City Council

409 S. Main Street City of Harrisonburg Harrisonburg, VA 22801 Meeting Minutes - Final City Council Friday, March 7, 2025 8:30 AM Hyatt Place Harrisonburg, 1884 Special Meeting: City Council Retreat 1. Call Meeting to Order At 8:31 a.m. the meeting was called to order Mayor Deanna Reed, Vice Mayor Dany Fleming, Council Member Laura Dent, Council Member Nasser Alsaadun, and Council Member Monica Robinson were present. Also present were Ande Banks, city manager; Amy Snider, deputy city manager; Chris Brown, city attorney; Michael Parks, director of Communications; Brian Vandenberg, assistant to the city manager, and Pamela Ulmer, city clerk. 2. Welcome / Session Overview Tyler StClair, facilitator, reviewed the objectives, roles and local elected leadership model for the retreat. 3. Team Building Each Council Member shared their early life stories that shaped them into who they are today. 4. Council Collaboration Ms. StClair and Council discussed Council's role in the community based on the team building exercise, their commonalities and how their experiences strengthen the community. 5. Environmental Assessment Council went into break from Noon to 1:13 pm. Ms. StClair reviewed the characteristics of an effective vision; Council Members and staff worked in two groups to review what goals, strategies, assets, projects, relationships, and behaviors they wanted to keep or change in order to lead the City toward the desired future. Council and staff reviewed the keeps and changes discussed in both groups, there were quite a few similarities between the groups in both categories. City of Harrisonburg Page 1 Printed on 4/4/2025 City Council Meeting Minutes - Final March 7, 2025 6. Review / Realign Vision and Strategic Focus Area Council Members worked on Council's core vision for 2045, making slight changes to the 2043 Vision. 7. Clarify Communication / Roles / Strategy No discussion took place on this matter 8. Adjournment At 4:58 p.m. the meeting recessed ________________________ ________________________ CITY CLERK MAYOR City of Harrisonburg Page 2 Printed on 4/4/2025