We are here to do some strategic planning, and we're really grateful for members of the public being here to observe, this process. We also Thank you, house president Schubert, council members, mayor Dorton, members of the public. We have Novak with Ralph Tellis consulting here today. Their group cut down this all around the country, primarily for cities and counties. So I'm excited to, get started with her facilitate conversation. She will make sure you get to the end of this with a high level orientation.
This is the beginning of our process, and she will describe some of that for you. And I will just turn it over to her to introduce some of the other team members she has with us online. Okay. Sounds good. So, again, my name is Julie Novak. What I'm gonna do is just briefly introduce you to the team, and then we'll kind of go through, what our meeting plan is for today. So three of my colleagues are gonna be working on this project here. Michelle Ferguson is an executive vice president with Raptellus. She does a lot of strategic planning, as do I, all over the country. She's a great facilitator, former deputy city and county manager,
and she and I have been working together for about twenty years, which I don't know how that's possible except we started in middle school, I think. Then there's Jennifer Teal. Jennifer Teal is a senior manager, does a lot of the strategic planning work, helps us with implementation really focusing organizations on executing on strategic plans. Former city administrator also, and, she's a leads a lot of the training through our FTLS performance academy that we do in innovation and all kinds of different, leadership training. And then Maddie Shea is also there online. She just waved to y'all.
And Maddie is a consultant with our team, and, she's been doing strategic planning work for local governments, for about three years, maybe a little longer, Maddie. You can you can tell them what if I'm wrong. But, but, anyway, she's been well, she and I have worked together on a couple of recent exercises. She's fantastic. And so great team of people supporting your organization on this project. So we'll jump on to the agenda slide. What we're gonna do here is just I'm gonna find out who you all are and what you wanna get out of the process, give you a little bit of background on strategic planning, kind of why I use that word,
what am I talking about, what do I mean, and then we'll talk about our approach to this particular process, do a quick, strengths, limitations, opportunities, and challenges. You might have heard of the SWOT, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats, doctor words, kind of the same idea. And then we'll have a discussion about your hopes for the future of the community, kind of things you love, the things you'd like to see that you don't have, and get you out of here, at a reasonable hour tonight. At least that I'll be done at a reasonable hour. I have no idea what else how much else she has planned, but we'll start,
next slide, with just a, a quick overview of, strategic planning. I I find that when I walk into a room, I have people at all different ends of the spectrum. How many of you all, participated in the last strategic planning process, that the city did? So couple people raising their hand. Okay. Great. What about city staff? Were you also maybe all around when that happened? So there's there's been a strategic plan. Other people have maybe never done strategic planning before. They aren't sure what it is. They feel like they should know, and they're pretty sure it's complicated because it's strategic.
Right? So my job is to make, the process approachable for everyone. And so I talk about strategic planning as simply the answer to three questions. What do we know to be true today? So where are we? What do we hope will be true in the future? Where do we wanna go? And then how are we gonna get there? What's our plan? And so the process that we've designed is to really get you to those points, understanding what you're where we are all, get a common understanding of that, where we are today, and then move you forward. You know, one of the realities,
next slide, for cities, is that you have lots of plans. So typically there's some kind of a comprehensive plan that looks at the vertical development of your community. It might have thirty and forty year implications for the community. You'll have CIP plans, capital improvement plans, asset management plans. Some places have street tree master plans, sustainability plans, bike plans, tree plans. Am I saying things that sound familiar to you all here in Rochester? So all of these types of plans kind of have this mid, maybe five, ten year some of them are also longer range,
but just kind of generally speaking. Then we have the strategic plan, and you see I can set it at three to five years. I've been doing strategic planning for a long time, and I used to say we could do a ten year plan. We could do a twenty year plan. The reality is things change too quickly. Anybody that did a strategic plan in 2019, I guarantee you they weren't imagining there would be a pandemic. And so things change quickly, and you all need to be able to respond. And so I think about strategic planning in this kind of right in the middle of three to five years.
It informs the priorities of the governing body and what you all wanna do, which then informs, of course, the budget process, which your city executes in operational plans. So I think about the strategic plan as kind of being an umbrella that pops up in the middle, reaches back to the comprehensive plan, thinks about all the, plans that you have for the development of the community, and brings it forward to operationalizing it. So that's the work that we're going to do together in this strategic planning process. We'll use a couple of terms, we can go to the next slide, in the process, and these the vision and the strategic outcomes or goals,
this is where the city really needs to know what you all as the governing body want to accomplish. So a vision statement is typically aspirational. It's intended to reflect what you hope will be true, about the city at some point in time in the future. The statement itself might be even farther than that three to five year range, but you're kind of moving in three to five year increments to get towards that vision. And then the strategic outcomes or goals, those are the big buckets of things that must go well in order to achieve
the vision. So it's not build a bridge or widen the street, it's really the larger outcome that you're trying to achieve, like what might that be an example of, or what that might be a project that would continue to move you towards that outcome. So those are the things that we're going to be seeking input from the city council, and the mayor as we go forward and build this plan. In terms of a timeline, we, we're we're here today. It's January 27. Always good to remind myself. And we have a couple of major activities that'll be happening over the next eight
weeks or so to get us to another workshop with y'all on March. Today, we're we're going to be providing this overview beginning to get some input, and then my team is gonna actually interview each one of you one on one to get a little bit more input. We'll also be holding some listening sessions with the chairs of your boards and commissions so that we kind of get some community representation from these engaged members of the community. So we know what's on their mind, we understand what's in their plans, and we figure out how all this begins to weave together. We'll be meeting with the city's leadership group.
