Part of my annual performance review each year with the City Council is to establish performance goals for me for the upcoming year. I review the goals with the Council and get their general blessing on them. Setting performance goals is something we do with all of our employees here at the City of Eden Prairie. Here are mine for the upcoming year:
1. Budget Leadership – I want to provide overall leadership to the new budget preparation model that Council endorsed earlier this year. Staff is currently working on development of the model in preparation for the 2008-2009 budget process that we will take on in 2007.
2. Introduction of the Performances Measures Project – This goal is connected to Goal #1, but sufficiently different to stand on its own. For the past nine months, City staff has been working on development of performance measures to monitor our operational performance. We hope to develop a system of metrics relevant to citizens, Council and staff. My goal is to launch certain aspects this project with our 2007 budget, but to launch the full set of metrics with our 2008-2009 budget.
3. Organizational Efficiency – Over the past year the Council has engaged in considerable debate about the feasibility and advisability of establishing a new citizen task force to assist the Council with your review of the proposed City budget. I have listened intently to this discussion. I believe that some Councilmembers believe there are operational and managerial efficiencies that City staff could learn from the private sector that would improve our overall management of the City. I believe this may be true. It's also clear to me that some Councilmembers are concerned that establishing such a task force will diminish their responsibility and control over the most important policy document of the City. I believe this may be true as well. I have given this matter considerable thought and believe that I have developed a compromise that may resolve this issue. I have reviewed models for establishing what might be called a "City Manager's Business Advisory Council". In fact, Dr. Krull has developed something like this for the School District. The Business Advisory Council members are appointed by the City Manager for the purpose of bringing their private experience and expertise into the public sector budget and operational review process. But because they are responsible to the City Manager, the City Council's ability to control and shape the final budget is not diminished. I am working on development of a formal proposal along these lines that I will present to the Council later this year.
4. Council Orientation and Planning Session – I don't think that any of us were completely satisfied with the Council's 2006 retreat session. Staff is in the early stages right now of planning the 2007 retreat. I have already had meetings with a planning consultant to help me plan the 2007 retreat. In September, we will take a page from contemporary wedding planners by asking current Councilmembers and Council candidates to "save the date" and commit to attending a well organized and implemented orientation and planning session.
5. Connection with City Advisory Commissions – During the upcoming year I want to study and propose a new system of protocol for the City's deployment of citizen advisory commissions. We are fortunate to have intelligent citizens volunteer their time to serve on our citizen advisory commissions. When I attended their meetings this past year I heard one common question from each commission: "What does the Council want us to do?" They know their respective commissions each have a jurisdiction of some kind and that each commission has the discretion to develop their own limited set of goals; however, they were appointed by the Council and want some more direction from the Council about what they ought to be studying and talking about. My sense of this is that the Council could easily provide them too much direction and then you would hear about that. I believe that improving the way in which the Council relates to its advisory commissions is a golden opportunity to really improve the way we implement the City's broader vision and mission in the community.
6. Staff Development & Management – 2006/2007 will be a challenging year for the development and management of my senior management team. We will incorporate Rob Reynolds into the senior management team as the new Chief of Police in January 2007. There are other potential retirements looming in the near future. Succession planning for senior managers will be an important task this year. I work very closely with my senior management team on city-wide policy issues, so it is important to build a strong senior management team as new people are added to that group.
7. Parks & Recreation Capital Projects – I will have a role in the overall management of the many new capital improvement projects in the Parks & Recreation Department. Depending on weather, contractor and budget, this could be a major new task for me in the upcoming year.
