January 29-30, 2015

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COUNCIL MINUTES

The City Council of the City of Raleigh met in a Retreat at 9:00 a.m. on Thursday, January 29, 2015at the James B. Hunt Library, 1070 Partners Way, Centennial Campus, Raleigh, North Carolina with the following present.

Mayor Nancy McFarlane, Presiding

Mayor Pro Tem John Odom

Councilor Mary-Ann Baldwin

Councilor Kay C. Crowder

Councilor Bonner Gaylord

Councilor Wayne K. Maiorano

Councilor Russ Stephenson

Councilor Eugene Weeks

Also present were City Manager Hall, City Attorney McCormick, Assistant City Managers Adams David, Greene, Haywood, Chief of Staff Buonpane, Budget and Management Services Director Munro, Chief Financial Officer James, Jamie Brown, Special Assistant to the Mayor, and City Clerk Smith. Various members of the news media were present as was former Council Member Ann Franklin.

Other staff members joined the Council at lunch time and will be listed at that point.

Michelle Ferguson, The Novak Consulting Group, went over the logistics, expectations and led the Council through a variety of exercises in preparation of the work on the strategic plan including exercises on I like/I wish.

Budget and Management Director Joyce Munro and Chief Financial Officer Perry James presented information on the organizational update and the economic and financial review for the City. They went over information on the preliminary budget status and the next steps in the budget process.

The Group recessed for lunch which was held in the James B. Hunt Library.

Following lunch the following staff members joined the group: Human Resources Director Steve Jones, Sustainability Director Paula Thomas; Chief Information Officer Gail Roper; Public Affairs Director Jayne Kirkpatrick; Interim Public Works Director Rich Kelly; Fire Chief John McGrath; Housing and Neighborhoods Director Larry Jarvis; Economic Development Director James Sauls; Parks and Recreation Director Diane Sauer; Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown; Special Events Manager Derrick Remer; Strategic Planning and Performance Manager Marianne E. Sweden; Solid Waste Manager Fred Battle; Public Utilities Director John Carmon; Convention Center Director Rodger Krupa; Auditor Martin Petherbridge; Planning Director Ken Bowers.

City Manager Ruffin Hall presented key ideas for strategic planning including background information, introduction to the Strategic Plan, potential next steps, etc.

Strategic Planner and Performance Manager Sweden presented a video and information on the process.

Council members had received the draft strategic plan. Various work groups have been developing ideas, goals and objectives for the various groups. Each group was led by an Assistant City Manager. The following made presentations and talked about the objectives, how to proceed and goals that could be formulated.

Arts and Cultural Resources – MarchellAdams David

  • Convention Center Director Krupa
  • Special Events Director Remer
  • Parks, Recreation and Cultural Resources Director Sauer

Economic Development And Innovation – AssistantCity Manager James Green

  • Chief of Staff Lou Buonpane
  • Economic Development Director James Saul
  • Chief Information Officer Perry James

The Council adjourned for a reception and dinner which was held in the James B. Hunt Library facility.

The Council reconvened at 9:00 a.m. on Friday, January 31, 2015 in the North Carolina Museum of Science with all Council members and staff members from the day before in attendance with a continuation of presentations from the work groups.

Growth and Natural Resources – AssistantCity Manager Tansy Haywood

  • Public Utilities Director John Carman
  • Solid Waste Director Fred Battle
  • Sustainability Director Paula Thomas

Transportation and Transit – AssistantCity Manager James Greene

  • Public Affairs Director Jayne Kirkpatrick
  • Interim Public Works Director Rich Kelly
  • Planning Director Ken Bowers

Organizational Excellence – AssistantCity Manager Tansy Hayward

  • Human Resources Director Steve Jones
  • Budget and Management Director Joyce Munro
  • Chief Information Officer Gail Roper

Safe, Vibrant and Healthy Communities – AssistantCity Manager MarchellAdams David

  • Fire Chief John McGrath
  • Police Chief Cassandra Deck-Brown
  • Housing and Neighborhoods Director Larry Jarvis

Council Members commended City Manager Hall and Staff for the work pointing out they could not believe that Staff was able to pull off this work in a seven week period. This is something that the Council has been wanting to see with various Council members voicing their opinion about the importance of a strategic plan, what a strategic plan is all about, etc.

Lunch was held between 1:00 p.m. and 2:00 p.m. in the lobby of the museum.

The Staff discussed the potential next steps including developing the plan and hopefully bringing it back to a future budget work session for review and comment with the target date of mid-2015 to adopt the plan, vision statement focus areas, etc. It was pointed out hopefully that would be tied to the budget approval so they could move ahead together. Staff talked about pulling together information on the next steps and how to proceed; what is already been doing, the expectations, partnerships, etc.

Staff members left at 2:15 p.m. City Council members, City Manager, Assistant City Managers, City Attorney, Chief of Staff Buonpane, Budget & Management Director Munro, and the City Clerk remained with Council members giving their opinions as to the outcome, how to move forward, etc. Points of discussion related to concern about scattered site policy and changes, concern about warehousing the poor in certain areas of the City, how the zoning code and scattered site policy work together; Affordable Housing Task Force, and bonds for affordable housing.

The Council also talked about the list of strategic partners and suggested addressing North Carolina State Legislators, Wake Tech, Campbell College, Google Fiber, North Carolina Economic Development, Centennial Authority, Research Center and affordable housing partners to the list.

The City of Raleigh’s vision statement and how that could be amended was talked about with it being agreed that staff would come back with some suggestions. Facilitator Fergurson talked about various things that have been discussed with various Council members providing suggestions on what should or could be included in the mission statement.

It was agreed that staff would come back with the draft strategic plan with edits as have been discussed at the meeting for Council review, comments and development of next steps.

Adjournment: Mayor McFarlane announced the meeting adjourned at 4:00 p.m.

Gail G. Smith

City Clerk

jt/CCR-01-29-30-2015