Is that the group you call forward? It's a leadership forum. Leadership forum. Thank you. The leadership forum on February. That's also gonna be a virtual meeting. And then we'll take all of that input, and we will put it together in this environmental scan. The environmental scan is what answers the question, what do we know to be true today? So that first kind of common understanding of where we're starting from. Then when we come back in March, we're gonna share that information and build the framework,
the vision, and outcome areas for the strategic plan that you all then turn over to the city administrator and her team to operationalize and figure out what are the strategies, what are the tactics that's gonna actually help us accomplish this plan. So that is where we're headed, and what I'd love to do is have you all, introduce yourself just very, very briefly. Kind of I see your names, but we'll put your name say your name. How long you've been on the council, not only been mayor. Just talk a little bit about why the process is important to you and what
you hope to get out of it. My colleague are taking notes, so we'll have all of that captured as part of this as well. But, anyone can volunteer the person on their right to go second. You see, I am funny. I told you I was working on my standouts. Mayor, would you like to go first? Mayor. Sure. Kim Nardin, mayor of City Of Rochester. I've been mayor now for just over six years, starting my seventh year, hard to believe. It's gone by fast. I would say, it it's important for me to have the elected body set the the goals and plans for the city so that our staff who are exceedingly talented,
can do the work that we want them to do and not be a cross hair. So it's really important for me to have a lot of discussion upfront on issues so that we're we're together, and my hope for today and for the future is that there's more camaraderie and and more of a team approach with the council. I don't it shouldn't feel we shouldn't feel at odds with each other. We all represent the same constituencies, and so, to be able to come to a common understanding and a common goal that we can all move forward on and and help direct our staff.
That's great. Wonderful. We'll come around here and put the City of Journey on the spot and we can play with it as well. So what are you hoping to get out of the process? Why is this important to you wanted to sit here and so here you are. Michael Spindler Craig, city attorney with Rochester. Been in our role for four years. Been with the city for twenty. And, I do not hold an election certificate, as you know. So my hopes and dreams really don't necessarily matter. I'm the guardrails guy who tries to make sure that all of you are successful in what you come up with through this process.
Thank you. We we all appreciate guardrails. Thank you. Adam, Also my garden girl person. So Allison Zell, city administrator. I just started my fifth year in that role, last week, so it's kind of exciting. Can't believe it's been that long either. I'm really excited to have this process, underway. We have a new team of council members. So for me, very similar to what the mayor said, it's super helpful to the team if we can have alignment, clarity alignment, and unity. Something else from our logo process and branding process,
it helps the team who is most of whom are here, to be able to understand where is the console coming from. And this process and and what comes from it, I think, will also help them get a sense for it. Even if the crew have found the alignment at the end, hearing the discussion of what we said to get there will help them to have a better idea of the why of their work and help them be able to really prioritize things that they're doing and align their work with what your priorities are. Thank you. Yeah. My name is Dan Doring. I represent Ward 6 on the city council and have done so for twenty one
days. That's what's counting. Right. During the campaign season, it was really an honor and a privilege to listen to the hopes and dreams, for our community from, the residents I talked to. And during this the strategic planning process is important to me because I would like to have their input represented in the process. So that's what I bring to, to this as well as my own ideas. I hope to get out of this process in increased camaraderie with those other elected officials as well as city staff,
plus I continued I wanna continue to build trust, with with the city council as well. Great. Thank you. Yeah. Sean. I'm Sean Palmer. I was elected six years ago. I served the fifth war. I just wanna listen to my colleagues to see what their ideas are and how they can get. Awesome. I'm Randy Schubert. I am, like, my colleague, all of twenty one days in the in the role as city council president. And here in Rochester, City Council President is the only other office besides the mayor that is elected at
large. So, the entire city is my constituent. And, to, to echo what council member, Dohring and and Palmer has said and the mayor, I really want to, one, look to what the community input that I've gotten over the course of the, the last year and incorporate that into, our priorities, as well as in my role as city council president to make sure I hear the common threads of, of priorities and,
directions that the council wants to take. So that then in my role facilitating our council meetings, I can then articulate that back to staff so that we have that flow between governing body and staff implementers. Great. Thank you. Appreciate that. I am Norman Wall, Ward three. Strategic planning is important to me in that there are a million great ideas out there and not a million opportunities to support a million great ideas.
So that if we, can come to a better understanding of what, a few golden pieces of our direction will be that will be helpful to, everyone, in this room from our elected people to staff to, the public. What I hope to get out of this, you know, I find this process intriguing because unlike, two years ago when I was new, and there was one person new on on, the group, and there was very little that changed. Now we have four new people out of seven elected. And what does that do?
