:03You know, I know folks thought that eucalyptus trees were with the trees to grow, and unfortunately they just smell good. That's all. Yeah. Yeah. So adapting to climate change and planting trees that will withstand the end of the century. Can we add, then, like after between fire and resilience, fire and climate resilience enforce conservation activities.

2:38:27Okay? Okay?

2:38:29Like climate adapted. It's kind of in that same right? Yeah.

2:38:33And then for the language evaluate options for a new public safety center. I think that if you know we've talked so much about this, it's a really hard thing for the general public to understand why it's important that we have a new public safety center. We really do need a new public safety center and so evaluating options. I don't know if that should be the proposed strategy for 5 years. II don't know what the better language would be necessarily off the top of the head. But really, how can we prioritize a new public safety center? One that is kind of centered on community

2:39:07and building trust? And all these things, but the facilities we have are not up to par.

2:39:15Yes, I completely agree on that. And looking at yeah, Federal grants that are available, there's a lot of Federal grants that we should be applying for to great to know that Staff is looking at that, and our Grant writer and city manager, and that is a priority. We've been that that should be our top priority after the library, but I hear what you're saying in terms of maybe there's more clear language.

2:39:44valid options is very soft.

2:39:46right? This is our 5 years. We in 5 years. Ideally, we have funding and a plan.

2:39:52My question is, you know, if we're talking about

2:39:56broad overall strategies of how we're going to specifically maintain public safety staffing and responsiveness. But do we need to literally say out, evaluate options for new Public Safety Center. That's one of our goals. But does that need to be listed as a as a proposed strategy for something that's so broad. These are broad strategies that we're putting out. And that's pretty specific. I mean, it is a big big goal for us for the next few years. I just don't know if it should be here

2:40:22in our in our plan. Well, and that's that's one of those, you know. The nuanced sorts of discussions. You know. Oftentimes, when things are

2:40:33big into pad large, they can find the way their way into the strategic plan, because it requires that kind of laser focus. But arguably you can. You can get incorporated in other ways. And so, you know, this is a good conversation, and we can try to find some way to, you know. Address the we can't benchmark what we don't measure, and if we have these targets that we put on here that we are are committing to this. And

2:40:58I. It's a very, very expensive endeavor. People are complaining about the library being expensive. The Public Safety Center is going to be a whole different conversation. So that's why I do think that if we have that very anchored in these next 5 years

2:41:14that that can help us bring us closer and not forget about it, because that might. Big concern is, you know, people. It's our staff who are walking in that building every day. It's our staff who are dealing with this. The community doesn't necessarily know, but it that alignment needs to happen.

2:41:32Alright

2:41:34good discussion. We'll work with this. So stay tuned. Okay. Any other comments related to community safety. And do you like that title, community safety? Is that? Yes.

2:41:46alright. So then the next area we have

2:41:48is liveability. And this one had. This is gonna have a lot of strategies because it covers a lot of areas. But they all seem to hinge on the same notion of ensuring a high quality of life for your community. And so that's why this has been presented this way for consideration

2:42:05so promoting a high quality of life and sense of community for future current and future generations, and so kind of keeping that future focus in mind, too, because we know from the demographic changes and the things we've talked about already. Things are changing. And we wanna keep that toward the future. So I'll go through strategies that I know you're eager to jump in so leveraging the pro housing designation which the city has received to attract

2:42:29to new and infill development. So continuing that that priority focus on housing. capitalize on the location to support small businesses and economic growth

2:42:39advancing the San Pablo Avenue specific plan to create a livable and vibrant corridor. So you have a plan in place and things are happening. It's really continuing to move that forward

2:42:48updating the general plan to reflect and address community current community values. The last general plan was 1998,

2:42:5799 close, pretty close, same as my daughter. She's she's a little of the general plan. Enhancing civil Senior Service offerings. I remember we talked about all ages that was really important, developing a citywide equity plan.

2:43:11expanding public art and cultural programs. We heard a lot of interest and energy from the focus groups around, leaning into the cultural amenities of the community and improving parks and recreation facilities. So we got a lot of we got a lot of amenities and facilities that weave their way through this whole plan. So yes.

2:43:29one facility we don't have is library. Is there a reason? Library is not included?

2:43:34I mean, we mentioned the Public Safety Bill, and we're in the middle of a library exercise. Right? I think we have it. Where is that listed?

2:43:42No, it's not there. Infrastructure amenities and

2:43:50sure and quality of life is yeah. But a library would bring to it.

2:43:57I think that. we had talked about. We wanted to also have this conversation. And and this is where it's

2:44:06gets tricky because a lot of these things touch different goal areas. Because on the infrastructure and amenities we also talk about. You know how to how to organize and prioritize all of the amenities that you are interested in pursuing, of which the library, the Public Safety Building, you know. There, there are a lot of big lifts, and so working through those pieces. And so

2:44:29I'm putting library down here for now and quality of life. I made a note of that. Yeah, yes, yeah. because it hits a lot of those buttons.

