Fort Walton Beach Council agenda — 05-10-08 special agenda - strategic plan session — reading text

Approved as to form and legal sufficiency: Helen Spencer, City Clerk Toni L. Craig, City Attorney  MINUTES OF THE SPECIAL COUNCIL MEETING STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA MARCH 15, 2008 INTRODUCTION The City Council of Fort Walton Beach, Florida held a Strategic Planning Session at a Special Council meeting on Saturday, March 15, 2008 from 8:00 a. m. to 2:00 p. m. at the Fort Walton Beach Senior Citizens Center located at 31 Memorial Parkway, SW, with the following present: Mayor Mike Anderson Councilmen: Mike Holmes, Virgil Miller, Dennis Reeves, Bill Garvie, Dr. Wayne Pullen, Him Hartwell, and Mike Minich Super Focus Group: Dean Covey, Tracy Garvie, Dick Gercak, Beth Holmes, Robert Jones, Tom Rice, Ray Seip, and Kabe Woods Also Present: Joyce Shanahan, City Manager; Helen Spencer, City Clerk; Finance Director ( position vacant); Toni Craig, City Attorney; and Department Directors Facilitator: Dr. Herb Marlowe, Jr., Ph. D. PURPOSE Strategic Planning Meeting — Strategic Assessment facilitated by Dr. Herb Marlowe. CALL TO ORDER The Mayor called the meeting to order and welcomed everyone. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE The Mayor led in the Pledge of Allegiance. STRATEGIC ASSESSMENT Dr. Marlowe went over the process and purpose of the session today to discuss the various issues facing the City and potential approaches. He mentioned the challenge is to get a pathway from where City government is to the community vision; what they are trying to be and what City government needs to do, what role it needs to take and what actions it needs to get there. He mentioned there are known issues such as limited population growth, high growth in the north County and surrounding regions over time, water issues, and transportation issues; but what will be discussed today will be the cloud of uncertainty and rethinking City government. Dr. Marlowe gave a broad view of the topics for discussion: services, governance, technology, revenues, structure, and Human Resources practices. He acknowledged there is a financial challenge facing the City and went over the current General Fund expenditures. He discussed the current financial challenges, future financial challenges, and beyond the financial challenge of property tax reform, property devaluation, and State economic slow down. He also discussed the gap in economic, environment, and social realities. Dr. Marlowe generated discussion on restructuring of City government. Discussion on the pros and cons of outsourcing included thoughts on the economy of scale, the investment involved; allows focus on core competency and improvement in areas done well; lease back the sale of property; employee leasing; quality control; contract management over a multi -year period; protection of employees; the pools of outsourcing available; and use of available free sources. Discussion on large scale restructuring included thoughts on pooling of resources for motor pooling and consolidation of transportation; and keeping in -house what is done best and subcontract the rest. Jim Tucker, 590 L' Ombre Court NE, endorsed the consolidation of services with the Sheriff's Office, and suggested the City first look at the Police and Fire services. t Regular Council 2/ 12/ 08 CHARTER REVIEW MEETINGS ( CONT) The Mayor Pro Tern called for the vote on the motion and it failed by a vote of 1 to 5 with Miller in favor and Holmes, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, and Hartwell opposed. RES. 08 -07 —SUPER FOCUS GROUP The City Clerk read the resolution by title. A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY OF FORT WALTON BEACH, FLORIDA CREATING A SUPER FOCUS GROUP; PROVIDING FOR MEMBERSHIP BY EIGHT CITIZENS; SETTING FORTH THE PURPOSE OF THE GROUP; AND PROVIDING AN EFFECTIVE DATE. IN ADDITION, REQUEST THE MAYOR AND COUNCIL MEMBERS APPOINT ONE MEMBER EACH TO THE SUPER FOCUS GROUP TO PARTICIPATE IN A WORKSHOP WITH COUNCIL ON MARCH 15, 2008. The City Manager explained the results of the five focus group meetings and the two public meetings will be reviewed and tabulated by staff to present the information to Council on March 15th at the Strategic Planning meeting. She said the super focus group will participate and vote 15th with Council at the meeting on March in developing the 2008 Strategic Plan for the City. She requested Council approve the resolution and then approve the slate of names in February. Glenda Glover, 115 Waynel Circle, received confirmation that the public is welcome to attend 15th the March Strategic meeting. Mr. Hartwell moved to approve Res. 08 -07 with the added verbiage in Section 1 " without voting privileges ". Mr. Garvie seconded motion. Mr. Miller moved to amend the motion to strike the verbiage from Section 3 " at least once and otherwise as determined by City Council during" and insert " on March 15, ". Mr. Garvie seconded amendment and it carried unanimously with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, and Hartwell in