You know, consider the federal, about face that we've witnessed, in the past week or so. I don't think that we have that on the council, but the fact that we have a a large turnover, creates an opportunity for many new ideas. I'm Nick Miller. I represent Ward 2, and I like many of my colleagues, I'm part of this new group that's coming in just a few weeks ago. And I'll just echo a few things that have been said. I heard a lot of things in the campaign of folks, dreams, wants for our community, challenges in our community. And I I think this process can help us define a common language that we're
working on, the needs of the community, working working in the same direction. And I think that what's unique about this and what I hope to get out of it is that common language since we can only meet together as a whole body in public. We get to do this in public, and we get to, define what those common threads are and also provide some of the guidance underlying them of what those mean and how they perhaps are more related than we would, immediately take them to be. So looking forward to this, looking forward to finding this common direction with my colleagues. Thank you. Hi. Patrick Keane, with the city of I was elected two thousand two hundred and thirteen days ago.
Okay. Now we all have to do math. High five. And I participated in a couple of these things. Okay. I come to these things sort of fascinated with that. Well, we do this pyramid all the time with city vision and organizational vision and that leading to, like, foundational principles. And then we get into this idea. And there's a little bit of a waterfall feel to it, but I come from a corporate thing where everyone does get in line and does waterfall stuff, and I don't find that to actually reflect the real world in corporate or in city government. So there's two different things that I think I try to get out of this.
One is this idea of, like, what are we communicating? But I think if it's done well, it's also decision support system. I also, so I come here with the idea of saying, like, what does it say and how has it been helping? And is it real? And you you you had a really good point of talking about, like, where where are we Do where do we want to be? And I call that sort of gap analysis. Yes. Like, and are there not only gaps on that set, but is there also gaps between what we're doing and what our strategic priorities say would be? So I hope to do that.
The other real goal out of this is when this group called seven and eight meet and discuss these priorities, I always think it's so important that we're communicating to the staff who actually ends up doing the work. And do they do the work based on what has their normal priorities and what other cities are doing? Or are are we articulate enough that they're working off of the council's priorities, which is hard to do. Great. It does sound like you've done this before, so thank you. Appreciate your perspective. Alright.
Well, we're going to go ahead and jump right in, and we're gonna start with this SLOC strengths, limitations, opportunities, and challenges. And what I'd like you to do is, you two can have an opportunity together, and you two and you two and then you three. And then staff, I'm gonna who are at these three tables? I'm gonna invite you to also have the same conversation and maybe take some notes, somebody at each table that you would bring back when my team is with you on February.
You've done a little bit of pre work for that. So you can hold it today, but bring it to that meeting on February. Okay? So what your job is going to be, in your groups of two and three, is just to go through and answer each question. So for strengths, you you know, what does this city do exceptionally well? What are your strengths? What constraints or limitations do you have? You know, where do you see the city struggling? What opportunities should you be prepared to leverage? What are your opportunities for innovation? And finally, what gets in the way of progress?
And what new challenges, are emerging here? So if you'll, take notes in your group. Yes, sir. Can I can I ask a defined question? Sure. Do we think city are we thinking the city of Rochester the entity of, like Yeah. Entity, or are we thinking the city? Yeah. Oh, that's a great that's a great question. So I did use capital c in my slides, which the code for me is if I use capital c. I am thinking about the, corporate entity, the city of Rochester. So that's kind of what I'd I'd like you to focus on.
When you get to opportunities and challenges, though, I will invite you to also take it out, and you can say, as a community, here are some opportunities that I see, or here are some challenges that we have, and bring those in. We can connect the dots, to the corporate entity there. Does that make sense? Yeah. Okay. Thank you. Alright. So we'll do that. You have three tables. We'll have a conversation. I'll give you some time to do this, and then we'll have each group report out. Do you have a question? Oh, can we do a all four of them? Go ahead and do all four of them now, and then we'll answer each question deliberately,
though. So each group will have strengths, each group limitations, opportunities, challenges, and, you all will also hold your input for the session on the eleventh, if that's okay. Alright. Alright. So I'll I'll be I'm here. I'm gonna check-in on you, but take your time, have a good conversation, and, we'll come back together as a big group in a little bit. Yes. Okay. And, hear from the the one to three groups on council, walk through each of the four questions, and we'll start we'll start with strengths. That was the first one. So let me, you know, pick pick on you guys here.
More than five and six. You all start us off with what strengths would you see in the city doing exceptionally well? Yeah. So I'm gonna I'll just share two of them. Okay. We think that the city tries to listen exceptionally well. Tries hard. We try very hard. Okay. Right. With community engagement, to listen to priorities, things like that. We also see a huge strength as, in collaboration between city units to to get things done. Nice. No. That's that's real complimented, Joe. What are you all? Well, I'll I'll I'll start with one that's also,
collaborative collaboration, but it's partnerships externally. Partnerships with, the business community, with Mayo Clinic, with, we here in Rochester have our destination medical center board, which is kind of another level of government. And I think the city works extremely well on managing those partnerships and, making sure that they are too late for communication. But I think you would also add, because I took down some of the notes that you were talking about,
Randy. Schools, county Yes. Regional legislators, chamber of commerce that we have, good relationships with, REDI, for our note taker. That's r a e d I. It's a good word. It's Spelled different from most credits. Yeah. Nice. Well, that's good. Those are those kind of anchor institutions that the city has to partner with and collaborate with. That's great. Oh, and and, I I mentioned one of our strengths as a city, in my view is, just exceptionally strong city staff who are competent, intelligent, and really, are able to,
work in the community answering community needs. Wow. That's great. Y'all should feel good about that. I believe they have all the time. Did they say that from the guys? Yeah. Jumping off that. I mean, he's just by saying that we have a city that excels in providing our core services, maintaining our roads, public works, our removal community, you know, all of the services that we've come to think of. And you this is Minnesota. Right? You got rid of all the snow. There was zero snow. That is very well done. The people in New Orleans are taking notes. So I've been there many years too. We we have really strong financial indicators. We have a triple a bond rating.