2:44:39Right? Well, when we talked about I thought we had this in here. Maybe it's gotten revised around

2:44:46just the the development, the plaza development. Didn't I have something specifically around that that includes the library. I don't see it. No, I do.

2:44:57It may have been in a shorter vision, but it's the point you're making, is. It's about quality of life as opposed to just our infrastructure. Correct? Right? Yeah.

2:45:07But

2:45:08probably Tessa. So okay.

2:45:11I think that the advanced Sam Pablo specific plan to create a livable, vibrant corridor. I think this is where you need to have the word diverse.

2:45:21So it needs to be, create a liveable, diverse, vibrant corridor. And I say that because, as I hop on at least once per council meeting, that's where our diversity is is exploding is as we're building more of that housing up and down San Pablo Avenue, and I don't know if there's any other better. You know. Example of that. I know Mayor was with us at Mayfair just yesterday like that is that is not your traditional group of Elsa readings.

2:45:45And that's what we're going to continue to get as we're building more. And that. So that means that San Pablo specific plan is very important to building our diverse community. So we're saying in our mission, in our vision, that that's our diverse community. We're celebrating it. It needs to be in there.

2:45:59Then that's also what's going to continue to support our small business and economic growth.

2:46:06Okay, so incorporate, making sure, incorporate in some manner the reflection of that, the shift and the change, the divers, the diverse opportunities for the future, that opportunity. Diverse community. So just yeah, throw that in there somewhere. Since this

2:46:27strategy encompasses, you know the citywide equity plan. Diversity on San Pablo Avenue. I think it'd be great for the top to say liveability and belonging.

2:46:37and just really, and make clear that this is the section that encompasses liveability and belonging in our community. Also, in my my day job, there's a lot of discussion around age, friendly work for. And I. And in that I'm really in in a lot of the training that's going on there, and kind of what is latest and greatest around language.

2:47:02a lot of older adults prefer the term older adults or adult services over senior.

2:47:09And I think and I know that there's going to be that Buddy will have thoughts around this. But I do really want to be mindful that we're talking about

2:47:16older adults, adult services, because the term senior is very triggering for older adults who might not view themselves as seniors who want to be going into a senior center.

2:47:31And yeah, just in age-friendly language, how is it that we're talking about youth? And you know it's everything. Yes, yes, but I really wanna make sure that everyone has that sense of belonging and that they're not being labeled into something that might be fair. That's that's that's fair.

2:47:50One thing regarding senior services, you know I'm I'm looking at

2:47:56years from now, and the doubling of our senior community and all the baby boomers, and Gen. Xer is retiring, and and I do see the need of a pace program for seniors. You know that the county is not ready for the doubling of our senior center. This city has, we do not have the capacity to take care of seniors. This is something that the Federal Government and State Government and the county

2:48:26Should be working on, not cities. So we could compliment and and do what we're doing now. But all that funding is through the counting.

2:48:35And so looking at the future of pace programs, and originally the senior center, the the where, it says senior center at the affordable housing project they were gonna have a pace program there. So I do see that, do you wanna explain? Pace program's program is is to when seniors sign up and and they sign up for

2:48:59so senior services, like memory care like, you know. But it's it's part of

2:49:07yeah. Senior services. Memory care feeding program is particularly a robust set of services, because those seniors that enroll in it their their medical and medicare benefits go directly to the program. So it is a kind of program that, you know aggregates all that kind of support so that you can bring better services. So I think.

2:49:30in the in terms of the enhanced senior services offerings. This is where that other language would be really good to evaluate options for enhancing senior services, so that we understand all the different kinds of programs. Exactly. This is not a city responsibility. This is a county responsibility, a State and Federal. So I know I've I've talked to our Congressman. I've talked to Supervisor Joya. I've talked

2:49:55to our Assembly Member and State Senator, and and they they know what we need to do in the future. And that is pace programs

2:50:04is similar in El Sabrante that that Uche is running so right options for older adult services. I do have a question about the oh, I'm sorry. Were you gonna about the language, about capitalize on location to support Small. What do you mean by location in this. In this context.

2:50:29at proximity, Bart. Stations reside.

2:50:38You know. I'm looking at the department heads when we talked about this, too. This is a lot about proximity, and in our location in the Bay area that we are kind of in the middle of everything. Again, we have 2 Bart stations a lot of transit like.

2:50:50how can we? We're, you know, encouraging support. We're not going to ever have a mall. We're not going to be a tech hub of office buildings. So what can what can we do? You know I'm sorry

2:51:05you mean another mall. We have the shell of an old Mall.

2:51:16I worked in retail for quite a long time. So yeah, but so. So I think what you are saying is to capitalize on our transit rich location to support small businesses and economic growth

2:51:35support. Yeah.

2:51:37I guess I don't want to leave like this location as a vague term there.

