2026-09-21 - City Council Workshop

00:00.69] This meeting is called to order.

00:03.48] Thank you.

00:10.83] Call the roll?

00:12.15] No roll.

00:13.41] All right. Today's meeting is a presentation by the city manager on a

00:19.29] portfolio approach to delivering results. Mr. Cameron?

00:23.79] Thank you, Mr. Mayor. Good morning, members of council. Thank you for being here.

00:30.00] I know that we've had a lot of conversations just in the community, and people have

00:34.29] asked me for what it looks like in the first year, and what all have I learned, and

00:38.40] the things that I want to process or put together and pull together.

00:41.70] But also just working with the council as part of my overall annual review and

00:45.90] talking about the things that focusing on and working on moving forward.

00:50.52] But this is something that I think a little bit elementary, but at the same time,

00:54.03] it's a framework that I do not believe the city itself has had from an overall

00:58.23] perspective of getting projects and accomplishing tasks and things of that nature.

01:02.28] So I'm looking forward today to talking about a new phrase called Lead with

01:05.91] Clarity, Serve with Purpose. If you've been around or listened to anything I've

01:09.63] shared before, one of the key words that you all-- that I like to float around is

01:15.00] the word clarity, and having vision and a direction for where you're going to go

01:18.48] and how to accomplish projects and tasks.

01:20.97] And this council was very generous to offer to provide the funding to do the Trust

01:25.77] Edge framework. For those that were there, one of the three things that I told

01:29.37] staff that I wanted to walk away from was the two pillars I wanted to work on the

01:33.03] most was clarity and connection

01:37.83] with the community itself. And why that is necessary is because it's important to

01:42.06] know what we're trying to achieve, having the framework.

01:45.39] It's not about the fact that you have a staff that are not committed and dedicated

01:50.04] to do the work. It's about whether we have the capacity to get those things done

01:54.09] and deliver them. So basically, I want to walk through kind of some of the

01:57.90] observations, but talk about where we're going in 2027.

02:01.47] Basically, not 2027, where we've actually started, but just having the clarity of

02:05.64] what we're working on, what interferes with us achieving those objectives, the

02:09.69] framework that we have created that we're continuously going to continue to evolve.

02:13.47] But actually, just to share that with the community as well, because it's not just

02:16.29] about clarity for the staff, it's clarity with council, but it's clarity to the

02:20.46] community. Because in my listening sessions with the community, it was more about

02:24.21] where's the story? Where are these projects?

02:27.63] And I think it's very important that we come out and start talking about what the

02:30.72] manager's priorities and what the council's priorities and how we're going to

02:33.75] deliver on those results. So the first thing we started with was establishing the

02:39.21] Springfield Standard. With the Trust Edge work, was one of the objectives I had in

02:44.34] the operational excellence was to redefine the mission, vision, and values of the

02:47.79] city. It's not just something we're going to be putting on a wall.

02:50.70] It's not just something we're talking about, but how do we actually deliver those

02:53.70] results? In the Trust Edge, and you've heard me quote this before, people trust the

02:57.57] clear and distrust the ambiguous or overly complex.

03:02.31] So when it's not clear to staff, when it's not clear to the council, when it's not

03:05.64] clear to the community, there's a lack of trust.

03:08.40] And I think one thing I've learned in having these conversations, even internally

03:12.15] and externally, is the trust in what we're delivering and how we're communicating

03:16.95] those things. So we address our mission around improving lives through

03:22.53] exceptional public service. I think that is what every city employee wants to do,

03:26.25] is to improve the lives for our community through just exceptional public service

03:30.78] to the community. But the vision is to be Missouri's most trusted city.

03:35.34] And the difficulty of that is you got work to do.