We have, strong indicators on our, you know, tax levy versus capacity. We've maintained that at a reasonable level. And then our our funding opportunities with partnerships like the DMC, it also provides exceptionally strong funding, partnerships for transformative infrastructure projects, modernization. Nice. That's anything from our discussion? The the only one I had written down was, staff balance. That, that balance between having dynamic some dynamic, like, new people come in, but also stable long term. It's not the extreme of every position is filled.
We're growing our own leaves. But the flip side is we're also getting new ideas. Nice. Okay. So you said you were only gonna say two. Is there something else you wanna add? Are you feeling good? Anything else anyone of you your groups, would add to the strengths list? Good? Very well rounded. Well, let's go ahead and go then to limitations, and we'll have, Norman and Randy, tee this one off. So what where where do you see the city struggle? What what limitations do you see? Money. Money. Pretty press not working? That would be great idea. Let's write down one down. We would have to go with a federal government. So money Again,
a million great ideas, but Yeah. Not an opportunity to find a million ideas. Okay. Oh, I was gonna add, Norm. Yes. Norm said that I thought was really intuitive, That we are isolated here in Southeastern Minnesota and we are not a part of the metropolitan area where 80% of legislators are and so we're kind of isolated. And and so to be able to get our message to, to other powers that be in the state is a is a challenge.
Okay. Yeah. I'm making enough noise here. Alright. How about here? Yeah. I'll start on just the whole and these weren't, you know, just discussions. But one of them is that idea of, like, because you have good execution, you end up with resistance to change. Mhmm. And, again, this is where it gets hard when change is needed. Mhmm. And and it's like that. You have to build towards that consensus. Yeah. The other one was, the limitation right now is that the past partnerships that we depended on, whether it be in the private sector or that, those sort of partnerships aren't working the same way the one we're thinking of is
housing. Okay. Gotcha. How about here? Pond in. Yep. Did Jan send the notes? Before Of course. And we'll come back to you. If anybody wants to chime in, I'm just trying to put it. One thing that we talked about that's sort of linked to something the other group, mentioned was that while our city continues to grow population and the the the needs and the things our community wants continue to grow, our staffing has remained fairly stable for so long it's not even funny. And so the burden and the needs, we don't always have the staff available to be able to keep up with that in a way to for you you know,
even though we do a great job Yeah. It's gonna get to a point here, and I think in some areas has, where you just can't do it anymore. And I think of programming and parks as an example. We can't afford a program anymore. We don't have the staff to do that. Right? So that that funding area between we need to start thinking about our staff and hiring in order to burn them out. That came up in years That was what I said. It tied to what you said. I'm sorry. No. No. No. That was great. Great deal. Great deal. Dean. Yeah. So we talk about how folks are just busy, and we wish that there would be more involvement,
civic involvement, but living in a realization that that life is busy for our residents. So there's just a ton of time pressure. I also talked a little bit about the lack of trust. It has been a difficult period of time, and I get a sense that there is some trust relationships that need to be built back up. So, that is going to limit the way that we can move forward until that trust is is rebuilt. Trust, where? Yes. Okay. There we go. Yeah. I've got it all down. Where don't you need trust in life?
Right? That's good. Always something to work towards. Anything else in terms of limitations that anyone would add? Yes, please. Just refining money or resources. State and federal funding sources are not always guaranteed. They can change with changing of the alignment of legislation. Our current Minnesota House is is not in session, and they have to pass the budget this year. I actually have state funding that's dependent on that budget being passed. Federal sources perhaps changing already changing. Yeah. Okay. So we don't have local control of all of our funding sources.
Yeah. So not only do you need need more resources, but the ones that you sometimes count on, you can't always count on it. And we also have the limitation of what our tax capacity is from our residents. We can't keep asking that when it's difficult for them to Yeah. K. Okay. So the rock and the Hardy place have been identified. Alright. Well then, what about those opportunities? And so, you know, kind of what what do you where does the city need to be prepared to leverage opportunities? Are there places you can innovate? And this one, I do invite the expansion of beyond the city government,
but thinking about the community and those opportunities. And this group, y'all can go first. Okay. Well, I always think of opportunity as continued community engagement, the best way to do it, and communication, which despite adding communication staff, it's very difficult to communicate in this world at this time. Mhmm. So those are opportunities for us to keep learning and changing. We've talked about new staff being, you know, an opportunity, so we have that. And an opportunity to update plans. As things have changed, our community grows.