2:51:43And then take a look at that one. Yeah. And I think that the one of the other parts of that supporting small businesses and economic growth is to have a better sense of our changing demographic of what they're what they're service, you know, shopping needs are. And they're gonna they're different from what they were 20 years ago, I would say for sure.

2:52:02Well, then, if you jump down updates, general plan right those things to start to come together. So the changing needs of the community.

2:52:10Okay?

2:52:13Great. Anything else. Other comments.

2:52:17But I wanted to go back to comment around liveability and belonging and see if there's agreement

2:52:23in changing the focus area. Naming to that. Does anybody have any concerns about that? Let's say it again. Okay, so we're calling this liveability. Okay? So the suggestion was to call livability and belonging

2:52:38good. With that I'm fine. I don't think it's necessary, but it's it's fine. Okay.

2:52:42alright, just wanted to double check that because that's a header thing. So the others will work through on the semantics. But okay.

2:52:48excellent.

2:52:51The next one. We have

2:52:54infrastructure amenities. We've got a lot of stuff in here. So let's take a quick walkthrough.

2:53:01So first of all, the goal statement to advance climate focus, sustainable infrastructure efforts that have community benefit so really leaning in again on that sustainability component in terms of the work that you're doing, related to your amenities, the infrastructure and amenities

2:53:17so investing in the maintenance, rehabilitation, and development of sustainable climate, adaptive infrastructure, and community assets

2:53:26conduct. A facility needs assessment to evaluate and prioritize investment in city facilities, including an update and to update and implement and implementation of the Ada transition plan. That's a lot of detail in there.

2:53:41Improve sidewalks and connections to enhance safety, accessibility, comfort, and convenience. We heard in the focus groups a lot about your concerns of having to walk into the street and come back around. And some of this is code enforcement. Some of this is other things.

2:53:55Continue to implement the parks and recreation facilities. Master Plan.

2:53:59Continue to implement and seek grant funding to complete the citywide trails and bikeway network complete and implement the storm Drain master Plan. These are specific, but they're big as why they're bound here

2:54:11complete and implement the local road safety plan, slash, comprehensive safety action plan, and the last one complete construction of complete streets and Alony Greenway projects.

2:54:22So a lot of these things reside in your cip plan, the capital investment

2:54:28travel improvement program. So I know that our city manager, our city clerk, our assistant city manager. Our city attorney might be a little annoyed for me bringing this up, but I do feel like I need to bring it up, because this is a 5 year strategic plan. Our writing assessment district and considering. And I'm so sorry to bring it up, because I know I know what it is for for the folks who are in the room and curious about it. So we have this.

2:54:53okay, basically, the the money that we can collect for our lights, for the city, for the community. Or there's this lighting assessment district has to be done to for an assessment of the special election.

2:55:04and it is a really arduous and a municipal process. So all the onus is all on us, and it's property owners, not voters who do this vote. But we do need to think about in the next 5 years. Is this something that

2:55:17that the Council strategically wants to look at? If we would like to collect more money for better lighting in the city of El Cerrito.

2:55:28Sorry to bring it up. I'm really sorry, cause I know everyone feels someone's got to bring it up.

2:55:35II would just also, as it's landscaping and lighting as well. So it actually does have a full host of things. And the reason you saw me cringe just for the public certification is, as Mayor pretend, noted. It's a different type of election. It is a very

2:55:50It is a very arduous process. That's a very good word for it. We did attempt to do this in 2,006. So it it. So we we've sort of been through this. So I like I cringe only because I have some Ptsd, because it did not. It was not successful. But but again. If that is certainly a priority of this council. Obviously that would be something we would we would look into. So so forgive my facial expression.

2:56:17I'll add that if you're going to put this on the the list for the strategic plan to think about it for 5 years, I recommend just so that, as everybody thinks about it over 5 years, that it's not narrowly focused on the lad itself, but on funding for the needs that are paid for by the lab, because ultimately the conclusion might be that

2:56:42trying to get property owners in the city to vote in favor of a higher assessment is less successful than another financing strategy to deliver additional funding for those needs.

2:56:55Thank you for that.

2:56:57Someone's got to bring up these things I also wanted to mention regarding. Yeah, another thing we need to deal with, and that is

2:57:11looking at the Ada transition plan and and what we were able to accomplish with with councilmember and Mayor Abel sends leadership there, and we have a lot of

2:57:25sidewalks and and connections that still need to be worked on, especially up in the hills a lot of broken sidewalks, and and I don't know if the burden is on the city or the homeowners, because of trees that the wrong trees planted. Is that a city responsibility or the homeowners?

2:57:47So our ordinance states that the sidewalks that are that are adjacent to the homeowners? It is indeed the homeowner's responsibility.

2:57:57But for if there is a city, what we have done in the past is, if there's a city tree that is actually causing the harm that we will come out and try to take care of at least that problem. But the responsibility for maintaining sidewalks adjacent to a property is of the property own. So it's a little bit of bull.

