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City Council Meeting Retreat <br /> Tuesday, February 18, 2015 <br /> Page 3 <br /> Councilmember McGehee seconded the comments made by Councilmember Etten, opin- <br /> ing that rather than the term "evolution," she would prefer organizational "priorities," to <br /> determine how the City wanted the culture to work rather than working toward evolution. <br /> Mr. Rapp questioned if organizational "excellence" would be preferred versus "evolu- <br /> tion,""allowing the City to determine its own level. Mr. Rapp questioned if the organiza- <br /> tion itself and delivery of service by the organization could be separated or if it was about <br /> prioritizing what the organization did, improving and/or fixing how it was done, or what <br /> their intent actually was. <br /> Councilmember McGehee opined she thought priorities would be a group discussion of <br /> the City Council and Depai tment Heads to make that determination, including succession <br /> planning, and what it meant to bump up service levels in different departments. Coun- <br /> cilmember McGehee further opined that she thought it would be trying to establish some <br /> understanding of priorities and a cost benefit analysis in making those changes, and <br /> thereby causing City Manager Trudgeon to determine the internal structure of groups <br /> working across departmental lines. <br /> Mr. Rapp noted key words that he continued to hear during this discussion: priorities, ex- <br /> cellence, focus and evolution, and effectiveness. <br /> Community Development Director Bilotta noted that even when there was a desire to cut <br /> a program or service, it continued on because it was done last year. With a limited <br /> amount of resources, Mr. Bilotta noted the importance of defining and/or redefining <br /> where to put those resources—staff and finances. <br /> Mr. Rapp noted that he continued to hear that prioritization issue a number of times, and <br /> suggested changing language from "organization" to "resource prioritization to more <br /> clearly define the intent. <br /> Mayor Roe opined that may make it too narrow. <br /> Councilmember McGehee agreed that was too narrow; and resorted to her category from <br /> yesterday, "determining priorities as broad versus specific organizational priorities." <br /> Mayor Roe stated he had a problem with the word"priorities," as he found it created con- <br /> fusion with projects undertaken versus how things were done, and balancing resources <br /> accordingly, which were actually two different things. <br /> Councilmember Etten concurred with Mayor Roe's observation. <br /> Mayor Roe noted it may just be a terminology issue: how we do things or make calls on <br /> what to do and how. <br />