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Sammamish council gives direction on draft 2027–28 goals, presses for measurable key results
Summary
Staff presented draft city goals and condensed definitions of success for 2027–28; councilmembers pressed for clearer, measurable 'key results' (SMART targets), debated wording (environment, DEIB, trust, housing, financial stewardship, transportation) and asked staff to return with more specific metrics and cost implications.
City staff presented draft city goals and condensed definitions of success intended to guide Sammamish’s 2027–28 biennial work plan and budget; the council provided detailed feedback and asked staff to return with more specific, time-bound key results.
Analyst Mike Sugg summarized changes — condensing several definitions into two per goal and proposing wording edits across environment, trust and transparency, public safety and emergency preparedness, DEIB, housing, financial stewardship, and transportation. He emphasized the goals are a foundation for the biennial work plan.
Councilmembers repeatedly urged converting broad definitions into measurable, time-bound 'key results.' Councilmember Pamela Stewart proposed distinguishing long-term goals, objectives and near-term key results that are SMART (specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, time-bound). Councilmember Michael Boyer suggested writing each definition of success as an end-state "success is achieved when..." statement, then providing supporting metrics. The mayor and Deputy City Manager Rachel Bianchi said staff will attempt to reconciling qualitative objectives with workable metrics.
Several specific points of council direction emerged: multiple councilmembers recommended removing the qualifying phrase "when appropriate" from the environment goal to strengthen protections; some urged adding capital projects and infrastructure into financial stewardship to reflect the city’s long-term obligations; several asked that trust and transparency be preserved but clarified as actions and measurable outputs (for example, digitized records or a communications dashboard); housing definitions may need an extra line on land use and affordable-housing targets; and transportation key results should include quick safety wins (sidewalk gaps, intersections) and metrics tied to congestion and multimodal access.
City staff and the city manager acknowledged constraints: staff time, union implications for more evening meetings if committees are used, ADA compliance and an upcoming website overhaul to meet federal accessibility standards, and the difficulty of producing one-to-one metrics for some broad goals. The city manager said staff would review the council’s comments and return with a revised draft and recommended key results and metrics for the 2027–28 work plan.
What happens next: staff will return with a revised goals draft, suggested key results and proposed metrics (including cost and staffing implications) to inform the upcoming biennial budget process.