03:37.89] We have work to do to achieve that. So we built it around these five principles,

03:42.30] six principles around people, service, collaboration, accountability, solutions,

03:47.25] and courage. So sometimes clarity does not necessarily mean that we're going to all

03:51.36] agree on what that looks like or that we don't need to make adjustments or changes

03:55.71] to what that is. My favorite one in this one probably is about the people, but it's

04:00.39] also about creating solutions. We will solve problems, but we'll need to do that

04:04.44] with courage to do that. Being clear about what matters and purposeful about how we

04:10.05] serve. What I will say about this staff and the city employees, they're extremely

04:14.37] dedicated to delivering, almost to a fault at certain times, watching them work

04:19.20] through extended hours, weekends, and nights to get things prepared, even from last

04:24.00] night from all the communication team to prepare slide decks for today.

04:28.50] And I kind of want to show you how

04:31.05] the challenge of what it is when you're dealing with a city working and living at

04:35.52] the city of Springfield. One thing about it is we have a budget, right? Money.

04:40.98] So we're limited by how much money we can spend to do those projects.

04:44.01] But one thing that I found in the city is we're not limiting our time or our

04:48.03] capacity. So we view time and capacity as something that's negotiable.

04:53.10] We're on the money. We can't overspend our budget, but we're overspending our time

04:56.31] and capacity, and what I believe in that's happening in the city and has happened

05:00.12] in the city that stalls priorities for the city and the council.

05:03.90] Why does it take so long to get this done?

05:05.58] Why are development processes more difficult?

05:08.31] It's not that staff has created or tried to make it difficult for the development

05:12.12] community or that it's-- Whatever it may be, it's really limited by the amount of

05:17.73] time they have to actually focus on specific tasks at hand.

05:21.84] We want everything, but time and funding create the boundaries.

05:25.68] So when you're limited with funding,

05:28.71] that's all the projects you can do.

05:30.09] But with time, we're adding more and more scope and more and more projects into the

05:33.96] staff's list and how do we create a framework and a system for staff to work with

05:39.09] that actually delivers outputs. This is just kind of the reality of city work.

05:43.71] And so I love this graphic because you have all these departments, you have all

05:47.13] these inputs that come into our daily lives and what we're working to do.

05:52.80] What's outlined in there is you'll see that it says citizens, but that's part of

05:56.19] the CRC, the NAC, really what comes through council.

06:00.18] But all the different things that come into the city on a daily basis that we'll be

06:04.20] competing against the priorities.

06:06.45] And it's not that we do not need to deal with those aspects, but creating a

06:11.85] framework for how we achieve outputs for the staff to understand, for council to

06:17.55] understand, and the community to understand has been one of the biggest tasks and

06:21.36] projects that I've worked on in the manager's office with Virginia and the rest of

06:25.23] the staff. I can't speak for them. I won't speak for them in the room.

06:28.35] But creating this framework for our employees has been well-received because they

06:32.22] would call it each one, what is it going to be the flavor of the month?

06:35.25] What's going to be the project we're working on this month that's not one of the

06:38.82] priorities that was added last month?

06:40.92] So this is kind of the way they all kind of get combined together.

06:44.73] But this is the slide deck, the slide that I really want to draw attention to

06:49.53] because you have tangled inputs coming into all these different departments, and

06:52.95] this is just an observation. Staff has provided their feedback, their input, and

06:57.21] what they're excited about this framework is it leads to a focused output.

07:01.83] So when you have all those inputs coming in, all those different questions or

07:05.70] tasks, we still have to address the day-to-day of the city, right?

07:08.82] So you get questions, you all ask us questions, but then you have different

07:13.14] agencies or places saying, "When are you going to get to working on this project or

07:17.01] that project?" And so what we're doing with this framework is going through what I

07:21.87] call tangled inputs, and I would say that the city management staff there is that

07:27.06] middle piece that's actually creating a framework that will actually showcase and

07:31.56] move this into focused outputs. Is there any questions or any idea or concepts or

07:35.70] thoughts that have you seen this yourselves when you're trying to get something

07:39.54] done? But this is what I'm seeing that's affecting our ability to deliver specific

07:45.21] outputs on a routine basis.