Okay. Thank you. We, opportunity wise, the downtown area growing is a huge opportunity for us. Our employment in Rochester is a huge opportunity that we have, strong employment, and then we have a safe city. Gio? One of the opportunities that we well, as, council member Gewald said, we have unlimited potential. And one of those, opportunities is with the, the $5,000,000,000 bolt forward unbound program by Mayo Clinic is an opportunity for us as a city, along with partners,
business community, and, and other, partners within, the area to leverage that, to look to other opportunities, for, businesses to come here to, to especially as we are a growing city with that, mail there, we we really need more opportunities for those that aren't going to work for health care and also, that we make sure that everybody rises as that, that, project moves forward. Okay. That has a broader impact. So important things to be,
prepared to leverage for sure. Anything else in this area? Yes. We have a growing city, and we have a lot of different perspectives, both for people moving from other places in The US, other places internationally, and we have a real opportunity to engage these different perspectives in different places of leadership, boards and commissions, and community organizations, and benefit from the wonderful wealth of knowledge and experience we have in our city. Nice. Okay. Great. What's one comment I make? There's times when I'm listening for opportunities that I think it's more dynamic, and I was hearing more of, like, strengths.
Ah. And I'm trying to like, I'm thinking of opportunities that are more, like, like Leopardly. You're saying as far as, like, growth with lots of different perspective and trying to draw it in is an opportunity. I I go back to when we talked about the the the constraints with, financials, but it also is, in my view, an opportunity in a place like Rochester with things going on like Mayo's major investments with the DMC in place as a funding model to help with our infrastructure. I think of those as opportunities that we need to make sure we bring to bear. Okay. Gotcha.
So that investment is something you all really need to figure out how to capitalize on. Yeah. Okay. The last category is those challenges. So what, what sometimes gets in the way of progress? What, what challenges are emerging or that you struggle with? We'll start, I think, back here with you all. Dan and I. We kinda disagreed on this one a little bit. Oh, good. Alright. I raised the I raised the pace of growth that is happening can be challenging Mhmm. To make sure that that we're we're growing and growing and planning,
intentionally. My partner here listed that as a, as an opportunity. Mhmm. So, I I think it's a both and. Sometimes it's the two sides of the same coin. Right? Yep. Yeah. Excellent. Good to see it that way. How about you all? One of the things we talked about, and I think, other groups have, touched on it is community engagement in the fast paced world that we're in. We, it's hard to get attention. Mhmm. And one of the things that we we talked about was that a lot of what the city does is people don't notice it,
but from a community engagement standpoint, we should we and I I'm speaking about us, the the electeds here, participate in that community engagement to do the the drumbeat to say, you know, your your streets are flowing. The parks are maintained. That, the we we're a safe city. That we keep reminding our residents of where their tax dollars are going so that when push comes to shove, that they are they know that there's value in,
in their local government. So so having that that community engagement really be, long term and constant. Yeah. You all have an important role to play as the elected officials and remind you folks of of what you do do well. Because you don't have to be perfect all the time. Maybe. I mean, no. No. I'm sorry. Probably you don't. Probably not to be perfect all the time. So reminding them of those things that you do well. So that's where we go. So I will just ask people, I know it's a small room and there's a lot of people, so maybe no sidebar conversations because it's kinda distracting and we're trying to get a
good quality of the video for people who might be interested in seeing later. So thank you. How about for you all? Julie. Wait. Wait. Yeah. Sorry. I lost track. I'll just track oh, I'm sorry. You're talking about your loss? Again, I was looking at the challenges. I'm looking at these and I I came about this came at a different angle. Mhmm. And when we talked about it, it was like, one thing right now that, we we have over the last couple of years taken on a lot of commitments. And I think we're in twenty twenty five, 20 20 six in execution mode. And I actually think one of the main ways the public will judge the city
of Rochester over the next couple years is execution. And it it almost to to the extent that I need to be more blunt, I don't wanna hear the next good idea. But there's a million of them in my room. Right. And I know and that and that sort of like is a can can you do that after you're, you know, more in that idea or a policy board and with this can you really, like, narrow the focus and make sure that What you have been committed to do is to focus and not the next shiny thing that comes up.
Gotcha. Squirrel thing. So I'm gonna add Yeah. Excuse me. So I'm gonna I'm gonna get to the uncomfortable part here. But I think we, as a city, are facing limitations moving ahead. There are gonna be a challenge, which is what's happening federally. What can we count on on the hundreds of millions of dollars we are drawing out from the federal government? Are we gonna be able to take it? Will there be strings attached that we don't wanna do or we would need to make really tough decisions on? We worked really hard, and one of the things probably I should put as a strength in Rochester is
we've moved ahead with, diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives in this community that I'm very proud of. We have worked on our our ADA, with, you know, a a fellow, and we're working, you know, really in a direction that feels really good, and all that could be limited. And the challenge of how do we move ahead creating the city that we all want for our residents at a time when funding may not be following, and how are we gonna do what we wanna do without all the funds? And I think those are gonna be some really tough decisions and challenging times ahead.
I don't wanna overplay the concern maybe, but I have it. And I know other people in the community are feeling it. And so I'm just gonna put it out there. Thanks for saying it. It ties back to that funding that you don't have control over it, but given all the change that's happening right now, it really raises all the potential anxiety that it may all change in a way we're not ready for it. So thank you. Yes, sir. We also talked about the challenge in that there used to be joint, coordinated staff offices between the county and the city that we don't have anymore. And now the challenge is to bring together those partnerships with the county,
which we don't, right, has some jurisdiction. The city has some jurisdiction on an issue like housing homelessness. Mhmm. We have to work together to meet that that opportunity. And so that's a challenge is to work with our counterparts. With schools, we heard loud and clear that good schools are a priority for our community. That's not something that we fund directly. And so the challenges of working with our partners to create the community that we all want, when we share different jurisdictional responsibilities. Yeah. What do you control? What can you influence? How do you leverage the influence that you have? Excellent. Anything else on these areas? Alright.