2:58:16Yeah, it has to be a city tree, not a

2:58:18not a plant, not a private tree, not a privately painted tree, but a city tree. Yeah. And then, looking at the future of our developments and and what Bacnad was able to do with electrification and electrification is gonna is happening whether we like it or not. It's happening now. And we need to change a lot of the the developments have that have already been signed.

2:58:42and and, you know, adapt to the changes that batbed and the State of California wants us to do with electrification.

2:58:51Guess whether we like it or not is the cause of all the fires that we see after earthquakes. So yeah, but we definitely would like to look closely at that. And our main. Yeah, our future developments at the plaza and the affordable housing project. That extra Mayfair. I truly believe we need to look at electrification and solar

2:59:15in in the future of that II would. It's not included on on what the current thing is. But let's look at that.

2:59:24What II think that that should be infused in that first strategy which speaks to kind of the climate adapted infrastructure.

2:59:32So it is. It is broad. I get that.

2:59:37Yeah, just a question. It's a bit not picky, but the the 2 using the word continue for the 2 middle ones.

2:59:46do we? Is there a reason for that? A strategy for that? Instead just implementing the parks and Rec.

2:59:51or, you know, funding the complete trails and bikeways. II think the desire was simply to underscore that these that there's work that's been done ongoing right? Right? And so again, I think it's a little bit of a semantics question. And so

3:00:07I have a question about that. The list of the continue to implement complete and implement complete constraint. I mean, those feel like tasks

3:00:16and not strategic goals. I know that those are huge and important plans.

3:00:22but it feels like that's the the the day-to-day work that has to be done. So I was wondering if there was a broader strategic goal.

3:00:35That we could have to replace all of that. I mean

3:00:41to say that we have, you know.

3:00:46proposed values to to implement and complete our existing plans. Major infrastructure plans, major infrastructure plans, cause, I think you know those are. You know. They don't seem like goals to me. I mean they. They're just tasks. So continue.

3:01:08I mean, it's important that they are all different, and I appreciate the value that each one brings. But I feel like

3:01:16implementing and doing the plan

3:01:30focusing on this, I mean, but I like the mayor's

3:01:35idea that we're doing. But is it important to call them out? So the public sees that this is one of our goals we could do is is sort of a meet in the middle, which is something along the lines of, you know, implementing

3:01:49strategies or activities associated with major major infrastructure plans sometime still have. If you want to highlight cause. This is a communication tool as much as it is just to plan right? You can say, including, for example. And then you can have you can list to have those available done that in other plans, too. And

3:02:12that way you have. Then the emphasis is, you know, at the policy level network, because it doesn't have a formal plan, you know, to say, make a plan. Right?

3:02:34Okay, got it.

3:02:36and the 2

3:02:37councilmember Quinto's point about kind of in that first bullet point, the the infrastructure having, I think, calling out ev infrastructure is important to do. 25% of the new cars that are sold in Contra Costa County are electric, so we had to at least put on there. That is one of our goals. For this infrastructure is.

3:02:59yeah, yeah, yeah, I agree. Environmental.

3:03:03excellent, perfect. And knowing that, you know El Cerrita Kensington, we have more ev drivers than than Richmond, but because Richmond is a challenge. City and part of the environment stand, they have more ev infrastructure than any other city. Berkeley el Cerrito combined. They still have more of that, and no one's using it. So just apply

3:03:25all right. Anything else on infrastructure and amenities. All right, we'll we'll make some adjustments, and hopefully we can kind of meet in the middle, and some of these highlighting pieces. So alright then the last of the 5

3:03:38goal strategical areas is environmental sustainability. So because it's long, I won't reread the whole goal statement again. You have that in front of you

3:03:48but I think it captures a lot of it. Yes, I would suggest replacing the word ecological and ecological footprint to carbon footprint.

3:03:59use our carbon footprint. Okay? Great suggestion. Did you get that one? Okay?

3:04:06Great. Alright. So in this one we have 4 key strategies. The one is similar to the last, but it. It is a big one which is to update and implement the climate action and adaptation plan. There's a lot that is embedded within that

3:04:22then we have continued to promote the recycling center as a community asset. Speaking of Evs, we have developed a plan to support the infrastructure, need to shift to clean energy vehicles.

3:04:34and the last one is to promote strategies that address the climate emergency. And so that is kind of a bellwether sort of a strategy, if you will.

3:04:43comments.

3:04:48I think the you know it's part of the climate, action, and adaptation plan.

3:04:53But what I always think is is, you know, because we we as council get actions that we're, you know, supposed to put forward on a piecemeal basis, and to make sure that climate action and addressing the climate emergency are infused in all the work. So you know.

3:05:14I think we're we're getting a little bit better. But to to really make sure that

3:05:21it is embedded in every decision, because I don't want to be at the dace and say, Hey, isn't there? A different option for a vehicle or something like that. I mean, you know, I feel like I sound like a broken record, so it would be great if it could come to us with those options discussed in everything that we do.

