Title
Recommendation to Authorize the City Manager to Execute a One-Year Agreement with CivicMakers, Substantially in the Form of the Attached Agreement, to Provide Strategic Planning Services and Create a Three-Year Strategic Plan, with the Option to Extend the Agreement on a Year-by-Year Basis for Up to Two Additional Years, in an Aggregate Amount Not-to-Exceed $114,416, Including a 10% Contingency, for a Three-Year Term, Funded by the General Fund. (City Manager 10021030)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda (City) is embarking on a strategic planning process to identify the City Council’s shared vision, strategic priorities and projects and develop a strategic plan (Strategic Plan) for the next three years and beyond. This Strategic Plan will serve as a tool for managing City financial and staff resources aligned with the City Council’s priorities.
Since 2017, the City Council has met annually to develop shared goals and priorities. With a newly elected City Council and a newly hired City Manager, it is an ideal time to embark on a thoughtful and engaging process to assess Council priorities within the context of staff and resource capacity, and organizational health. The Strategic Plan will also serve as a resource for establishing and informing funding priorities for the Fiscal Year (FY) 2023 - 25 Biennial budget process.
Following a Request for Proposals (RFP) process, staff proposes to engage CivicMakers to facilitate City Council priority setting retreats, engagement with City Council, staff and community, culminating in the development of a Citywide Strategic Plan.
BACKGROUND
On December 8, 2022, the City issued a Request for Proposals (RFP) for professional services for a strategic planning process. The RFP was open for 32 days, posted on the City’s website, advertised in the Alameda Sun, and sent to six consulting firms that perform these services with municipal agencies. One proposal was submitted to the City by CivicMakers. Staff contacted all consulting firms that received the RFP requesting feedback concerning why they chose not to submit a proposal. Several firms responded, stating that they did not have facilitators who were available during the specified spring 2023 timeframe. However, staff is confident that CivicMakers is a highly qualified consultant team with the experience necessary to facilitate a March priority setting workshop with the City Council, identify the City Council’s priorities for the next three years and beyond, and prepare a Citywide Strategic Plan.
CivicMakers is a local, Bay Area-based team that serves local governments by providing strategic planning, community engagement, professional development and program design. Since 2015, they have designed and facilitated similar strategic planning work for the public agencies including the Cities of Hayward, Fremont, West Sacramento, Santa Rosa, and Mountain View, as well as the San Francisco Bay Area Water Emergency Transportation Authority (WETA). CivicMakers’ team members are experienced in working in the public sector and hold advanced degrees in community development and public policy. CivicMakers is a Small Business Enterprise and a Women-Owned Business.
CivicMakers uses a collaborative, problem-solving process with thoughtful objectives to create clear strategic plans. Their approach to strategic planning includes gathering input from key stakeholders, such as the City Council and staff, then developing the vision statement, Council priorities and project list through facilitated City Council retreats. A draft Strategic Plan is created and shared to gather employee feedback and community input. That information is compiled into a Strategic Roadmap with prioritized projects and, ultimately, brought to the City Council for final review and approval. The framework includes work plans and opportunities for phasing so the Strategic Plan can continue to be evaluated and adjusted throughout the three implementation timeframe.
DISCUSSION
Staff and CivicMakers will work to finalize the development of a Strategic Plan for the City Council to review in summer 2023. Staff anticipates that with this timeline, the Strategic Plan will help inform the FY 2023-25 Biennial budget process and decisions as well. The project has been divided into the five phases below.
Phase 1 CivicMakers reviews previous planning documents to assess the City’s current and historical vision, key issues, priorities, and objectives. CivicMakers will then conduct individual interviews with the City Council, Executive Team, Equity Work Group and additional staff groups to understand each group’s respective vision, key issues, priorities, and proposed projects for the City over the next three years. CivicMakers may also survey the City Council and Executive Team on emerging priorities.
Phase 2 Based on the information gathered, CivicMakers will facilitate City Council workshops including review and refinement of an initial draft Vision Statement and Strategic Priorities based on the City Council and staff conversations. Through these workshops, City Council will have the opportunity to further refine the vision, strategic priorities, and project prioritization. Following the workshop, CivicMakers will compile an executive summary and full detailed notes.
Phase 3 CivicMakers will update the Vision Statement, Strategic Priorities and projects based on City Council input and then work with City departments to create a work plan and potential funding mechanisms for each project. Phased goals are encouraged for multi-year projects.
Phase 4 Feedback on the draft priorities is gathered from staff discussions and community pop-up events, led by City staff with a pop-up toolkit created by CivicMakers.
Phase 5 In this final phase, CivicMakers provides a written report to be reviewed and approved by the City Council, that includes summarization of the information gathered and a Strategic Roadmap showing a visual depiction of the links between the City’s vision, its strategic priorities and projects.
The goal is to have this work completed in time for incorporation into the City’s FY 2023-2025 Biennial budget; however, the priority is to have a robust and high-quality Strategic Plan that will guide the City Council and staff over the next several years. Even if the process of developing the Strategic Plan takes longer than anticipated and is completed after the budget adoption, it will still inform the budget and the City’s funding priorities.
ALTERNATIVES
• Authorize the City Manager to execute an agreement with CivicMakers to provide strategic planning services.
• Direct staff to solicit proposals from additional firms for strategic planning services. This will lengthen the planning timeline and the information will not be available in time for the FY 2023-25 budget process.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
Funding for the Strategic Plan project is available in the City Manager’s General Fund Contingency Budget (10021030-59000). The total cost for a three year term is not to exceed $114,416, including a 10% contingency in the amount of $10,401.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action is consistent with the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
This action does not constitute a “project” as defined in California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and therefore no further CEQA analysis is required.
CLIMATE IMPACT
There are no identifiable climate impacts or climate action opportunities associated with the subject of this report.
RECOMMENDATION
Authorize the City Manager to execute a one-year agreement with CivicMakers, substantially in the form of the attached agreement, to provide strategic planning services and create a three-year strategic plan, with the option to extend the agreement on a year-by-year basis for up to two additional years, in an aggregate amount not-to-exceed $114,416, including a 10% contingency for a three-year term, funded by the General Fund.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Acting Assistant City Manager / Recreation and Parks Director
By,
Sarah Henry, Communications and Legislative Affairs Officer
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Margaret O’Brien, Finance Director
Exhibit:
1. Agreement