This is a great start, and I'm I know we're really eager to hear from the staff when we, meet up with them. And you'll get a chance to hear all of that, when we come back to work with you all. So the next thing I want to do, is this exercise that I've got through to pay for engineers. So I put some sticky notes in front of y'all, and and some of you have already used them, and I have more. So that works out really well. And what I'm gonna invite you to do is maybe on the pink sticky notes, and then I'll invite you to use the Sharpie that I put in front of you. One idea for sticky note,
Three sticky notes. So that's three of you, not a million, just three. What are three things that are true about Rochester today that are precious? That you don't wanna mess it up. You wanna make sure it is still true ten years from now. So one idea for sticky note on pink. Then when you finish that on the blue one, you're gonna write one idea for sticky note, three things that aren't true about Rochester today that you hope would be true ten
years from now. So I'll advise you to do that and, we'll collect those, you know, one at a time from you. I'll pull them up to the board here, but we'll have you write them down. If you use the Sharpie when I take a picture, it'll pop and I can read it. So if you use a pen, it doesn't work so good. So thank you very much. Pink is true today that you still wanna be true in ten years. Blue is not true today. I need a replacement sticky note for you. Three. If you need more sticky notes, then you've used your three. We have answers. I do. Okay. I'm gonna invite you all to share these,
and someone has something written down that you also wrote down. They did not steal it from you. So we will just do it. If we have more than one, it's okay. So let's see what we have in common. Are you ready? Almost. Who wants to go first with the things that are true today that you hope would still be true ten years from now? Alright. Thank you, Norm. A regional, national, and international leader in health care. K. A culture of caring for the other. Mhmm. And a place of opportunity for employment and security. Thank you. You have a great handwriting.
I I I forgot to mention. If you write literally, I appreciate it. Alright. Who'd like to go next? I can go next. Alright. A welcoming city that cares about its residents, neighbors, and visitors. Mhmm. And I was not looking at doors. He did not steal his heart. He stole it. Strong and a strong and vibrant parks and trans system. Okay. And, we are the top economic driver for the state. Oh, that's pretty big. Can we just go down the line and come to you, Sean? Sure. I put down,
good job opportunities, safe city, and a caring community. Okay. How about you, Dan? Yeah. I put safe community, low unemployment, and good quality of Okay. Alright. Thank you. Come around to the mayor here. I didn't copy because you're too far away, but we have a great park and trail system that I'm proud of. We are a caring, compassionate, safe, and healthy community. I have a lot of things in my mouth. I was cheating my little bit. Sorry. And we are financially strong. I was thinking of the city of Rochester as opposed to the small city city.
Yeah. Well, that's good. Perfect. Good to get them all. Thank you. How about for you, Patrick? Yeah. I don't know if I took a slightly different view on this, but I my first one was people come to Rochester to do exciting work that they cannot do elsewhere. Uh-huh. Good one. Yeah. And the second was youth in Rochester can stay because there's an opportunities and a good economy. Okay. And number three, residents will want more entertainment options that they will ever show up for. I have to cut that one in half. Oh, I see. He missed the bad part of the middle one.
I like it. Saving little pieces. Saving pieces of paper. Okay. Hello. Where am I? Thank you. Yes. Rochester is a great place to live in all stages of life. Mhmm. Nice. We have active core neighborhoods that are in demand places for people to build community. And I also mentioned our extensive recreational trail network that connects parks and neighborhoods. Alright. Well, since you went silent, Paul. That's not why I'm standing. Just coincidence. He's waiting for the standing ovation, and that's that's not everything. Well, since you had to go last, Nick,
do you wanna go first this time on some things that aren't true today? That I didn't help you, but you would hope would be true ten years from now? Sure. I I got two things. I am So coming up with my last one. Okay. One thing I would hope would be true, in ten years is that we have sufficient housing supply at all levels of portability, and we have a robust transportation system that enables all people in our community to live their daily lives. Nice. Okay. Alright. We'll go to you. You're not ready yet. Okay. Mayor, we'll go to you. My hope is that we're fully ADA compliant and beyond for residents and patients.
Everyone has an opportunity to succeed in Rochester, which is food to eat, housing, health care, and employment. All of it. And last one was that our city is sustainable and resilient, meets the UN sustainable development goals of clean air, water, water, water, That's why it gave it to us. Yeah. K. I just bought. How about you? Yeah. Sustainability and environmental leader, done up housing of all kinds, and affordable daycare. Oh. That sounds alright. Okay. And then we will go ahead and give it to you, Sean. More equity for all and more housing opportunities and more educational opportunities.
What'd you got? A diversity of employment opportunities for all of our citizens, a wide diversity of housing options for all, and stronger connections and clout throughout the state. Okay. I accept on that one, limitation. Go ahead, Norm. Housing for all, including eradication of homelessness, a more diversified economy, and a beacon of working together irrespective of political ideology. Nice. Did you come up with a third one, Nick, while they were Yeah. I'm gonna so we often are thought of as a a destination for health care.