07:47.49] What would you say is the number one thing, if you go back one slide?

07:54.99] What's the number one thing you need to achieve focused outputs in your opinion?

08:02.01] You have to be clear about what you're asking for and understanding that we only

08:06.63] have so much time. So if you keep adding more things into the inputs,

08:13.08] staff are going to work their tail off. I've seen this so much.

08:15.93] I've seen people

08:18.21] that are working. They're putting in the work, but the actual outputs

08:24.06] are limited because there's so many different inputs they're trying to deliver on.

08:27.93] So if we can get clear up on what those are, but I can tell you that you can go

08:31.71] into a council meeting and walk out with three different new inputs to deliver, but

08:35.97] they may interfere with other inputs that we're trying to achieve.

08:39.36] Does that answer your question?

08:40.47] Yeah.

08:42.63] So here's the operating rhythm. I'm not going to try to tell you how to build the

08:46.56] clock, but it's very important that this is what the new framework does for the

08:49.92] staff and what it does for us. Because one of the things we have is this thing

08:53.28] called ClearPoint, and whether people can review that ClearPoint or will go in

08:58.44] there is like, what are we actually achieving?

09:00.93] So the simply monthly cycle that turns an idea into a managed work is this.

09:05.13] We formalize it, you define an initiative So the purpose, the outcome, and who the

09:10.08] owner of that initiative is. And I'm going to talk about an example of one coming

09:14.19] up. But the review is monthly momentum review.

09:16.83] So basically, when we all get together, it's important that the council, the mayor,

09:22.56] staff get together and it's like, "Are we on target for what we're trying to

09:25.95] achieve?" So Kenosha Middle Pilot Project is one of those great examples, like,

09:29.85] where are we at with that? If it's competing for other housing dynamics or Chapter

09:34.20] 36 changes as we go, it's very important that we review, are we on

09:40.23] momentum? But then we communicate.

09:42.57] This is the one place that I feel like the community and even council's left out on

09:46.74] the storytelling piece. It's not because staff doesn't want to provide it, it's

09:51.03] just there's so many different things that there's a story to.

09:54.06] And by the time we get to it, it usually turns into a press release versus, hey,

09:57.66] what was the initial story on the front end? So how are we communicating it?

10:01.68] Are we being transparent with it? Way before it turns into a council topic, it's

10:06.06] been talked about or it's been presented to you.

10:09.18] But also then we adjust portfolio and capacity decisions, resources, and

10:13.41] trade-offs. So we formalize the initiative, we review it on a monthly basis,

10:19.38] but if we have to adjust, which is four, means a new input's been added at a

10:24.33] council meeting, whatever that may be.

10:26.01] And this is not a complaint, this is just how much capacity do you have.

10:29.43] If a new input is added,

10:32.25] be it how to fund a certain project, then it means you're going to push something

10:36.84] else away a little bit to provide the capacity to do that.

10:41.49] Clarity up front reduces rework and mission creep later.

10:44.37] So mission creep means this is different projects we have.

10:48.00] These are the five priorities council's identified.

10:50.46] Now we've got mission creep because we're adding four new initiatives that we want

10:54.45] to review or want staff to bring back.

10:56.76] So somewhere you have to reduce the mission somewhere else to avoid the creep

11:02.67] that's come in. It's just like a

11:05.61] construction project, when all of a sudden the scope begins to creep and gets

11:08.64] larger and you don't have the money for it,

11:12.15] it becomes a challenge. And so creating an operating rhythm, lead with clarity,

11:17.31] serve with purpose is incredibly paramount for the City of Springfield and our

11:21.90] organization of having this as we move forward.

11:24.72] And I just want to walk through some of the,

11:28.29] what I call the right size management.

11:29.91] These are all three dimensions of how we function as a city.

11:33.45] So you've got the council, the strategic priorities, and you've got citywide

11:37.68] enterprise, and you've got departmental or operational.

11:40.56] That bottom one is basically what we do on a day-to-day basis.

