Rochester council weighs city priorities

Yahoo

28-01-2025

Jan. 27—ROCHESTER — A review of the city's key priorities kicked off Monday with the Rochester City Council comparing notes on where the city sits today and what might be a goal for the next decade.
"The fact that we have a large turnover creates the opportunity for new ideas," Rochester City Council member Norman Wahl said during the first of two council sessions aimed at setting strategic priorities for the city.
The council went through a similar practice in 2023, after Wahl became the sole new council member, but he pointed out the priorities remained largely unchanged, targeting affordable living, economic vibrancy and growth management, and quality services.
With four new council members serving their first weeks in office, they cited an appreciation of reviewing city priorities, building from comments heard during their 2024 campaigns and finding ways to intertwine various council viewpoints.
"I hope to get out of this process an increased camaraderie with the other elected officials, as well as city staff," council member Dan Doering said.
As one of the two senior members, council member Patrick Keane said he anticipates the council discussion will spur some changes to priorities and how they are defined.
"Things have changed since 2021, when we first established these," he said.
City Administrator Alison Zelms said the outcome of the discussions about the priorities will serve to guide future work of city staff, since they will be used to create an action plan for future staff work. She said department heads were gathered with the council Monday to better understand what elected officials will prioritize in the upcoming years.
Leading the council through a series of exercises designed to provide a high-level look at existing priorities and goals, Julia Novak, executive vice president of Charlotte, North Carolina-based Raftelis, said the goal is to create a unified set of strategic priorities for the council to adopt, whether it builds on the existing priories or redefines them.
"It is important ... for the governing body, for the elected officials, to come together on this," the session facilitator said. "When you all reinforce where you are going, it sends a very clear message to your staff team on how to align programs and resources to achieve that."
With the first group discussion completed Monday, Novak said staff members from Raftelis will reach out to all council members individually in the upcoming weeks to talk about priorities and goals. While council member Andy Friederichs was absent Monday due to a scheduling conflict, Novak said he will be part of the individual interview process.
Raftelis staff will also hold an online session with key city members in February to get a better understanding of the current priorities and how they are implemented.
Once all the information is gathered, Novak said the council will meet again on March 24 to review the gathered insights and compare notes, which will spur the creation of a proposed document defining priorities that will be used to create action plans to achieve the established goals.
Zelms said if the March council discussion goes well and provides the necessary directives, a formal report could be considered for adoption in April.
Rochester Mayor Kim Norton said she's hoping the process provides a chance to update the existing priorities to address the city's needs as they continue to change.
"It's important for me to have a lot of discussion upfront on issues, so we are together," she said, adding that the ongoing process will help create common goals.