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Council sets process and March workshop date to finalize 2025–27 city work program
Summary
After a broad discussion of priorities and public input, the council directed staff to consolidate council members’ revised project lists and run a weighted ranking before a March workshop. The council chose March 3 as the preferred workshop date and approved a process for submitting and scoring proposals.
The Cupertino City Council devoted the Jan. 22 meeting to a study session on the proposed fiscal‑year 2025–27 City Work Program. Staff presented the prioritization approach and described the difference between day‑to‑day operations, city work program projects and capital improvement projects (CIP).
Deputy City Manager Tina Kapoor and senior management analyst Astra Dobles reviewed 48 potential projects compiled from council members’ initial submissions, existing work‑program items and staff proposals. Staff emphasized that only a small portion of staff capacity (approximately 10%) can be devoted to new work‑program projects and asked the council to focus on an achievable list.
Council members and members of the public discussed a broad range of priorities including: an urban forest/canopy plan; emergency operations center (EOC) readiness and City Hall seismic decisions; business and small‑business revitalization and economic development; streamlining building and permitting processes; Memorial Park scope and funding; senior services and a leadership academy; impact fee (Nexus) studies; and public engagement improvements.
After discussion the council agreed on a process to produce a final workshop list: each council member will submit a revised top‑10 project list; staff will merge and consolidate duplicate items into a combined list; council members will then rank a set of projects using a weighted scoring system (points of 10, 7, 4 and 1 across tiers) to generate a ranked combined list for the March workshop. The council gave staff a preferred workshop date of March 3 (start time to be confirmed with staff and commissions). Council also asked staff to consolidate common items into combined proposals where appropriate and return refined cost/time estimates before the workshop.
Why it matters: The work program identifies the city’s non‑operational priorities for the next two fiscal years and guides allocation of limited staff time and budget. The council’s process decision sets an auditable method for ranking and balancing competing priorities.
What’s next: Staff will accept revised top‑10 lists from council members, prepare the consolidated list and run the weighted ranking before the workshop. The March workshop will be used to finalize the 2025–27 city work program for adoption.
