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02-26-2016 MinutesMINUTES REGULAR MEETING February 26, 2016 A Regular Meeting was held by the Committee of Committees Advisory Board of the City of Schertz, Texas, on February 26, 2016, at 3:00 p.m., in the Hal Baldwin Municipal Complex Administration Building, 1400 Schertz Parkway, Building #2, Schertz, Texas. The following members present to- wit: Chair Richard Dziewit Board Member Frank McElroy Board Member Fae Simmons Board Member Tim Brown Vice -Chair Barbara Hall Board Member Michael Dahle Board Member Howson Lau Staff Present: City Manager John Kessel Executive Director Brian James Executive Director Dudley Wait Executive Director Bob Cantu City Secretary Brenda Dennis Assistant to the City Manager Sarah Gonzalez Call to Order — (Michael Dahle) Acting Chair Michael Dahle called the meeting to order at 3:00 p.m. Election of Chair and Vice Chair • Consideration and /or action electing a Chair and Vice - Chair. Acting Chair Dahle opened the item up for nominations and recognized Board Member Barbara Hall who made a motion, seconded by Board Member Fae Simmons to nominate Richard Dziewit as Chair. The vote was unanimous. Motion Passed. Acting Chair Dahle recognized Board Member Tim Brown who made a motion, seconded by Board Member Dziewit to nominate Barbara Hall as Vice Chair. The vote was unanimous. Motion Passed. Chair Dziewit took over the meeting and moved to the presentation and discussion section of the agenda. Presentations • Discussion regarding the Purpose and Charge of the Committee of Committees Advisory Board. Chair Dziewit recognized City Manager John Kessel who provided the following information: First, the Committee of Committees Advisory Board (CCAB) was created in December 2015, formed from the Mayor's Task Force and Bond Committee. The Council appointed this board from the various council- appointed boards, committees and commission members. The number of members changed to seven from nine. Only the City members remained — the 02 -26 -2016 Minutes Page - 1 - SCUCISD and Chamber members have been dropped by Council since they are not city board, commission or committee members. Second, the Council established the goal of the CCAB as follows: "The primary responsibility of this Committee shall be to advise the City Council on future planning and long term prioritization of city initiatives and when directed by City Council or City Staff, assist with projects to include analysis of present and future needs and prioritization, and report their findings back to City Council and /or City Staff. Additionally, the Committee of Committees will be responsible for increased communication and coordination between boards." The City Council's charge to the CCAB has three distinct elements: one is a future, long range element; another is review and recommendations of near term projects /issues; and the third is to increase alignment between boards, commissions, and committees. Thus, last year's work has been recognized as both valid and beneficial to the city going forward. Third, we do have a lot of good information to start this year's work with, including a draft City Council Strategic Plan, an upcoming set of projects that are being prioritized, and the FY -16/17 budget preparation. As we learned last year, it is good to start with the big picture and make sure we are all aligned before we set out on more detailed prioritizations. Mr. Kessel stated that in his email he mentioned this meeting which was to discuss the draft strategic plan and then set up two to three meetings in March and April to discuss projects and budget. His hope is that we would then schedule a joint meeting with the City Council to share back the work the CCAB has done. Mr. Kessel stated that he envisions this group setting a lot of the key strategic decisions for the future. The coordination of this information back to the boards and committees each member sits on is a huge deal and is about sharing back to those fellow members on your boards and also to Council, of your decisions, thus gaining support from your peers from your home board or commission. Increased coordination and communication, he believes, will happen very naturally with this process. We now can look at what each board and commission is doing to be able to share back with those of what we are doing here with the Committee of Committees. Chair Dziewit suggested that possibly a member of each of the boards, committees and commissions could provide them with an update on what they are doing and how it could affect this group when they start looking at the various projects. Members present agreed to make this the first part of the agenda to provide an update to the group from their various boards, commissions and committees. Mr. Kessel stated that he envisions once we get ideas about what we want to do. He believes there is a gap in how we do business when we prioritize. If you look back a number of years ago with the budget, what we are doing differently is trying to get more citizen involvement and he wants this group to note that in March we will be conducting our Community Pre - Budget sessions and is hoping that members of this group would be able to attend one of these meetings so that a member of this group has a voice in the discussions. The meetings are March 3rd, 6:30 p.m., Schertz United Methodist Church, March 91h — 6:30 p.m. Sipple Elementary and the last one is March 10th -- 6:30 p.m., Corbett Junior High School. 