3:05:45and that I think that would be stronger for us as decision makers. I completely agree with what the mayor said. I'm I'm vice chair of marine clean energy, and and if Chanel Scales becomes the next supervisor, I'll be chair of marine clean energy and on the

3:06:02longest serving elected

3:06:05in the Environmental Policy Committee, a board member of Civic Wells. So this is how small cities are able to get things done

3:06:13is through collaborating with our partners. And and that's what we do with Malen clean energy. And that's what we do. Because we cities don't have the bandwidth to do this on our own. You saw how expensive it was to put that new Ev charger and we just put the old one in not too long ago, and it's obsolete, and they wanted us to buy a new one.

3:06:36and we need to pay for all of this upfront. When other cities that are challenged that have a lot of pollution like Richmond, they get all this stuff for free. We have to pay for all this, and we don't have the money for so are you suggesting to add a strategy that speaks to collaborating regionally? Yeah, collaborating regionally through the the regional boards that we belong to like marine clean energy. That's how it'd be great to add funding is that regional collaboration and

3:07:06thinking grant funding. And that's how I was able to deliver to Napa, Contra Costa Wren and Salono County is by going to DC. And reaching out to the Department of Energy department. It has more money game. Yeah, federal funding. Yeah, that's how we collaborate is doing it that way specifically as yeah. Cause we can't do this on our own expensive.

3:07:32somewhat

3:07:33I feel like, continue to promote the recycling center as a community asset could be phrased a little differently. Such hostility to continue to continue. But you need to promote promoting

3:07:47maintain the recycling center as a treasured community asset because it really is. And I also just. I know there's a lot of regional stuff around

3:07:58waste management, integrated waste management. I don't think it needs to necessarily be captured here, but I do think that the community, knowing that it'll like, continue to promote. But the recycling center is a really treasured and important asset that we are protecting well, and the idea that you want to maintain that and sustain the success of that it has achieved, because the reality is is that most

3:08:21of others I've been privatized, and the fact that we maintain this as a city is incredibly unique. Can we add the word leverage instead of continue leverage and promote leverage, the recycling center as a community ass, as a continued community asset.

3:08:36Well, I would actually, I thought, councilmember, say, maintain, and only because if we're saying I mean, we already know that the recycling center is a treasure community asset. But if we're saying, maintain that means we are going to put in whatever if it's funding, whatever it is that we need to do to can for it to continue to be without saying, continue.

3:08:54then, I think the maintenance part is this actual strategy that we will be prepping around the recycling center, remote. I like to maintain and leverage.

3:09:12And we're adding in the treasure, the treasured part. And it's a little precious. But yeah, I know. But we don't need to add it. And it's more. Just I, yeah.

3:09:24I'm gonna sit.

3:09:25So what's left?

3:09:27It's okay. We don't need to. And and looking at Doug shift to clean energy vehicles, can we include

3:09:36hydrogen as we are getting a hydrogen station on Central and Carlson. Eventually, it's in the queue. Yeah, clean energy was meant to try to encompass all Ev companies and ev instruction companies bouncing on hydrogen people companies. And

3:09:59but you know that the State of California support public drinking.

3:10:04You want me brought up that whatever comes down the pike in 5 years that we can respond to it. It's gonna be.

3:10:11This is gonna be obsolete soon. Alright, and keep in mind, too, that with your strategic plan has a 5 year horizon. But it's not like you're not looking at it all the time. Right? And so you gonna have annual work plans that derive from this plan. Oftentimes midway through you kind of do fret. Has anything changed? Right? And so you can have an opportunity to do fresh eyes on it without upending the whole plan. So.

3:10:34yeah, alright. Anything else on environmental sustainability? Yes. just a question getting back to the mayor's comment about thinking about climate action and city. Does

3:10:45we use the and this may be trite, but we use the term lens for equity in our city that everything we do should have an equity lens.

3:10:53That's what I'm referring to, and should similar be climate action lens, everything the city does, we should be viewing it as

3:11:01ask that question. I don't know I it. Some people criticize the equity lens comment because it's just about thinking and not doing. But you know, we do all need to shape the way we think.

3:11:14what's

3:11:16I agree? I agree. But I would like a different word, not lens. Yeah. The notion, the concept of it is is fun. Yeah.

3:11:33So Yup, to be here. Anything else on this specific area?

3:11:39Okay? Alright. Well, then, I wanna now zoom back out and ask the question. You know, with all of this in mind. Is there anything missing? Do you feel like it is reflective of those major

3:11:53priorities, interests of the community, those priorities that you all share. How are you feeling generally about the recognizing where to make some tweaks?

3:12:03I just wanted to let residents know that. You know we're we are staying on top of us, but the only thing is money, and and and things are just rolling in. We're in talks right now and but but we have until 2050

3:12:21to to get to this carbon neutral future, and and we get people showing up at our council. And they want this stuff yesterday. When it's not really out there yet. We just got. I just provided earmarks

3:12:34for our region for for more ev infrastructure. And having low income homes 500 or 300 or 500 low income homes in our area to have heat pumps.

