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Minutes of the Goal Setting Meeting on January 21, 20142014 City of Hopkins Goal Setting Day January 17, 2014 Attendance: Mike Mornson, Dale Specken, Mike Reynolds, Dave Johnson, Kersten Elverum, Christine Harkess, Steve Stadler, Jim Genellie, Kristi Halverson, Molly Cummings, Jason Gadd, Cheryl Youakim, Gene Maxwell Mayor Maxwell welcomed and thanked everyone for the progress made over the last year in the city. Mayor Maxwell asked staff and Council members "What do you want to accomplish at today's Goal Setting Meeting?" Council and staff comments included: consensus where headed in 2014, clarity of priorities, consensus on Financial Management Plan, what will the future look like, how will we deliver services in future, gather feedback on large projects, staff connection with the Council, staff goals, setting sights on the city's long-term vision, support a common goal, Council support of staff, how achieve goals, make things better for employees and citizens, bigger picture of entire city and how we grow as a city. Mr. Mornson commented that consensus, clarity and support seem to be a common thread of what staff and Council want to accomplish at today's meeting. Mr. Mornson gave an overview of the day's agenda and reviewed the article "As a Leader" and discussed the leadership checklist. Staff and Council commented that it is a good article and checklist to follow throughout the whole year. What did we accomplish in 2013? : (see attached) Strength Finder Review Mr. Genellie gave an overview of "Discover Your Strengths." All City Council and Department Heads completed the Strengthfinder Profile. 27 out of 34 strengths were identified. The group strengths in common included: Harmony, Responsibility, Arranger, Ideation and Learner. Mr. Genellie discussed the five common strengths. Harmony Harmony is demonstrated by unanimous Council votes, respectful City Council meetings, Council & staff collaboration, partnerships, citizen understanding, look for areas of agreement, City Council setting an example for the community, staff & Council go to extra lengths to communicate with the public, community connections/events are used to bring harmony, and City Council and staff look for a balanced approach. Responsibility Responsibility is demonstrated by projects such as the Hobby Acres Street repaving where the Council and staff recognize a problem and make it right. Staff and Council demonstrate responsibility by doing follow-up, explanations, adapt, change, listen and accommodate as necessary. Arranger Staff and Council demonstrate the Arranger strength by amending city ordinances (for example: to open a brewery or street restoration for utility repairs). Staff and Council will come up with a plan and can be flexible when it comes to projects. Goal Setting Minutes January 17, 2014 Page 2 Ideation Staff and Council encourage new ideas and ways to address problems and issues that demonstrate the Ideation strength. Examples of Ideation include the Blake Road Collaborative, Raspberry Renters and the Depot Coffee House. Staff and Council are open to new ideas and look at new ways of doing things. As an organization it is important to respect and encourage new ideas. Learner Staff and Council are drawn to the process of learning. The Learner strength is demonstrated through the evolution of the street reconstruction process and neighborhood meetings. Staff and Council learn from ideas, suggestions, comments and are able to modify as they proceed. Which strengths did not have? The strengths that were not indicted by staff and Council on the Strengthfinder Profile were command, communication, competition, focus, self- assurance and significance. In conclusion, an organization wants people with unique characteristics to make up the strongest team. Department Updates: Three things to think about for 2014 and beyond Fire Department 1. Recruitment and Retention of Firefighters. The Fire Dept. Is reviewing job descriptions and costs and will present a plan in July or August. There was discussion about a possible income tax credit for Firefighters to encourage retention. The Fire Dept. lost four Firefighters in 2013 due to various reasons. The recruitment process will begin in April, 2014. 2. Emergency Operation Plan in will be reviewed in June. The plan is reviewed every 4 years in conjunction with Hennepin County. 3. Continue Home Fire Safety Inspection Program. 4. Five cities consortium will be meeting in future to discuss a regional plan for an Active Shooter Policy. There was discussion about including information about the benefits of volunteering for the Fire Dept. & Police Reserves in the New Resident packets and getting information to local Realtors. There was discussion about the increase in the response time to 4.5 minutes but this is due to the addition of mutual response time to other cities. Hopkins -Minnetonka Recreation Services 1. Need to consider the recreational needs of our changing demographics. Continued improvements to parks and programming will attract younger families to the community. 2. Increasing need for senior services and programming. The new senior will be looking for non-traditional recreation opportunities. 