02 -26 -2016 Minutes Page - 2 - Mr. Kessel stated that they will be holding a strategic planning session again next year, in about 11 months and he would like to have this group spend this summer to early fall going through the ideas of what that strategic planning session with staff and council should focus on based on what they have learned and thinking of things we need to tackle as well as things we didn't think about — kind of set the table. He would like for this group to form that agenda. • Discussion and possible action regarding the draft 2016 City of Schertz Strategic Plan. Mr. Kessel provided a draft copy of the City of Schertz Strategic Plan that was updated by the Management Staff and revised by the Council during their recent retreats. Topics included: • Executive Summary - Why, How, What • Vison — Community. Service. Opportunity • Mission — Leading, improving, and serving a livable, sustainable and financially sound community. • Policy Values — Values driven by capabilities, competencies and priorities - Safe Community - High Quality of Life - Economic Prosperity Essential Services - Attractive Community - Fiscally Sustainable Operational Values — Behavioral driven - Systems Management - Innovative - Service Oriented - Engaged Workforce - Proactive Core Values — Foundational values - Do the right thing - Do the best you can - Treat others the way you want to be treated - Work cooperatively as a team SWOT — Strengths — Weaknesses — Opportunities — Threats: This is a tool that helps the City to honestly look at all areas where we not only excel, but also those areas where we can do better. By looking at both internal and external factors, it requires us to look for ways we can take advantage of opportunities or mitigate potential problems. Next steps To be a living document, it must be kept current by evolving to address present conditions which change for both internal and external reasons. The Strategic Plan is intended to be updated each January by City Council and Staff at the annual strategic planning retreat. Rather than focusing on goals without first gaining clarity, this Strategic Plan places purposeful emphasis on defining and understanding our Policy and Operational Values, as well as our strategic situation (where we are today). If we don't first 02 -26 -2016 Minutes Page - 3 - understand and agree on where we are as an organization and where we should go, it is only by chance that we will prioritize our most important goals. On the other hand, if we gain clarity and alignment first, we have a much more impactful understanding of what matters most and the direction we need to go. Additionally, the Boards /Commissions and City Departments are encouraged to participate in the development of these annual updates by working on their own strategic plans, both formally and informally. Mr. Kessel stated the Committee of Committees Advisory Board holds a unique place amongst the City. As representatives from each of the Boards /Commissions, this Council- appointed Advisory Board has the ability and opportunity to coordinate and create alignment between the Strategic Plan and their respective Boards /Commissions. The City of Schertz Strategic Plan seeks to create alignment within our organization. Communicating our Vision, Mission, and Values at every level requires an ability to explain the rationale behind them and to engage our entire organization in a genuine exchange of perspectives. This can then lead to inspiring the entire team to champion execution of our plan. Mr. Kessel went over the complete City Model which depicts three areas: 1) What we must provide to be a city (Core Services) 2) What we want to provide to be a desirable city (Quality of Life) 3) What drives our ability to provide adequately for each (Economic Engine) Mr. Kessel went over the Schertz Management Model which incorporates our five Operational Values, each of which represents an essential component of our desired best management practices. As identified by the South Texas Excellence Partnership, "These principles and concepts are embedded in high- performing organizations. They are the foundation for integrating key performance and operational requirements within a results - oriented framework that creates a basis for action, feedback, and ongoing success." South Texas Excellence Partnership (STEP) is a community partnership that utilizes the beliefs and behaviors of high - performing organizations. The Schertz Management Model is how we envision managing the City to achieve the highest and most sustainable results. Mr. Kessel also went over the Schertz Vision for Excellence Model which incorporates our Vision, Mission, and Values with our Policy Values, Operational Values, and Core Values into an easily recognizable and meaningful model. As reinforced by South Texas Excellence Partnership (STEP), "Senior Leaders set a vision, model expectations, and empower others to ensure sustainable success and continuous improvement." Mr. Kessel stated that the STEP is a group that has already been formed from the City of Schertz, and the Schertz - Cibolo- Universal City ISD leadership and they have invited other organizations such as Methodist Hospital, Northeast Lakeview, Educations Service Center Committee and the City of Cibolo to participate in management training and leadership exchange of ideas. The Schertz Vision for Excellence Model is how we integrate our leadership aspirations in a way that is readily understandable both within the organization and outside to our citizens and stakeholders. 