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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/29/1988 Adjourned Meeting 278 MARCH 29, 1988 ADJOURNED COUNCIL MEETING -- COUNCIL WORKSHOP The City Council met in session on this date 7:00 A.M. in Johnny's VIP Room at•the Towne Plaza, Yakima, Washington in order to continue the special Council workshop initiated March 12, 1988. Council members present were Mayor Pat Berndt, Clarence Barnett, • Henry Beauchamp, Lynn Buchanan, Lynn Carmichael, Jerry Foy, and • Bernard Staff - members present were City Manager_ Zais, Assistant City Manager Stouder, and. City Clerk Roberts. Also present was Jay Grandy, President, Snokist Growers and today's Workshop Facilitator. For the benefit of those Council members unable to attend the March 12th meeting,.Mr.. Grandy described the process used at that workshop to develop a mission. statement and vision statement for the City.. He stated he spent about an hour and a half going through the strategic management process with Council. He stated he understands Council has all received copies of the charts used during his presentation. He referred to these charts, commenting that a lot of the time you can use the word "goals" for "vision He stated he wanted Council to look to. the future and see, where they would like to be. He reported -when Snokist went through this process they developed six statements about vision; three of them ,very specific, having dollars and cents to them; the other three were'very nebulous. If we reached the dollar and cents goals, we can say we met our goals. He stated you can't always measure your success by dollars and cents. The next step of the process would be, once Council agrees that this is its mission and vision statements, then say how you are going to get there; and that is the strategy. He stated Council did not spend any time regarding strategy or environment in that meeting on the 12th. He stated each of the Council members wrote down their thoughts on the mission and vision'and then put it on a computerized large screen. He stated it should be fairly precise and Council can give it to staff and let them know what the mission and vision is. He stated we then had Council take their ideas and forge them into written words to describe the mission, and vision. He stated he is not sure • whether the other Council members, have seen what those at the meeting produced. City Manager Zais stated that information has not been provided to the three Council members who were absent at that meeting. Mr. Grandy stated staff and the four Council members at the meeting wanted the other Council members to have an opportunity to write out their own ideas before they were shown what was developed at that meeting. He stated that, assuming the Council feels this process in worthwhile, the next thing would be to get the staff more involved in defining the environment that you are trying to operate in and analyze that, and put that information in the mission and vision statements. Council member Barnett asked how Mr. Grandy would direct staff to get beyond their own little "turfs ". He stated that so frequently, they are only interested in their own individual area and don't want to see the entire picture. Mr. Grandy commented that if staff is a party to the mission statement, in development, they are more receptive to it. If they just are handed it, they will say, "OK, I • have to go do this". If they have ownership in it, they are more likely to get beyond their own area. He stated there is a meeting scheduled tomorrow to share this preliminary information with the Department Heads and give them some understanding of where Council came from and see if they think anything is missing. He stated he thinks Council is in a better position to lead the development of these than staff is. In this case, staff is in a better position to look at the environment and strategy. He stated he is not an expert in running a city. He stated this is a process Council has . to feel its own way in doing. As a Council, with staff, you need to decide with them, how this can work for you. When you think of vision, do you think two or ten years; when you look at water supplies, do you think of two or ten years? He stated you probably would look at 20 years. He stated he thought in our last -1- • MARCH 29, 1988 279 discussion, we were' looking at'about ten years. He stated saw • • this as a control position, because your environment-might change ' your vision. Maybe one year is too fast, but if you are an elected party, there could be replacements and eventually they have to • agree with these mission and vision statements. Referring back to • 'Mr. statement 'concerning - Snokist's six ' vision • statements,' Council member Foy asked if they make a progress report • •on'their'goals on a monthly basis. Mr: Grandy stated they do it yearly,` - although they do look at their business monthly. Council - member Foy commented that sometimes that monthly graph can trigger additional thoughts about the goals and keep people on track to reach the vision.. Council member Beauchamp asked Mr. Grandy how long this:process took Snokist. Mr. Grandy stated it took almost a year, calendar time; involved time was : -much - less. He spoke about the process he used to develop Snokist's statements. Council member Barnett asked Mr ;-Grandy how he would have resolved two extremely opposite views on his Board. Mr:= Grandy stated it would have been his .job to find - the c ommon ground on which they each could agree. He commented it is a negotiating process, or a consensus building process. He stated the toughest part in this process is getting your staff involved and .'then establishing how to get there. Council member Beauchamp asked how much time. is involved in the annual review for this program. Mr. Grandy stated the annual • follow -up sessions took about a day each; mostly the mission and vision did not change, so most 'of the discussion involved the environment and.strategy._ Council_ member Foy _ informed Council_ about the'process his firm uses for goal setting'. Council member Barnett commented he thought a lot about the question on whether the Council is weak or responsive and decided it is based upon a citizen's contact with the City. He asked how that situation could be overcame. Mr. Grandy stated that question is a "how -to" question. He stated the thing you talk about is your successes, rather than your lack of successes. Council member Sims stated the City gets a bad image due to misquotes, etc. in the paper. He stated we let them deal with nothing but the bad things. Council member Beauchamp stated we need to be more pro- active ourselves and publicize the good things the City does. Mr. Grandy stated that if Council has a common mission and vision, what will happen, is that when you get into a "bickering" session, someone will say, "now how does this. fit into our mission or vision". City Manager Zais distributed copies of the mission and vision statements developed at the meeting of the 12th. Mr. Grandy asked Council members Barnett, Beauchamp and Foy to look at their notes and compare them with these statements to see if they think . anything is missing. Council members discussed the process they • went through to develop these statements. Council member Beauchamp stated he wants to make sure the vision statement contains Council's views on the drug problem. Mayor Berndt stated that was included in the statement about a safe environment. Council member Beauchamp also stated he would like to see something included in the vision statement indicating the City is an equal opportunity employer and making sure this community truly reflects the diversified population in its workforce. Council member Foy stated he thinks the City's record sets a tone for the business - community. Assistant City Manager Stouder suggested the wording "promoting equal opportunity" could be inserted into the vision statement following "supportive work environment ". Discussion • followed regarding the phrases about the economy and boundaries in the mission statement. Discussion followed regarding the employees' participation in this process. Council member Foy stated he would like to hear what the department heads have to say. He stated he would like to hear what they envision and what they think this might mean. Council member Sims stated staff has to come back to Council and tell us what "superior service" means. Mr. Grandy referred to the Council's statements and stated this is our working copy and it can be -2- 280 MARCH 29, 1988 reviewed with staff, then you can look at it again and then adopt it. Council member Carmichael stated that before the staff spends any time on this, she thought staff needs to know that Council agrees with these statements. Mr. Grandy suggested the statements be presented to staff as a draft statement, developed through Council consensus: It was the general consensus of the Council to accept this as a draft mission and vision •statement, with the addition of the statement, "promoting equal opportunity" in the vision statement, so it would read, "A clean, safe and aesthetically pleasing social, cultural, educational, recreational and diversified economic center, with a challenging and supportive work environment, promoting equal opportunities and motivated, effective employees, recognized for their contributions and • expertise." The meeting was-adjourned at the hour of 8:40 a.m. • READ AND CERTIFIED ACCURATE , 0) IL.MEMB DAT liOt 11 /, i tttly i k 7 - f A r o / • rip ATTEST: - 'A ER m • TE 1 4 c4A2:e.,eia, KAREN S. ROBERTS, CITY CLERK, CMC •'PATRICIA A. BERNDT, MAYOR -3-