And I think being a city of a healthy city is a growing opportunity out of that. Okay. Housing and affordable housing are a secondary issue. Leadership reflects population. Okay. That's good. Those are good. Those are real good. Alright. What's your observation about these, these sticky notes that you all were trails? And I think, you know, beyond just city services, this is a group of people who care more deeply beyond just city services and to just the whole wellness of the community. Correct. Mhmm. That's just seen. Gotcha. Wellness is not just physically even,
but I get a sense of emotional wellness and we work together and and, just healthy in all its many iterations. And then I think most people do care. Yeah. Even some of the loudest voices, when you actually talk to them, they do care. They care about their neighbor. They could take care. Yeah. Might be what makes them laugh sometimes. Great. Okay. This is the starting point. This is what we've been working for today. I mentioned that we're gonna be back, well, be back virtually, with the leadership forum on February.
We'll hear kind of expanding on the ideas that they've built today, and we'll start to see where this is taking us in terms of a vision for the community and some outcome areas. I'll give you a heads up that for that March workshop, there might be a little bit of homework involved. So just, you'll probably get, a memo from Michelle and Jen and Maddie kind of giving you a little bit of work to do for that workshop. And we are just going to go ahead and wrap things up up a little bit early today. You all were very efficient. So and before we do the wrap up, are there any questions that you all have,
for me tonight? Today? What is it? Evening? Yes, sir. I guess I have a question that may be more for staff. Sure. We're we're doing this thing looking at, again, our strategic initiatives. But we're starting out. We have a base. We're in it into a new year. Are we making any assumptions about the base? Are we making any are are we starting with a clean sheet of paper? Or it appears we're starting with what we have and seeing if it should change. Or how how should how would you how how should I think of it going forward? Well, I mean, I guess that was for me. It really is up to the city council,
but, I mean, you you do have the foundational principles that exist to typically like, those are typically not part of you don't typically change those with your strategic priorities. So if you wanted to do that, that would be helpful for Julia and her team to know. Yeah. If there was a desire to I mean, a lot of what I heard is reflective of your community vision, but a lot of the community planning that you've been doing over the last ten years, twenty well, forever, but more recently. And so I think that's really I would direct that question back to the group.
If you're feeling like starting from the high level priorities that you have and clarifying those. Right? We have the community vision. We call it city vision because the word community doesn't fit in the top of the triangle. That's the end. But it's a community plan. And then we have the foundational principles, and we have the organizational vision, and we have the strategic plan. So we're really focusing on those strategic priorities here. Right now, you have affordable living, quality living, and economic vibrancy, growth management. So I think we're talking about that level unless the city council is uncomfortable with
one of the other. Are we able to put that triangle off so we can see it and know what what part of the triangle here it is? It it was in Maddie, how magical are you? Probably not that one. You don't have to be that magical. I mean, it's fine if you're not, because I would not be that magical. But if you are, great. It's on your website. Have the foundational principles. They those are really so those are things that are sort of sometimes conflicting. Right? Depending on the decision. So in your, foundational principles, you have environmental stewardship,
fiscal responsibility, and sustainability. So we're talking about the sustainability of your fiscal responsibility. The stewardship is more the sustainability version of Yep. Public safety, social equity, and compassion. So, there it is. That wasn't that. That's Jessica. That's Jessica. Good job, Jessica. Thank you. So we're starting with, like, the foundational principles on that. I would say you're not starting with the foundational principles. With the foundational principles. So I I think through the process and we're gonna do some one on one
calls with you all in the coming weeks. So we'll be able to drill into kind of, you know, where how you use these, what you observe about them. If there's anything that you feel needs to be updated, when we gather that information, if there's something we need to address at the March workshop, we can. But this strategic priorities area really is kind of that focus. Those are big buckets of things that must go well, to achieve the vision, and we'll affirm the vision through this process. We'll adjust it as we need to. I mean, it is important, as the mayor said, for the governing body, for the elected officials to kinda come together on this.
When you all reinforce kind of where you're going, it sends a very clear message to your staff team about how to align programs and resources to achieve that. So part of this process will be just kind of validating, tweaking as needed, but totally focused in this strategic priorities area. Yes, sir. So and so I do appreciate that. And I that's where I came towards this with the idea. And I'm I'm actually fairly comfortable with the, like, the higher level buckets. But I guess my my thought is that in 2025, we need to look at then what are we really meaning underneath affordable Mhmm.
Living or what what kind of like looking at the landscape and you look at, growth management. I think it is worth looking at how we close down and say, do we have the right areas there? And that's what in my view of coming here and what I wanna hear my peers talking about and see if I am in sync. But this is the area that like, when I look at affordable living, I really that really resonates with me. But going rent to housing and creating housing doesn't wreck doesn't I mean, that to me is much more in growth management. So that's the area that I came thinking I'm gonna be talking about.