3:12:48So so this is a very slow process. It took a hundred years to get to where we're at now. That's it's gonna take a long time to get to. That's called the neutral future. So residents need to be patient and and know that this is gonna cost a lot of money. But our Federal government know that. That's they're gonna provide more more grants available. And

3:13:11but we just have to work with our partners regionally. And that's how we'll get it done

3:13:24comments. Well, I just maybe can do. We have an opportunity to have some public comment while we think about this.

3:13:35Nope Gotcha.

3:13:38Oh, okay, hi, Max, again, about the discussion between now, like, should we talk about specific policies and plans, or, you know, broader overall goals for the built infrastructure? You could potentially say building, you know, a safe multimodal environment. For, you know, like a broader overview for a lot of those specific plans.

3:13:59And I was also thinking maybe that should also be considered under. You know the community safety, because making sure that people are safe, you know, getting around. And, you know, making sure they're safe from. You know. Traffic violence is as important as you know our police and fire, and, as we can see, you know nationally, you know many people, I think what traffic violence is, you know, kills more people than homicides. So it should be considered, you know, the same priority, as you know, building a new police fire station.

3:14:27and I would strongly, you know, support that language also be included in a community safety lens.

3:14:38When the Al. Miller lived in El Cerios in 79, when your slide on livability came up and you got into that discussion on what they wanted to accomplish as far as a little bit of livability.

3:14:54One of the

3:14:56features or facilities announcer Rita leapt into my mind. and it's

3:15:0575 year old facility, and at 75 years old, because it was the first of its facilities

3:15:12type of facilities that was built in Contra Costa County at the end of World War 2.

3:15:20It's a facility that has anywhere from 250 to 400 people a day come through it.

3:15:27It's a facility that if you check the county libraries.

3:15:33Circulation from June 22 to June 23.

3:15:38It ranks ninth of the 26 branches of the library in El Cerrito.

3:15:44If you compare it to the 8 branches in West County. The Richmond Library is not part of the county library. It's Number one.

3:15:55and it circulates. I can't remember the right number, but it competes very well.

3:16:06and in spite of the fact that it has windows, it doesn't close. People love it and never

3:16:14are. Surprisingly how many people don't want to see it disappear.

3:16:18But

3:16:19it's in my opinion, one of the fusif facilities in El Cerrito that offers services to anybody that walks through the door.

3:16:29and even though it has windows that don't close, and it floods when the rains come in, and

3:16:37it can't provide enough electrical outlets for the people that want to come in and plug in it still has that kind of patronage.

3:16:49and I know you're all.

3:16:52All the council members are aware of it, and I know Karen is aware of it, and they're working very hard to get us a new library. but

3:17:03want, you know, people to understand that. What a new facility of the library, like the one that's being considered at the Plaza station, transcendent development!

3:17:16Imagine what that one which is 3 times larger than the one we've got. Now.

3:17:22how many more people, and even from a broader region.

3:17:27we will be able to make their lives more livable. Thank you.

3:17:41John. Static El Cerino, Dolly, after 20 years of library, and I hope that gets done. I'm gonna do everything I can to see it get done. But the most critical piece of infrastructure in the city is right across the street. That is the mess.

3:18:06and that needs to be replaced. So we have lofty goals and lists of this and that. I think the city council and staff, but mainly it's on the Council start thinking about right now. Start thinking about

3:18:21how we're gonna get

3:18:23a new building over there before and done. And you know, somewhat near future. That is the most critical place we got going. This could be an emergency operation center. But you gotta have that for your equipment and your personnel. If

3:18:39things go bad and I can't emphasize that enough? That's got to be done. And then on one other slide up there caught my attention. We're going to support small business.

3:18:52small business.

3:18:53What's with small business. Everybody loves small business. Now, I like business. We should be supporting all business.

3:19:01Big business is more than welcome. We'll take their money, business things, big taxes. big tip business

3:19:10hires small business. So I small business because everybody likes to be touchy, feeling all. It's a nice little small small coffee shop selling a cup of coffee at what the hell already pay in Texas. If we could get big business in here. Big stores, hey? Great! I look at them depot. As an example, we only get 30% of their tax revenue at the other 70 is in Richmond. But

3:19:36that, that helps us city tremendously. So I think

3:19:40we want to prioritize helping all business end of ramp.

3:19:49Anyone else.

3:19:52Okay.

3:19:54okay.

3:19:57I was just wondering what the problems are with that building over there.

3:20:01Is this a

3:20:06yeah.

3:20:07Okay, I'll talk to you guys afterwards.

3:20:11So I did it. Well.

3:20:19Anna Konowski el Cerrito, II

3:20:23the phrase about pro housing designation

3:20:27struck me because everything I see that's being built, with the exception of the Condominiums on Eureka and San Pablo, seem to be for rent.

