Council OKs $130,000 contract with Ramey & Associates to lead strategic priorities process

The City Council authorized a contract with Ramey and Associates to lead a strategic priorities and work-plan effort that will guide city decisions for the next two years and feed into the budget process. Assistant to the city manager Orly Amie said the contract is recommended for a total not-to-exceed budget of $130,000, with $100,000 covering core scope and $30,000 reserved as contingency for optional tasks such as a pre-retreat survey, a social media analysis, board and commission outreach, staff surveys, or a data dashboard.

Amie emphasized that the process is designed to expand and deepen community engagement beyond past practice and to provide the council with data and representative inputs ahead of goal-setting. Matt Ramey, the lead consultant, said the approach is the current council’s process "plus"—it adds a robust community engagement effort to the council’s existing goal-setting practice and produces an actionable, budget-linked priorities document. Councilmembers pressed for clarity on interim check-ins and to ensure that the council’s traditional retreat process and annual work-plan review remain intact; staff confirmed quarterly check-in options and multiple review points. The council approved the contract and asked staff to preserve opportunities for both robust community engagement and the council’s deliberative retreat.