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WHEREAS, City Council is responsible for guiding and informing the city's priority and policy direction; and

WHEREAS, the current schedule of Council meetings, work sessions, and Committee meetings does not allow sufficient time and space for the elected body to conduct strategic priority setting and future planning; and

WHEREAS, City Council's agenda and legislative work can shift in response to real time events affecting the city and communities. A public and adopted strategic framework would enable Council to quickly respond to emerging needs, then refocus back to annual strategic priorities; and

WHEREAS, it is the responsibility of Council to develop strategic direction that guides sound policy development; and

WHEREAS, in the spirit of the City's core values of transparency, accountability and collaboration, City Council will discuss their strategic priorities in an annual public process.

NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, City Council will meet annually in January following the election of the Council President and Vice President for the express intent of setting the strategic priorities, objectives and outcomes for the following 12 months; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the annual strategic priority setting meetings will consist of no less than one meeting with the option of additional meetings as needed; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, Council policy committees may be suspended during this timeframe to provide the time and capacity for full Council to focus on strategic priority setting, with special consideration for emergent issues identified by policy committee leadership, City operational obligations, and other policies which may be addressed at full Council and bypass policy committees until the strategic priority framework is adopted or until January 31; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, this council operating procedure will be a component of the Council Handbook; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the strategic planning meetings will invite the City Administrator and their designee(s) as subject matter experts to contribute to Council discussions; and Kanal Ryan- Friendly Amendment BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that the Council President, Vice President, and City Administrator will jointly determine facilitator(s) for the strategic planning meetings; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the facilitator will guide the process of 1) identifying Councilors' individual operating values and key priorities, 2) identifying Council shared values and priorities, and 3) producing a set of core priorities that will serve as Council's strategic framework; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the final strategic priority framework shall clearly identify areas of consensus, areas of divergence, and unresolved priorities.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Council President or Vice President in coordination with the facilitator will place on a Council agenda Council's strategic framework as a resolution by February 28 each year; and

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the approval of the annual framework including Council strategic priorities, objectives and outcomes in no way prohibits councilors from creating or developing their own legislation. If the annual strategic framework resolution fails to be adopted, the Council may resume Council meetings and Policy Committees on their regular schedules; and 

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that this strategic priority-setting process shall be reviewed by Council after its first year of implementation, including an evaluation of its impacts on equity, committee autonomy, and legislative responsiveness, with Council retaining the authority to amend or repeal the process.

BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, the Council President or Vice President may present a new Policy Committee structure based on the approved strategic framework.