HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/06-08/2011 Strategic Planning Minutes ARANA
TOWN OF MAMNA
MINUTES OF STRATEGIC PLANNING SESSION
October 6, 7 and 8, 2011
ASU Skysong (Meeting)
1475 N. Scottsdale Road
Scottsdale, AZ 85257
Hampton Inn and Suites (Hotel)
1429 N. Scottsdale Road
Tempe, AZ 85281
Ed Honea, Mayor
Patti Comerford, Vice Mayor
Dave Bowen, Council Member
Herb Kai, Council Member
Carol McGorray, Council Member
Jon Post, Council Member
Thursday, October 6, 2011- Scottsdale Air Park, 15855 N. Greenway Hayden Loop and
NoRTH Restaurant, 15024 N. Scottsdale Road.
At approximately 4:10 p.m., Council and staff were given a brief overview of the history and current
operation of the Scottsdale Air Park by Gary Mascara , the Aviation Director for the City of
Scottsdale. All Council were present except Council Member Post who was excused. Next,
Council and staff met at NoRTH Restaurant at Kierland Mall in North Scottsdale for a working
dinner with Kurt Dunham and Peggy Fiandaca (PSA). Council Members Kai, and Post were
excused. PSA consultants gave an overview of the 2011 -2012 Strategic Plan update process. PSA
noted that a Strategic Plan gives Council a defensible plan to approve or disapprove projects and
services. The working dinner adjourned at approximately 7:40 p.m. and Council and staff returned
to their hotel.
Friday, October 7,2011 — ASU Skysong, Tempe.
Mayor Honea convened the meeting at 8:41 a.m. with Council Member Post arrived at
approximately 9:15 a.m.. All Council were present.
Gilbert Davidson began by thanking Kurt Dunham and Peggy Fiandaco (PSA) for their efforts
on this project. He then discussed key issues in the community which emerged from the working
dinner. what has changed (either politically or due to infrastructure, and key things accomplished.
He then commented on the meeting and education center SkySong, an example of a great
partnership between the City of Scottsdale and Arizona State University (ASP. Mr. Davidson
talked about the importance of a Strategic Plan representing the Council's vision of where Martina is
going. Voters recently approved General Plan which is the town's template for land use planning.
The General Plan pulls from the Strategic Plan, the Parks Master Plan, the Economic Roadmap and
other sources. The town's strategy is to help existing businesses which then bring suppliers who
feed into those businesses. The CIP program contains large ticket items to be built over time. All
feed into the Strategic Plan concept.
Mr. Davidson noted that this session is a refresher of what has been done to date under the
existing Strategic Plan. Included in the agenda packet material is a copy of the current Strategic Plan
and a list of 2010 accomplishments. The afternoon session is designed to be a review and
brainstorming session. The dinners during the retreat have been have been chosen to showcase
various areas which have undergone redevelopment which could be duplicated in Marana.
Saturdays session will end with a tour of Tumbleweed Park/Ranch in Chandler. Barbara Johnson
reminded Council and staff to look at the canal in the park and envision what the Barnett Channel
could be.
PSA gave an overview of the trends that have occurred since the 2008 planning process. They
handed out menu of activities of Strength, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats (SWOT).
Threats are things we don't have direct control over but need to be kept in the forefront of
planning. It is important for Councils to look at programs and possibly cut them to protect core
services. In many instances, public programs in several municipalities were instituted to fill a need
that existed. Cutting public programs now gives private business an opportunity to succeed.
Erik Montague talked a bit about the budget recovery program that will be evaluated on an
ongoing basis regarding programs and the sustainability of the funds needed to keep those programs
going. The town's credit score is something we can control and gives us buying power.
Discussion ensued about defining Marana's role in sustainability or green building. The Council's
role is to be prepared to move forward with changes. A question for future discussion is how far
the Council should go to define sustainability for stakeholders in the community.
Another area of discussion centered on furthering education institution relationships to graduate
more people in professional/technical careers to take available jobs in the region. The town needs a
highly skilled workforce to thrive. Further, reaching out to those who are looking for opportunities
to do business in smaller communities is lacking.
Council concurred that the five Focus Areas are all good as originally written. Under Commerce;
however, the goal maybe too narrow. It was re- worded to define the town's unique combination
of assets and make it broader to take advantage of both existing and future growth assets. It will be
amended to read "Attract and maintain career - oriented commerce:'
Council felt that the basic framework of the Strategic Plan is still good.
PSA posted the possible changes, including new Guiding Principles, for Council to review.
Josh Wright distributed a handout for the Economic Development Reinvestment Program which
was added as a strategy to the Commerce goal.
Gilbert Davidson distributed a memo from the Town Clerk regarding the redesign of the citizen
information program — CRE.W. - which was added as a strategy to Community Building goal.
The lunch speaker was Mayor Hugh Hallman from Tempe who talked about some of the
challenges Tempe has faced, roadblocks and how to overcome them and ultimately, achieving
success.
The afternoon session included an informal review of some of the by-products of the important
accomplishments using the Strategic Plan. Council also discussed the focus areas, initiatives and
strategies that need to be updated.
October 8, 20118:41 a.m. - SkySong
Council Members Kai and Post were excused. PSA summarized the discussion of the initiatives
and talked about performance measures — what we want to measure and how to tell that story and
talk about next steps. Important accomplishments using the Strategic Plan were highlighted.
PSA will update the SWOT analysis. It was noted that some of the weaknesses have been removed,
which is a good sign.
1:30 p.m., Tumbleweed Ranch, 2250 S. McQueen Road, Chandler
Jody Crago, Museum Administrator for the City of Chandler and Council Member Jack Sellers
gave Council and staff a tour of the heritage park known as Tumbleweed Ranch. The purpose of
the tour was to give Council and staff an opportunity to see how other municipalities are
incorporating heritage into their overall community planning process as Heritage is one of the five
focus areas of the town's Strategic Plan.
CERTIFICATION
I hereby certify that the foregoing are the true and correct minutes of the Marana Strategic Plan
Retreat held October 6, 7 and 8, 2011. I further certify that a quorum of the Council was present
each day of the Retreat.
OF
?Cel�yn ronson, own Clerk NE � �
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