San Rafael adopts three-year strategic plan with 7 priority areas and public performance metrics

The San Rafael City Council on Monday adopted a three-year strategic plan for fiscal years 2025–2028 that lays out seven priority areas, 26 goals and more than 100 objectives intended to guide city policy and spending through mid‑2028.

City staff described the plan as a prioritization and accountability tool that aligns council policy direction, departmental work plans and budget resources; the council approved the measure 5-0.

Nut graf: The plan formalizes a shift to outcome-based management: staff will translate the 26 goals into annual work plans, publish a public performance dashboard, and provide biannual status updates tied to budget cycles so the council and community can track progress and reprioritize when emergencies or new funding opportunities arise.

Assistant City Manager John Stefanski and Assistant City Manager Angela Robinson Pino presented the plan’s structure and the city manager highlighted its purpose as a road map for aligning resources with policy priorities. Director Sean Mooney reviewed the city’s performance metrics program and previewed a dashboard the public can use to see metrics such as taxable sales, greenhouse gas emissions, housing entitlement totals, public‑safety measures and service‑request volumes.

The council emphasized two themes during discussion: the need to be realistic about capacity and the need to keep civic transparency. Council members and staff repeatedly noted that not every objective will be completed on the same schedule because staffing vacancies, unanticipated citywide issues (for example, illegal vending and fireworks) and opportunities for large grants will require reprioritization. The city manager said staff expects to return in the fall with detailed annual work plans that will show which objectives the city can accomplish in the coming fiscal year.

Accomplishments and next steps were a prominent part of the presentation. Staff called out recent achievements that feed the plan, including entitling more than 1,400 housing units, securing over $14 million in grant funding for roadway safety projects, adopting a citywide parks and recreation master plan, launching the SAFE team response program and selecting an enterprise resource planning system (Tyler Munis) to replace aging financial systems. The plan also identifies measurable priorities such as expanding EV charging infrastructure, advancing building‑electrification planning, continuing sea‑level-rise adaptation work and addressing housing production and homelessness prevention.

Council member discussion touched on accountability details. Director Mooney showed existing and proposed performance indicators — for example, reductions in greenhouse gas emissions and measurable progress on housing entitlements and permits — and encouraged the public to review and suggest additional metrics. The city manager said staff will bring back annual work plans and a proposed set of thresholds for when the council should consider reprioritizing projects.

Ending: The council directed staff to produce annual work plans, launch the public performance dashboard and return with biannual updates. The vote was unanimous: Vice Mayor Bushey — Aye; Council member Hill — Aye; Council member Kurtz — Aye; Council member Angelotti/Scarlatti — Aye; Mayor Kate — Aye.