02 -26 -2016 Minutes Page - 4 - Chair Dziewit stated that he believes that it is a great general model that identifies generalities. He stated that what he thinks they need to do is really get down to specifics now. Chair Dziewit stated that he believes they need to review some items. For instance we had the 2010 bond issue, and we did receive some information on what has been started and he wanted to know where we stood on these and what do we intend to do with those projects, i.e. Main Street. What has been done to make the Main Street issue advance? He mentioned the pool and it is currently in a state of construction. He stated they are looking at parts and pieces that were done in 2010; now we have started with 2016 bond issues. The question then becomes what are the parts and elements of the 2016 bond issue and what is going to happen to that. Do we have to get studies in place first and if we do, what is the status? What is the whole picture? Chair Dziewit stated that he is looking back at 2010 to now, 2016; where is our jump? Where and what do we do next? We need to take care of what we have first. Do we have the materials, do we have the people, and do we have equipment? What do we develop first? We have a lot on our plates and this information presented today generalizes it for us but we need to get to more specifics. He stated this group is the best to take a look at it from economic development, planning and zoning etc. Chair Dziewit recognized Executive Director Brian James who stated he agreed. One of the items is a communication system of what is going on with City projects. Some are bond projects and some are not, we really do not have a system in place to do this. We do not have a system where someone could go and look online to find out about the projects, what the steps are, and where are the projects within those steps. He stated the Engineering Department is currently working with our IT Department to develop a system to do this. Board Member Dahle suggested that maybe as part of our future agendas there could be an update on the CIP Projects and bond projects which would be part of our minutes and public record. Board Member Lau agreed stating that this would provide information that they could take back to their respective boards to share. Mr. James stated that staff is being better trained to be able to map out this information which would then feed into the information system for project updates. Mr. James explained how the City is doing things differently, i.e., the Facilities Master Plan was an example. Board Member Simmons agreed to have a list of projects and the status so that they could be brought up to speed and believed that this would answer a lot of the Committee Members questions. Mr. Kessel stated that one of the challenges we have is that we are planning and doing at the same time. Mr. Kessel stated that what he would really like this Committee to be is to be versed in the SWOT — strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats analysis so that we are able to prioritize better and do it in a more responsible way. Mr. Kessel stated that there is a lot of information and what this group will need to do is figure out what matters most so we don't spend too much time on review, but prioritize and get into the work. Board Member Dahle stated he believes that Mr. Kessel should bring items to the Committee that he thinks are important for the committee to work on and if the committee has questions he could provide more details. Mr. Kessel stated that like the committee did last year, they started with a big picture and then jumped into more detailed items; then they focused on the high level items. He stated that he would 02 -26 -2016 Minutes Page - 5 - like to continue with that process. This Board will not be able to get done with their business in one year; this is going to be an ongoing journey. We will need to find a way to divide up projects this year and work on both the big picture and specific details so we can accomplish something. Then we will pick it up next year, but if we work in the cycle we have already established, and we have a good track record of this, we will be successful. Board Member Simmons stated that she sees this as an ongoing board, and if they are successful in being able to explain to each other the missing parts instead of several different groups, we will be able to explain to our respective boards better and hopefully we will be able to. get more citizen involvement. Committee Member Dahle stated that the assumption is that in a couple of years this group will again become the bond committee. Mr. Kessel stated that one of the lessons we learned with the bonds is to not float ten years' worth of bonds in one year. It sets a bad expectation of what we can do and we get way out -of -whack with our estimates in the future and our priorities change. If we have a group like this that knows why and how we did it, we can make if very effective. Once we go through everything we have talked about that this board and staff have raised, you will be able to bring that information back to the boards and commissions on dialog of the specific projects. Imagine how powerful this is, when we are starting to get specific action items by different boards and commissions lined up. Each project that we do should relate back to, and we should be asking ourselves on any given action item, are we moving closer to these stated goals or further away. How does that impact our policy values of a high quality of life and attractive community; how does this contribute to economic prosperity or fiscally sustainable and how does this build a safer community or supply more essential services. As we start to work on those things, we start to be more effective, not just on bond elections but in our boards and commissions. Board Member Simmons stated that the more we know the more we can involve our respective boards or commissions. Mr. Kessel asked if members would be willing to go back to their respective boards and provide the information they are learning. All members concurred. Board Member Lau stated that he has also taken information back to his own HOA. Members discussed the next meeting date and it was agreed to schedule the next meeting for Friday, March 18, 2016, 3:00 p.m. Members also discussed coming up with dates and times for the remainder of the year. Adiournment Chair Richard Dziewit adjourned the meeting at 5:13 p.m. Richard 15ziewit, Chair ATTEST: renda Dennis, City Secretary 02 -26 -2016 Minutes Page - 6 -