3. Continue to look for grants and creative uses of grant monies to improve recreational facilities for youth and to meet the needs of changing demographics. There was discussion regarding the successful Hopkins preschool curriculum in conjunction with the School District that attracted 600+ children, ages 3-5, participating in 30 different activities. Goal Setting Minutes January 17, 2014 Finance Department Page 3 1. Financial Management Plan. Ms. Harkess discussed the Hopkins Center for the Arts operating budget and the different initiatives to increase in rentals and mission of the foundation. The Financial Management Plan is a long-range plan that will be updated every year. 2. Software Upgrade. An outside consultant will be facilitating focus group meetings that include representatives from different departments that utilize the software. IT Department will be heavily involved in addressing department needs and security issues. Software choices will be narrowed to two choices and will be tested with actual data to determine effectiveness. 3. Auditors will begin the last week in January. Finance Dept. is currently doing the necessary preliminary work. There was discussion regarding the Hopkins Center for the Arts foundation. Hopkins Center for the Arts will be addressing the Council at a future Work Session. Police Department 1. Personnel Goal Setting in personal or professional life which is beyond just the performance evaluation. Each supervisor will regularly evaluate and assist the employee with their personal goal. 2. Improving officer work space by creating new work stations. Costs will be kept down by utilizing Police Dept. employee skills to create the new work stations. 3. Department survey: a confidential survey through Survey Monkey that will examine needed improvement to improve job satisfaction. There was discussion regarding the undetermined use for the vacated dispatch area and the COPS grant which the city has will begin funding next year. Planning & Economic Development 1. Be Strategic. What are the priorities for use of limited resources of staff and money? The department is looking for direction from Council regarding projects priorities. 2. Think Big Projects. What projects deserve a bold approach and opportunity to make them a regional destination? 3. Leverage Resources. How can we use our partnerships with the County, neighboring city, Watershed District and business community to do more and how do we foster a stronger Mainstreet? There was discussion regarding developing a plan for a vibrant Mainstreet. Mainstreet is a big asset and benefit to the city. Due to the changing environment with traditional retail, staff feels that we need to look at other business uses in the downtown area. Ms. Elverum discussed a proposed Pecha Kucha presentation that allows interested community members to pitch ideas and concepts in quick fast -paced specific format that encourages community engagement and the opportunity to explore ideas. Staff asked the Council for their feedback on the concept. Staff will be presenting the idea in more depth at a Work Session on Monday, March 12, 2014. The plan will assist staff and Council to formulate goals for the downtown area, engage the community to help prioritize ideas, how to use grant money, recruitment of businesses and what kind of uses the community wants in the downtown. Staff wants to recruit a variety of presenters. Staff encouraged the Council to let them know of potential presentations. There was discussion of ways to communicate and engage the public regarding the proposed presentation. Council would like to go ahead with the presentation and feels it will be a good forum to encourage ideas for Mainstreet development. Goal Setting Minutes January 17, 2014 Public Works Page 4 1. Park Board is very engaged and forward thinking and will be looking at the whole park system and evaluating the current needs and looking to enhance what the parks have to offer. Consideration of current activities, cultural changes, demographic changes, land changes, public input and maintenance requirements will be looked at. The park system comprehensive plan will be reevaluated. 2. Planned Park upgrades for 2014 include Oakes Park improvements and creating the new Cottageville Park. 3. Landmark transforming improvements include Shady Oak Road construction, Mainstreet upgrades, 8t' Avenue corridor blending of the regional trail, Mainstreet, SWLRT & art in order to get the public around and connected and Blake Road corridor needs. There was discussion regarding retrofitting Mainstreet with LED lights and having downtown businesses help pay for upgrades. Staff is investigating the costs and process. Staff and Council discussed the possibility of a business improvement district and how to get the support of the business community. Community Services 1. New computer system that allows the community to do more online business. The IT Dept. is looking at ways to increase computer security. 2. Staff replacement: On average eight employees leave each year. 25-33% of staff will be replaced in next 5 years due to long-term employees retiring. It is important to capture knowledge before they leave and replace with quality candidates. 3. Council will be updated with 2013 annual reports and attendance numbers. 