favor. The Mayor Pro Tern called for the vote on the motion to approve Res. 08 -07, as amended, with the added verbiage in Section 1 " without voting privileges" and to strike the verbiage in Section 3 " at least once and otherwise as determined by City Council during" and it carried unanimously with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, and Hartwell in favor. CRA APPOINTMENT Consideration of appointment to the CRA Board of Commissioners. Mr. Hartwell nominated Chuck Kennedy. The Mayor Pro Tern called for the vote on the nomination to appoint Chuck Kennedy, 39 Bay Drive NE, to the CRA Board of Commissioners for a four year term until February 11, 2012 and it carried unanimously with Holmes, Miller, Reeves, Garvie, Pullen, and Hartwell in favor. MPB APPOINTMENT Consideration of appointment to the Municipal Planning Board for a four year term until February 11, 2008. Mr. Reeves nominated Allen Sterns. Dr. Pullen nominated Jim Tucker. The Mayor Pro Tern called for the vote on the nomination to appoint Allen Sterns, 2 Ipswich Circle, with Holmes, Reeves, and Hartwell in favor. Strategic Choices City of Fort Walton Beach 2008 Strategic Planning Session — 10 May 2008 Vers 2. 0 Vision Alternative Statements: The City Government will continue to provide affordable public services that make the City an outstanding place to live, work and conduct business. The City will be a safe community, providing a variety of public amenities and business opportunities that will enable it to prosper as the region grows. The City will be the economic and activity hub of southern Okaloosa County with strong ties to military institutions coupled with strong commitments to public safety, quality services and environmental protection. Goal: Provide effective and efficient public services Strategy: Examine the cost/benefits of large scale structural changes Choices: Conduct law enforcement costibenefit analysis of contract with Sheriff Continue review of fire consolidation Examine functional consolidation or partnership opportunities such as wastewater treatment. Support a county -wide discussion of whether some form of unified government should be examined. Support a three city regional discussion as to some form of unified government. Examine the possibility of contracting some software services with the County. It may be possible and cost effective to use the County' s computer system and software for certain applications. We would still enter and manage our own data, it would just be housed on the County' s computer system. This could reduce the City' s SunGard HTE maintenance charges. Consider annexation/ merging of cities and/ or incorporated areas in South Okaloosa County and restructure, or combine, whichever is appropriate, existing departments to provide public services. Strategy: Examine internal efficiency opportunities Choices:  Conduct departmental operational reviews with varying levels of resource availability Establish expert citizen review group for selected large departments that would focus on service necessity and service delivery satisfaction Conduct comparative review and provide report on staffing levels and structure for comparable cities. Strategy: Examine outsourcing opportunities Choices: Annually review consultant' s report on outsourcing to determine if there are actions the City should be considering. Identify and develop internal contract administration skills for managing outsourced activities Key Information Points regarding these choices Two people in the City have experience in contract administration; Quality Assurance Evaluators —identify problems, validates performance, review invoices Those who manage the enterprise funds have the requisite KSA' s knowledge, skills and abilities) and should be able to manage the outsourced contract Strategy: Adopt human resource policies and practices that facilitate the goals of the strategic plan Choices: Review pension approaches, long term financial trends and alternatives Examine alternative compensation approaches such as lump sum bonuses. Examine health care and benefit approaches both in terms of employer share of cost and alternative approaches. Reexamine health and benefit packages for new hires Lift accrual caps in lieu of additional compensation. Examination feasibility of employee leasing Establish salary cap for City positions Concerns/ Points of Information Lump Sum payment affects retirement and could cause problems in retaining quality employees 2  Strategy: Clarify role, authority and reporting lines for Council appointed committees. Choice: Develop guidance document on Council appointed committees that will clarify role and authories, reporting lines and other operational issues. Goal: Protect the natural environment Strategy: Continue to meet all environmental regulations Choice: Maintain sufficient staffing or contracted resources to be able to meet all environmental regulations. Choice: Re- establish curbside recycling Point of information Already doing this. A RIF jeopardizes our ability to maintain compliance with U.S. Environmental Protection