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OSAC sends CCR/CAM template for staff to produce sample aligning requests with Tacoma 2035
Summary
OSAC voted to send a memo on council consideration requests and council action memos (CCRs/CAMs) to the Center for Strategic Priorities to produce a worked example and return to council. Members asked for clearer outcomes, order-of-magnitude fiscal impacts, timelines and milestone reporting to improve accountability and staff planning.
OSAC voted March 13 to transmit a draft memo that would revise how council consideration requests and council action memos are prepared, asking staff to develop a concrete sample showing how new templates would present outcomes, timelines and resource implications.
The committee’s discussion centered on giving policymakers and the public clearer information about what a proposal would achieve and how long it would take. “My intention with talking about these is how can we better align them with Tacoma 2035 and also for the purpose of accountability, efficiency, and alignment,” Chair Edson said, urging specification of outcomes and estimated timelines.
Dakota Warren of the mayor’s office told the committee the recommended CCR/CAM changes include: a concise statement of desired outcomes, an order-of-magnitude fiscal context instead of precise line-item budgets at first review, staff-capacity notes that flag work-plan trade-offs and a short Q&A slot when CCRs are introduced in a study session. “First, you had already mentioned is clarifying the desired outcomes,” Warren said in the briefing.
Members debated how to treat aspirational goals that lack precise end states, such as broad homelessness aims, and recommended breaking such goals into verifiable sub-milestones. A member cautioned that some goals depend on third parties—“what if we have a goal that requires the action of a third party, which the URA is a perfect example,” Chair Edson said—so templates should show dependencies and limits of city authority.
The committee approved a motion to transmit the CCR memo to the Center for Strategic Priorities for development of a detailed example to return to the council. Staff will bring the sample back and provide the committee’s suggested clarifications before the broader council review.
The committee also directed staff to consider administrative mechanisms that would align committee chairs on future agendas and work plans, but it did not adopt substantive rule changes in this motion. The committee expects the sample CCR and related administrative guidance to come before the full council in a study-session setting for further deliberation.
