Committee of the Whole

CITY OF GENEVA SPECIAL COMMITTEE OF THE WHOLE AND STRATEGIC PLAN ADVISORY COMMITTTEE MINUTES August 31, 2015 Present: Mayor Burns, Ald. Bruno, Burghart, Cummings, Kilburg, Maladra, Marks, Radecki, Simonian, Seno, Singer Present for SPAC: Chair Mark Brault, Backus, Cassin, Clements, Janis, Juby, Main, Merrill, Sarangabany Also Present: Assistant City Administrator Dawkins Mayor Burns called the meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. 1. Presentation by the Strategic Plan Advisory Committee regarding prioritization of the City of Geneva’s Strategic Plan Mayor Burns provided a brief introduction about the purpose of this evening’s meeting and some initial ground rules. He then introduced the Chair of the Strategic Plan Advisory Committee, Mark Brault. Brault introduced the SPAC members. He then proceeded to go through the consolidated document “Companion Guide to the Strategic Plan” which was compiled by SPAC for the purpose of this meeting. Essentially the document showcases what SPAC has been working on for the past several months in regards to prioritizing the City of Geneva Strategic Plan. Brault explained the documents various sections – goals prioritized by SPAC for FY 16-17, all goal prioritization opportunities, goals already prioritized for FY 15-16, standard operating procedures, and completed goals. Ald. Simonian asked whether or not SPAC looked at the financial aspect when prioritizing the goals. Brault responded that they did not because they did not have that information. He further stated that the Council still needs a vision (and goals) for when the money does come in. Ald. Simonian indicated that if we move forward in future years it might be helpful to know that information. Brault responded that their charge was to prioritize the goals, it is the elected official’s job to make the final call. Ald. Bruno indicated he has been uncomfortable with the scattershot method. He believes the council benefits from all the commissions and boards and thanked SPAC for the work they had done. Ald. Radecki envisions a streamlined document at some point with an action plan. He believes there should only be a handful of true strategic goals with measureable milestones. Brault agreed that SPAC was looking to move in that direction. SPECIAL JOINT COW/SPAC MINUTES – AUG. 31, 2015 1  Ald. Simonian stated that he does not see this process as constructive other than we have a plan. The Council receives quarterly reports regarding the goal status, but he does not actually read them. He doesn’t believe in warm fuzzies. Ald. Maladra reminded the Council that this is a community plan. Therefore, there may be three goals that he had in mind, but someone else may have had a different number of goals. Juby indicated that it was not SPAC’s role to blow up the strategic plan. Rather they worked within the constraints of the document they were provided with. Juby also felt it was important for the Council to know that the top four priorities listed were all agreed to by the members of SPAC as the top four. Brault further reiterated that we all have the same goal in mind – Make Geneva a better place. Ald. Burghart thanked the Committee members for their hard work and indicated she felt that the companion document would be a valuable tool come the November strategic planning workshop. 2. Adjournment On a motion by Ald. Simonian, seconded by Marks, the meeting was adjourned by unanimous voice vote at 8:08 p.m. -submitted by Asst. Admin. Dawkins SPECIAL JOINT COW/SPAC MINUTES – AUG. 31, 2015 2