City manager urges council to narrow strategic priorities as budget pressures mount
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Summary
City Manager led a strategic-vision workshop on April 16 asking the Lodi City Council to compress 41 milestones into a smaller set of priorities ahead of the budget cycle; downtown revitalization, economic growth and fiscal sustainability emerged as leading themes.
The City Manager led a priority-setting workshop for the Lodi City Council on April 16, asking council members to help "ratchet down to some specifics" in the city's strategic plan so staff can translate the council's priorities into a budget and work plans.
The session began with a brief roll call and an explanation of the exercise: each council member used up to three colored dots to indicate the milestones they think are most important. The City Manager said the goal was to identify a manageable set of priorities for the next five-year period rather than try to pursue all 41 listed milestones at once.
"I need your help," the City Manager said, asking the council to focus staff resources where the city can get the most impact. He told the council, "If a priority is not in the budget, it's not a priority," and framed the exercise as a way to align the strategic plan with the realities of limited discretionary funds.
After the dot exercise the City Manager summarized the themes that attracted the most attention: downtown revitalization, economic growth and jobs, fiscal sustainability/diversified revenue, managed growth, parks and quality-of-life improvements, addressing deferred maintenance and staffing/training for public safety. He repeated that some items on the plan are routine departmental work while others are large, multi-year capital projects that will require funding and partnership.
The City Manager also noted the downtown specific plan has been discussed by the downtown steering committee and is scheduled to go to the Planning Commission on May 13 and return to council on June 3 for further consideration.
No members of the public spoke during the public-comment period at the start of the workshop. Staff will compile the exercise results and return to the council with a proposed grouping of priorities and options to align those themes with the budget process.
The session closed with a schedule for follow-up: the City Manager said staff will present compiled findings and run additional budget-related sessions before the June council meeting, and no formal action or vote was taken at the workshop.
