Long-Range Planning Session Starts Strong

Note: These impressions were formed after sitting in for 2.5 hours of the planned 6-hour meeting -- which turned out to be an 8-hour session.

Challenging elected and appointed Royal Oak officials to come up with "what do you want to come out with today?"  facilitator Brett Tillander guided them quickly past spending time on such abstractions as mission and vision statements. Instead, Tillander directed the officials to write their suggestions, then state them aloud as he wrote them on the long chalkboard. The intention was to discuss the topics just enough to enable setting up meaningful breakout groups.

Understandably, almost everyone mentioned budget, many using "sustainable" to emphasize the need to do more than kick the can down the road. "Millage" came up generically. "Right-size Public Safety," "Prioritize," "Review and enforce ordinances," "Better communication" between the Administration and CITCOM were in there. When better communications between the City and the residents came up, Brett had to cut off the dialogue after it segued into, "Are we talking about us communicating with the public or about the public communicating with us? -- which in turn led to how effective the city's website is in that regard.

As I write this I have not yet learned what final recommendations were made, but the initial focus on seeking measurable goals was encouraging.

Observing the human dimension in such gatherings as this is invaluable. Between Staff and CITCOM, of course, but also among department heads whose contacts are mostly chance encounters in the halls and in the necessarily structured staff meetings. Unavoidable institutional suspicion between Staff and CITCOM was evident. Personal and professional angst was there -- expressed politely for the most part. Sincerely held conflicting convictions were confronted quietly and with a slightly raised voice or two. For the most part the dialogue went smoothly, with an occasional chuckle.

Watching all those personalities interact for six hours; watching personal and professional priorities being debated has to prove useful for future interactions at all levels -- especially for the three newly elected commissioners, for whom the day will surely have provided them a giant step up their learning curve.

Another look at the planning session

I left thinking the gathering was on its way to coming up with some tangible recommendations. There was the pitch for a millage, but civic activist Bill Shaw tells me he was distressed at the return to wish-thoughts instead of measurable goals, and equally active Geof Vasquez provided the following written summary. It is printed as submitted.

City of Royal Oak
2012 Strategic Planning Session
January 14, 2012
Troy, MI 

On Saturday January 14, Royal Oak officials conducted their 2012 Strategic Planning Session in Troy, MI. Frank was gracious enough to allow me to submit a few of my thoughts on the event.

It was an all day process with Brett Tillander facilitating. The focus of the day was strategy, but the most important discussion concerned a millage. Key points are listed below:

►The Mayor and Commissioners all spoke from the perspective that consensus to seek a millage had previously been established. I am unaware of any public meeting at which this has been discussed.

►Mayor Ellison pushed hard and established a schedule requiring completion of all millage planning in February. This could indicate he is considering a special millage election on 05/08/12. If passed, the new millage rate would then be applied to the (larger) summer tax bill, maximizing tax revenue collected.  The other possible 2012 millage election dates are 08/07/12 and 11/06/12.

►The Mayor and Commissioners also appear to have changed course and seem willing to move forward with a millage even without concessions from Police and Fire.

The strategy session included a review of progress toward last year’s strategic goals along with presentations with high level views on the city’s financial condition and property values.  The participants were asked to list:

►Two outcomes they would like from the Planning Session

►Two “goals” they would like the city to achieve within both 18 months & 5 years

Most of the day was spent defining & refining the strategic “goals”, which will be documented and distributed by Brett by the end of the month.  

These “goals” aren’t goals in the traditional sense; they are an extensive variety of pet projects requested by our city leaders. Examples include building a promenade on Second Ave., establishing real time financial information, branding the city’s image, improving the city’s website and building a central plaza downtown. 

This whole process raised many concerns with me. I will list only a few:

►Many, many times the group deferred discussion on an issue because they didn’t have needed information. Typically, a strategy session is preceded by an extensive gathering of information. The purpose is to develop a comprehensive, set of facts about your organization and the environment in which it operates. If you don’t understand the world in which you operate, how could you possible develop a strategy that works?

►Due to limited money and staff, the city is now delivering a greatly reduced level of service to the taxpayers. Where will the resources come from to complete this list of pet projects? If the city has spare money and staff time for these projects, shouldn’t they instead be used to restore taxpayer services to historic levels?

►Was there a rationale for determining these goals? Are they needed and wanted by the taxpayers? What will they cost? What is the expected return? How will they be prioritized? None of this has been thought through. In some cases commissioners suggested projects, only to find out what they suggested was already in place. Shoot, ready, aim!

►There seemed to be an ordinate amount of time and focus spent on what government could do for businesses and the downtown. When it came to neighborhoods, the focus was on encouraging neighborhoods to help themselves. The good news is we will have new equipment in our parks; the bad news is it will all be financed through bake sales!

►There was a lot of discussion and concern about public safety and police staffing levels. It all seems truly disingenuous in a week when the LCC rubber stamped a new 400+ seat mega bar and expansion of another. A few wealthy bar owners are subsidized by millions in public safety dollars; while taxpayers face declining public safety and new millage requests.

There was even a little controversy about the location of the Planning Session. It was held at a Beaumont Hospital facility in Troy, chosen for its hi-tech media tools and multiple breakout rooms. None of these were used. Next year’s meeting will be held in Royal Oak. I hope that also means utilizing a city owned facility and videotape. 

Geoffrey Vasquez
Royal Oak, MI
geof.vasquez@gmail.com
(248) 346-1614

Frank Versagi is the editor of Versagi Voice.