4. Overview of communication statistics including Facebook and Ask the City. Staff will continue to investigate new formats of communicating with the public and avenues for asking questions. Small Group Discussion Chief Reynolds led the small group discussion around two questions. The staff and Council split into three groups to discuss the following questions: 1. What service that we provide today will not look the same in 2025? What are they and Why? Group 1: Fire Department may experience more medicals, less fires and not enough people to provide fire service due to less commitment and more mobility. Firefighters may have to be moved to a paid position therefore the increased costs will need to be factored into the budget. Regionalization of Police, Fire and Public Works Departments with more collaboration of services between the cities. Technology changes may see citywide Wi-Fi and paperless billings. Group 2: Fire/medical & police services may need to be combined to save resources, citizens may expect more types of waste management such as organic recycling and with zero-scaping of yards there will be less need for grass and brush recycling. State may takeover building inspections and changes in how the education system interacts with the community. Group 3: Technology changes with elections and billings may increase demands on IT Dept. staff. Regionalization of Fire Dept., Police Dept. and Recreation services. Emergency response will have to deal with an aging population and customer service may move to more automated system. The Public Works infrastructure will have increased demands. Goal Setting Minutes January 17, 2014 Page 5 2. The demands and pressures on our city are tremendous and there are a lot of challenges and possible distractions: We can't let "what" get in our way of reaching our goals? Group 1: Outside influences such as groups, vocal individuals, negative people and money pulling us away from our goals and traditions. Staffing changes bring opportunity and changes but also lose years of knowledge and skills. New staff that is hired should be trained and up to the challenge. Group 2: It is important to not let a few people get in the way of our goals. Need to find a way to complete the vision despite a lack of money. It is important to use strategic partnerships. Conventional thinking can get in the way so we need to think "outside the box". Make sure the next fad or short term gain does not drive the vision and that as City Council members change it is important there is continuity of the vision. Group 3: Do not let other organization's goals, other cities and neighborhood issues interfere with Hopkins broad goals. We need to stay focused on what we need. 2014 Opportunities Mr. Mornson reviewed the past list of opportunities and staff & Council revised the opportunities for 2014. 1. SWLRT 2. School district partnership and collaborations 3. Cottageville Park 4. New immigrants All key eompenents in plaee 5. Cold Storage facility 6. Walk able 7. Developer interest 8. Positioning for aging population and new generations 9. Business recruitment and retention 10. Nine Mile creek regional trail 11. Capitalize on greater exposure to draw people to come into city 12. Build out social media 13. Vacant property 14. Promote Hopkins as the 13th friendliest city 15. New downtown population 16. Access to grant funding 17. Expansion of employment base 18. Good city services 19. Expand public engagement 20. Enthusiastic staff 21. 8th Avenue/ ARTery 22. Blake Road corridor 23. Brand improvement 24. Opportunities to partner with Blake School 25. Cargill 26. St. Joe's Church and parking lot 27. 6th and Main Goal Setting Minutes January 17, 2014 28. 17th and Main 29. Residents as messengers 30. Young families 31. Engaged Business community 32. East end 33. Landfill property 34. Ability to capitalize on biking community 35. Promote reinvestment in aging housing stock 36. Supervalu preperty 37. EbCo property 38. Strategic Financial Management Plan 39. Remnant properties from LRT stations 40. Remnant properties around OMF site 41. Jacob's Trading site 42. Joint development at Blake statio 43. 1 Page 6 Yellow highlighted are changed opportunities from 2013, are new opportunities and str4lethfaugh are eliminated. Any Other Issues or Goals that need Discussion or Attention: • There was discussion regarding SWLRT Project office, OMF mitigation, LRT betterments, scope deferrals and the Johnson building. Staff would like to further discuss with Council the issues and formulate a position statement from the City Council. Staff and Council will discuss further at an upcoming Work Session. • Staff will be attending a meeting on Wednesday, January 22 regarding the Blake Road Lift Station. • Discussion regarding the Blake School rental properties on Harrison Avenue. • Discussion of implementing a structure for employee replacement due to retirements. Final Comments: The staff and Council commented: • liked the meeting room environment • it is good to bring staff & Council together • felt it was collaborative effort • it was helpful as City Council member to meet with the staff • good way to touch base • should be done on a regular basis • important to meet • right amount of material discussed • a good forum for open discussion • affirms we are on the right track • important to look at the big picture to move forward • good to hear from department heads and their goals for upcoming year • support between departments and Council • succession planning important • regroup and get on same page Goal Setting Minutes January 17, 2014 • good to look back and see all the accomplishments • being honest, respectful and looking at big picture • A benefit that we will see things upcoming in the next year Mr. Mornson thanked the staff and Council for participating. Respectfully Submitted, Debbie Vold CITY COUNCIL ATTEST: Eugene J. Maxwell, Mayor Kristine A. Luedke, City Clerk Page 7