3:20:39II am a renter.

3:20:41and never been able to. Anyway.

3:20:45I'm a renter, so

3:20:48I'm seeing a very big difference between neighborhoods that are predominantly homeowners and neighborhoods that are predominantly rental.

3:20:57and the more rental we have, it seems to me the more infrastructure. In a way we're going to need. You need places as a hub where people to gather you need more open spaces. You need more green spaces, plus. You have the concentration of of just, you know water delivery, and everything else. But for a sense of livability and belonging.

3:21:21it is much harder, I think, to achieve. Well, I don't know, because I'm a renter, and I live on on an area that is probably more more renters than homeowners on our street.

3:21:35It is much harder. It is very hard to engage people for something like national night out almost all the people that came on their homes very few winters came.

3:21:47I just that sense of belonging.

3:21:51Isn't achieved through rental housing.

3:21:56and it just just an observation.

3:22:00See if they have anybody outside here first

3:22:02any other public comments. Then why, no, we have eager hands here at the table.

3:22:09Okay? And Caroline. And then, Paul, is that okay? I first wanted to thank Max for raising up the the mobility issue and how it is a safety issue. Especially. I know Melanie and the team are working on. You know our bike in transit Lane, but also making sure where they are. I know that there was a a bike rider who was actually hit in San Francisco on the Valencia corridor, where they were kind of trying out new lanes. So I know that that's gonna be an important safety issue

3:22:34and also thinking about. And we should all be thinking about. You know, we're talking about a 5 year plan where we're already seeing driverless cars again in San Francisco. If we're thinking far enough out for 5 years. We may start seeing them over here in the East Bay by that time. So we need to start thinking about them as a mobility issue, because you had. What a pedestrian who was hit with one and drug 7 feet the other day by an AI

3:22:59or a driverless vehicle! So we do need to start making sure we have that listed under our public safety because we're gonna see that more of a safety issue. And I did want to say to the the conversation about building belonging above amongst renters. It is a very hard thing. Ii think.

3:23:18What think, Karen said, that I am the first renter on the counselor, at least in the last 20 years. I think that is something that we are going to need to start working very hard on. It's it's something that's achievable. But it it goes back to that thing about being othered. And I want to make sure that we are building civic spaces community spaces where we allow our renters who want to be here long term hopefully.

3:23:41Yeah, I just wanna kinda as my final comment say, I feel very good about all the issues we talked about. I think they're all here. I look forward to you guys wordsmithing these to get them to the next step so we can fine tune any edits we may have, because II think the ideas that the 2 that I wanted to just ask again, do we have enough on, was what Max mentioned, and what you just mentioned. Councilmember is

3:24:07a multi mo, you know, getting making sure that we have

3:24:12walking and bike paths and getting people out of cars. We are a transit town. We do have, Bart, but flowing from that needs to be accessibility to walking, biking. You know, I'm not sure that's in there, but that's a key component to our our transit committees and various other things. The other and I just wanted to get the mayor's view. Do we have enough about housing? Do we say? Enough about housing in this mayor?

3:24:38I think he was implied by some of the pro housing language, but I think this goes back to kind of what? What Al mentioned. You know he's talking about the library. It was sort of implied. And so some

3:24:52some infrastructure like the Public Safety Building is called out. Some infrastructure like the library isn't so I'm not sure what the measure is, or what what the thresholds were to include some projects and some not. You know the L. Streeto Plaza Transore development will be very, very inclusive in terms of range of income serve and types of housing.

3:25:17But we're not calling that one out either. So it's kind of hard for me to understand what that metric was, for inclusion or not is affordable housing one of our goals, so do we. Should we say that

3:25:31I'm just saying it's not showing up in our strategic plan as as an explicit

3:25:43goal. So, you know again, is that liveability? Is that infrastructure? You know, I think just those 2 things are what I thought were missing from just the composite. Every first bullet point for liveability and belonging leverage, pro housing, designation to attract new and infield development or

3:26:03new and infill development. I think type of housing or type of tenure and type, you know, who is served by that is important.

3:26:16And I really support the multimodal yeah aspect, it can be under infrastructure or safety. I think that's really important.

3:26:25Yeah. So I appreciate the public filling us in because you could see it generated more thoughts. To councilmember Weissner's point about driverless cars.

3:26:35what's interesting is San Francisco actually just recently put the but I think that something around

3:26:46that we are being responsive to emerging technologies

3:26:50so that we're not just calling out drive because it could be really anything? Common. Yeah, in San Francisco within their department, because it's just a huge city within their department of public works is the department of emerging technologies to be able to be responsive to all this else. Cerrito, we are at, you know.

3:27:090 point 1% size. But I think that just being size of the Castro exactly what you can speak exactly the size of one small neighborhood.

