Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Mayor Council Retreat topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Deputy City Administrator Joe Panino says mayor-and-council retreat aligned Roswell leadership
Summary
In the first episode of the City of Roswell podcast, Deputy City Administrator Joe Panino said a recent mayor-and-council retreat helped staff and elected officials align on priorities for residents, set goals for 2026 and scheduled follow-up strategy and reporting sessions, including a live‑streamed meeting on Feb. 13.
Deputy City Administrator Joe Panino said a recent mayor-and-council retreat gave Roswell’s newly elected officials and senior staff a shared sense of direction and produced agreed priorities that the city will track going forward. "Retreats are important…to step away from what we like to call the tyranny of the urgent," Panino said in the inaugural episode of the City of Roswell podcast Inside Roswell.
Panino, who oversees planning, performance and innovation as well as human resources, communications and information technology, told the mayor that the retreat gathered elected officials, the city administrator, deputy administrators, CFO Bill Godshaw, police and fire chiefs, department directors, senior staff and external partners such as Roswell Inc. He said that cross‑department participation prevented siloed decision-making and surfaced interconnections between functions such as transportation and public safety.
The host said staff were asked to prepare presentations on short notice and that initial nervousness quickly turned to engaged, solution‑focused discussions. "They were very well prepared," the host said. Panino agreed, praising staff for pivoting rapidly to support newly elected council members and the mayor and for answering many questions even when they could not immediately provide every historical detail.
Both the mayor and Panino described one of the retreat’s main outcomes as agreement on high‑level goals for 2026, with only minor tweaks requested by council. Panino said the city will now move to a follow‑up work session and strategy session to define a cadence of reporting and accountability so elected officials can monitor progress on the agreed priorities.
The host said that the follow‑up meeting on Feb. 13 will be live streamed and that citizens were welcome to observe the planning discussions, noting the retreat already included Roswell residents and one reporter in person. Panino emphasized that transparency and giving residents insight into how decisions are made helps build trust.
The podcast closed with both speakers reiterating a commitment to civil discourse and collective problem‑solving. The mayor thanked Panino for appearing and invited listeners to subscribe to Inside Roswell for further episodes on city projects and services.