And I I and not the next level down, not the action plans. Right. But but here and I'm really good with the idea of, like, I I'm bought in with the city vision and the foundational. And even even the like, when you talk about the corporate rise, and that's very much more focused internally to the staff and how they operate. I'd like I I accept those as they are, and I'm kind of my domain, I I think, in this group, and this is my with my peers is this thing and kind of exploding down what we mean by affordable living. That hasn't changed since 2023,
since '29 2021 when we first established these and kind of, put some things underneath them. I'm hoping we get to spend some time and some work on those areas. I I'll say a both and. I think because there are four new members here, I think if we go up and just and look at the foundational principles, I think they that sounds good. I and I can get this in the one on one. Yes. You know, where they came from and and,
and reaffirming that. But I think also, really looking at the strategic priorities, is that do do those three reflect accurately what all seven, eight of us are, are, seeing and then drill down. And and I agree with my colleague that we need to drill down. I think I I would what I'm hearing from you is you wanna see more there, and I think just not having participated in, in the previous strategic planning,
I'd like to see more too. So I'd like to get there, but I think some of us may need to take a look at the higher part of the triangle. And I think that was part of the intent here is, like, let's make sure we're all on the same page that this is north. You know? This is where we wanna go. Yep. And then how do we define those buckets of things if this go well? Yeah. Yeah. I I appreciate what you just said because I it's not about going up except, from my perspective, and maybe we'll get into this later, but we we have three strategic priorities, and I know there is a big push in not having too many,
and I I understand that. I'm not sure those are the exact three. I would like some discussion about whether we could modify those a little bit. And I'll just say for the, quality services, for me, that's a given. That that's what this this community does. And I think that should be moved up someplace up there, but we just expect that and that we have, a discussion, if we have to limit it to three, about should there be a different third one and just have quality services as as an expectation. So those are I I have not been involved in the strategic plan last time
because it was while I was o eight at a conference or vacation, I can't remember which, but I missed it. So I really appreciate being included this time and hope to be able to at least look at that, to say is three the magic number or and if it is, can we modify? Well, we don't have a magic number for you all. So, I mean, it really needs to fit what you think the priorities are, and I agree with that, you know, if everything's a priority, everything's a priority. So we need to we need to really focus in, but in a way that's constructive and helpful and captures the intent of of where
you all wanna go and take the city. So that's exactly what we do through this process and affirm that higher level vision. Right? I could just maybe add one thing. I did not need to get the impression that you couldn't change the three. Yeah. I think that's your focus area is that that's the yellow bar. I understand. But I also think I'm not sure that most of the staff could articulate what does environmental stewardship mean there. So, like, through the process that you're doing on your one on ones, having a better understanding of what that is and what do you think a foundational principle is and how we should use it,
I think, is helpful context for your next step. So Mhmm. Just That's all. Okay. That's wonderful. Awesome. Well, thank you very much for for having, me join you all and my colleagues. And they're looking forward to the rest of the process, and I'll give it back to you all that conclude your meeting. And, thank you. Thank you. Thank you very much. We really appreciate that. So if, you see that online, just I can go through it. That's great. But for your next study session on the February 10, we are looking at some adjustments to what you have in the packet in order
to be able to provide more space. I know that, you have been aware that we might have a couple of closed sessions forthcoming. So supporting transformation updates, having AP's plaza update and vision twenty fifty update, I believe that we are looking at having, the AP's plaza one, potentially as our reports and recommendations. And then for your meeting on the February 25, we have the action plan and operations plan update, the reconstruction of the Eighteenth Avenue Southwest and national community survey as well as a
update and conversation with the council about the fire service contract. We are looking at having the reconstruction of Eighteenth Avenue Southwest because we also need a report from recommendations. So we're trying to use both meetings wisely. And then on the March 10, we have here the Chateau Theater update, sidewalk aft bill prioritization update, WMPE compliance update, and any path home update. Chateau Theater, we also think we could do that as a, reports and recommendations as just so you're aware, the federal court does not also have to be a recommendation at a decision that
I have to meet. So let me just make sure that we have time. We have a couple other things that folks wanna bring The only other thing I would note, is on the March 24, you also will be back for more strategic planning. And then on the April 14, we have a holding place for the RPU power supply plan update, and we don't think we're going to need to do that in that way. So couple of, meetings that were very chock full of meeting items, and we are hoping to be able to adjust some of those so the next time you see this, it might be slightly different just for awareness.
Nothing changes about, like, the meeting dates or times or anything of that nature. It's okay. The calendar, like, is always on your today's session, so maybe it's an opportunity, that item, to talk about, you know, what is this or do you really, you know, do this could this be a report some recommendations? I mean, you all actually could ask those questions and, maybe we could utilize that time on your, business agenda more effectively also. So just putting it out there that we provide this in the, in the meeting and as an item in her so that if there are questions
about it or if you do have lots of ideas about how how that should be or if you thought, you know, this really seems like this is this really worthwhile for strategic planning. Do you want to have it in here in March? Those kinds of things are opportunities over the next, few study sessions. You just need to utilize that kind of web. Thank you. I have one, for, company. For our at our last meeting, we had other business and we didn't have any other business. And, not that I'm looking for us to have a long list of other business,
but I think one of the things that we talked about at, maybe our first meeting of the year was to use other business to report on some of the committees and commissions that council members sit on. And so if, keep that in mind as you look at the agenda when it comes out and, think about the, you know, other external opportunities that you folks are are participating on. And if there's a mini report that you can give the rest of us on,
you know, where things stand, I think that would be helpful for the body. Any other thoughts, comments? If not, we are adjourned.