3:27:19but that we are just I'm trying to think of

3:27:23like within that that we are just being

3:27:26that we are are considering emerging technologies as they arise. Yeah. yeah. So I agree with the shortage of all types of housing that we need to build, including infill housing and luxury housing. And I can't tell you all the people that I grew up with here. They would love to stay in El Cerrito, but we have a lack of luxury housing, and so they're they're out in Ramarendo. They're out there in Danville, but they would love to live here if it was available. So

3:27:56can we need to be open with empty lots that we have left here. And there's a lot of them.

3:28:04To yeah, let them build. And I'm I'm just tired of the outside sources telling private owners what to do with their own property. That's none of their business that they want to build a luxury home and the property that they have owned for years. They have every right to thank you

3:28:23alright and thank you everybody for for all the input really good. Any other comments specific to the goals and strategies before I can pull us together. Okay, so next steps, what happens from here? This has been really tremendous great input, I'm really

3:28:40happy with with the the direction of all of this is pulled together. So all of the input from today, which, of course, builds on the input from days past will be put into a draft strategic plan document that will come back to council in a public meeting for you to do final review final comments, any final edits that might be needed to incorporate, and then will be adopted

3:29:06by by council. Once that has been finalized and, you know, formalized. It then will come to staff. We will assist with framing out what we call an implementation action plan

3:29:19that becomes a jumping off point for starting to put some timelines and activities where resources are needed and the the horizon. You know, some of these things may be immediate, gonna happen right away. And others may take longer. As we've talked about today. So that implementation action plan is kind of the tandem follow up to the adopted strategic plan.

3:29:41And then, of course, updates. And and as you're making your budget decisions annually or Biannually.

3:29:46as the case may be, then this will be, it's instructive to that. So those are the next immediate steps in the process, we should have the draft strategic plan for your review by. I think we said the December's December meeting is that.

3:29:59anyway? So soon we'll get that back to you. And then we'll be able to go from there. So as we conclude today and we've done it, you guys well done. Any final comments. Yes, so quick. One of the things I appreciate about these new proposed strategic goals. Aside from the fact that one of the things that bothered me about the previous ones is that they were labeled

3:30:23A, BCDE, which you know, people say, oh, this is associated to us gold d, we're like, What's gold? D. I'd rather just be that. And then also to you know, one of the first comments we had at the top of the meeting, which is, we have to higher prioritize public safety. What I really like about these strategic goals is that they're truly interchangeable, that it's not that one is above the other. These are our top. 5 goals.

3:30:47Yes, it could be in a circle. It is, you know, these are not one. This is not a priority of top to bottom. It is. All of these are our priorities.

3:31:01If you want, like a

3:31:08respectfully ask you.

3:31:12just good job. I feel good. We talked it out, and just as we said, as I said at the beginning of the meeting, we need more bike racks.

3:31:25I don't have anything to add is some something similar to what Mayor said. We don't get to talk about these things because we are not allowed to be in the same room. So that was good

3:31:37again. Just I really appreciate all the public comments. The participation is really helpful. I appreciate the comments of my colleagues, and I really like the the winnowing down of our mission vision and goals. Because, yeah, like.

3:31:58Mayor Protem said, like, Goldie, it's like, Yeah, d, yeah. Which one was that, you know. So to really be able to hold these in our minds. And you know, I think that will help further implementation and understanding in the community of what it is that we're trying to do. So. Thank you

3:32:16everything, my colleague said, and thank you to Leslie for being a complete rock spot.

3:32:26II just wanted to say, Yeah, this might not the end of my ninth year on the council and know that this is my very first. Yeah, workshop that I feel good about. And so because we are, we work really hard the last 3 years. Turn this around. And we truly did. Justmarsic, this is the best council that I work with

3:32:52in my 9 years. So again, thank you all for effort.

3:32:57I'm just getting up at 90'clock really hadn't.

3:33:10Certainly I would. I would also like to extend my thanks to the community members who are here, and the staff who are here, and everybody who contributed before and even today, and of course, to the City Council. I'm delighted with today. I think that this was a wonderful opportunity for some consensus building and direction building and for us to listen to your comments. And

3:33:35and yeah, I'm I'm actually the fact that it's not 10'clock, and we're well before 10'clock, I think, speaks to the efficiency of all of you. So I just want to thank you for that.

3:33:46It was. These past few years have been difficult. As you know, we've had to all sort of govern through crisis. And we're past the crisis now. And so it's wonderful to focus on stability and the future and what we can do as opposed to what we can't. This is a team game. We've all worked really hard to get here. But the City Council. Your leadership has just been extraordinary, and I'm really feeling good about today.

3:34:10And I, you know, I hope the staff agrees with me. Because I feel like we now have some very clear. concise direction that is going to sustain us for the next few years. So just thank you so much.

3:34:23So thank you, Nancy. Thank you, Staff.

3:34:26This is a really well facilitated meeting. So yes, and thank you, Nancy, for being the rock stars.

3:34:33Thank you

3:34:48like an announce adjournment. Okay. so

3:34:53the time is now 1238, and we are adjourned. Thank you very much. I mean.