City Council

CITY OF FREDERICKSBURG, VIRGINIA HON. THOMAS J. TOMZAK, MAYOR HON. MARY KATHERINE GREENLAW, VICE MAYOR CITY COUNCIL HON. KERRY P. DEVINE, AT-LARGE HON. BRADFORD C. ELLIS, WARD ONE HON. GEORGE C. SOLLEY, WARD TWO HON. FREDERIC N. HOWE, III, WARD THREE Council Chambers, 715 Princess Anne Street HON. BEATRICE R. PAOLUCCI, WARD FOUR Fredericksburg, Virginia 22401 Council Work Session February 8, 2011 Goals and Initiatives The Council of the City of Fredericksburg, Virginia held a work session on Tuesday, February 8, 2011, beginning at 6:00 p.m. in the City Hall Conference Room. Council Present. Mayor Thomas J. Tomzak, presiding. Vice-Mayor Mary Katherine Greenlaw. Councilors Kerry P. Devine, Bradford C. Ellis, Frederic N. Howe, III, Beatrice R. Paolucci and George C. Solley. Also Present. City Manager Beverly Cameron, Assistant City Manager Mark Whitley, City Attorney Kathleen Dooley, and Clerk of Council Tonya B. Lacey. Goals and Initiatives – City Manager Cameron presented the Goals and Initiatives that were set at the Council Retreat in November. The goals and initiatives were set for the remainder of 2011 through 2013. During the retreat Council discussed 43 separate initiatives. The initiatives comprise a work program that seeks to accomplish Council’s goals. The initiatives were ranked according to Council’s importance. They were placed in 3 tiers, with Tier A representing the highest priority. Mr. Cameron explained that each of the initiatives have an action steps that would be used to get the desired outcome. City Manager Cameron expressed his concern that so many of the initiatives require the identifying and appropriating of funds and he asked Council to be realistic about what could be accomplished based on availability of funds. He also suggested adding an initiative that he thought had been overlooked, redistricting. Redistricting would require a great deal of time and effort both at staff level and at the Council level. He also suggested the removal of Initiative 4E, River Enhancement. He said he learned that, in 2008 and 2009, City representatives discussed the dredging of the 1 Rappahannock River with staff from the following agencies: Stafford County, National Park Service, Department of Environmental Quality, Virginia Marine Resource Commission, US Army Corps of Engineers, and the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries. The involved agencies made the determination that dredging would not be permitted because it was determined that dredging would be considered a “mining operation.” Based on this information Mr. Cameron recommended removal of this initiative. In its place, he suggested pursing grant funds from the Chesapeake Bay Restoration Fund Advisory Commission for shore line restoration and stabilization. Mr. Cameron also recommended postponing Initiative 8C until the City has developed a meaningful performance measures throughout the organization. He stated that anyone that come from outside of the City organization will need to examine performance measures before they can begin to determine adequacy of staffing resources. (See attached for more details). Council disagreed with removing the River dredging initiative and decided to keep it as an initiative. They strongly felt they needed to continue to push it and possibly receive help from the Game & Inland Fisheries. Councilor Ellis asked if there was anyone on staff to help with the performance measures and Mr. Cameron stated that ICMA had a performance metric that they will train and work with departments in getting those done. Councilor Ellis also suggested including another column on the goals and initiatives chart which shows the cost of the initiatives. He said this would help with budgeting. Council briefly discussed employee job performances and how they could be completed if there were no performance metrics in place. Councilor Ellis pointed out that staff has not had a cost of living increase in three years and he felt it was warranted. City Manager Cameron also noted that several positions will remain vacant in the 2012 budget. Councilor Solley stated the goals and initiatives document was a great document, but he suggested next time including a matrix with the time and cost for each initiative. Councilor Ellis suggested having some sort of measure once a quarter so that they can see the progress on the initiatives and it could help them determine if an initiative could be accomplished. Vice-Mayor Greenlaw expressed her concerns with moving lunch in the park to the Riverside Park. She questioned whether more people would drive and if there would be adequate parking. She said at Hurkamp Park because of the location most were able to walk with their kids. She also asked about the pilot program consisting of once-a-week curbside 2 trash collection, using large capacity wheeled carts. Mr. Cameron said staff would come back with a plan before it was implemented. Mayor Tomzak asked if there were any questions on Goal 8 Communications. Councilor Howe asked who was responsible for responding to mass emails. He was reminded that he could forward the emails to staff to handle. Adjournment. There being no further business to come before the Council at this time, the meeting was declared officially adjourned at 6:45 p.m. Tonya B. Lacey_________ Tonya B. Lacey Clerk of Council City of Fredericksburg 3