City Council Minutes 2018 02 13 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes February 13, 2018 Page 2 of 3 Members gave advice on overarching goals including: new leadership for the City; employees need to know the organizational leadership has changed and the manager needs to set the tone Council stated Balser needs to set the new norm as the new boss Members noted what they appreciate about Balser. These are the things to keep doing: • Frequently scheduled individual meetings; • A quick/timely response to requests/questions; • Continue to have good enthusiasm; • Information coming to Council meetings is better/higher quality, more concise, presentations better, good background information from previous meetings is always included; • The brief updates from directors at Council meetings addressing pertinent issues are appreciated; • The Planning Department chart to explain pertinent criteria is a big improvement; • Keep Council informed about upcoming issues/current happenings; timely information of all issues; • Continue to ask for guidance when managing conflicting pnorities New expectations • In meetings have a better framing of the discussion/what staff heard/ what the direction is at a meeting; • Make sure direction from Council is acculturated by staff; staff should take ownership of policy directives; • Information to boards and commissions needs to be improved • In Council memos add information from other points of view; alternatives should be presented without steering towards a specific outcome; explain how staff got to their recommendation, anticipate tough questions; • Want good staff recommendations from professional expertise, particularly on items of a technical nature; not just a list of questions, • When asking for additional funding would like information on where the new funding will be found; • Be careful of recommendations on controversial issues the community may not support; • Watch for personal bias in staff recommendations; • Staff should not be second guessing policy set by Council, • Special Review Use can have a recommendation but decision and waivers are a policy decision for Council, • Staff needs to have a sense of the politics of the community and how to best handle the information; • Be sure the full Council is getting all the same information; perhaps a weekly digest of what was discussed with various Councilmembers; • More employee training/mentoring for staff;