01-17-23-WS - Laserfiche WebLink

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Page 1 of 2 AGENDA ITEM – 1K MEMORANDUM DATE: January 17, 2023 TO: Honorable Mayor and City Councilmembers FROM: Dave Perrault, City Administrator SUBJECT: Council Retreat Budgeted Amount: Actual Amount: Funding Source: N/A N/A N/A For Council Consideration Council should consider providing direction on a potential Council Retreat in 2023. Background It is common for City Councils to hold Council Retreats on a regular basis, whether it is annually, every other year, or three years (some Councils do not hold retreats at all, and some do updates quarterly). A Council Retreat can take many different forms, but usually include goal setting, strategic planning, establishing Council Norms or Behavior guidelines, team building exercises, etc. The City of Arden Hills held an informal retreat in 2018 and prior to that held its most recent retreat in 2016. Staff believes with the start of this year a retreat would be beneficial to help align the City Council and Staff with priorities, set concrete goals, establish guidelines and do some basic teambuilding. This retreat would likely last one or two days, take place at City Hall and involve Council and Department Heads. While a facilitator has not been selected, Staff did engage with one two years ago and would like to revive those discussions and bring back a proposal for consideration. This could be approved at the first meeting in February with a potential retreat taking place in late February or March. If Council is open to this, they could provide potential topics or ideas in addition to those recommended by Staff below: • Short-term (one year) goal setting/priorities • Medium-term (two to four years) goal setting/priorities • Strategic planning exercises • Personality profiles (DISC, this would be if Council wants to pursue it) • Council Norms of Behavior