11:44.61] But situations like merit rules would be on the bottom line.

11:48.51] But the council's strategic priorities would be around public safety or the

11:53.34] downtown, which I'll talk about that in a little bit.

11:56.49] But then there's also the citywide and the enterprise piece that basically is a

12:00.78] focus of one specific department that they're working on that may not necessarily

12:04.68] line up with this. It lines up with the council priority, but it also doesn't just

12:08.73] go to a strategic priority at the top.

12:12.06] And one thing I wanted to be really clear about is it's literally, there's probably

12:16.53] in thirds that the staff are focusing on the day-to-day function, but also how to

12:21.12] deliver the outputs for the council on a daily basis.

12:24.39] So we developed a system that keeps bandwidth in mind and delivers results.

12:28.59] And Virginia, if I'm missing any part of that that would help, let me know.

12:33.69] So this is just a little bit of the framework.

12:35.52] So I just want to give you, just this is an example.

12:37.56] This is not something that basically

12:40.35] that I would signal as the top priority, but it is definitely what we listened to

12:44.19] in the community was public safety is a priority.

12:48.15] It is without a doubt, and this council's identified it as one of its top five.

12:52.29] I would say it has risen even more so to the top of anything that I've discussed in

12:58.17] the listening sessions with the community, but also how do we align those resources

13:02.97] to achieve the objectives that the citizens expect, but also at the same time, what

13:07.92] our law enforcement expects. They work very hard.

13:10.59] They're working very diligently to address the needs.

13:13.38] But this is what we saw, is crime, faster accountability, safer environments,

13:17.97] trespassing camps, where we're not enforcing the trespassing, or where we want more

13:23.34] enforcement on trespassing. Noise was a big one.

13:26.82] I want to show a slide deck that's just some information about what our efforts

13:31.50] have been on the noise reduction piece.

13:33.87] But also, I think what is a key element here is the reporting of the

13:39.81] how we're reporting quality of life issues versus just overall crime statistics in

13:44.19] the city. I think that is one of the big elements that we're going to continue to

13:47.46] evolve, is how we're reporting, how we're addressing crime in the community.

13:53.22] Speeding, streets feeling unsafe, and loose dogs, again, while it's limited in

13:57.18] certain areas, this is a big piece in the conversations I've had with neighborhood

14:01.14] associations as Chapter 18 amendments.

14:04.11] But these are just kind of the listening to the community, the five signals, the

14:07.29] things that we're looking for. But I know it seems, again, it seems elementary, but

14:11.58] you cannot dismiss. I feel like that's what's happened in the listening sessions is

14:16.20] you're talking about all these bigger things, but you dismiss these little things

14:19.35] like noise, dogs, things of that nature.

14:22.14] And so I believe the framework allows us to incorporate that as well as the

14:27.42] bigger topics.

14:30.27] So this is just delivery and action. This is just an example.

14:33.57] I believe this was for the month of May.

14:35.94] I don't believe it's the most recent, but the problem was residents signaled that

14:40.05] loud motorcycles were a challenge.

14:42.21] So we actually did a centralized or focused effort on those things.

14:45.81] Stops made, citations issued. And again, we're not in it for just the citation

14:49.98] side, but this goes back to if we have laws on the books that we're not enforcing,

14:55.35] I think that is an element that this council has identified. Enforce what you have.

14:59.61] And I think this is what we're starting to see.

15:03.33] And I know while some may like it and not like it, the deployment of drones as

15:07.20] first responders or being able to evaluate and utilize that as help with a

15:11.10] motorcycle task just in general, because it's hard to outfly a drone if someone's

15:16.41] speeding away from an officer as we have a non-pursuit policy.

15:21.72] So now I want to talk about where we're going specifically based upon what the

15:26.16] council priorities have been. These are the things that we're going to focus on

15:30.24] over the next

15:32.04] several months. And as I stated, going back a slide, right here, adjust or the

15:37.89] portfolio piece is every 30 days, we're evaluating these things.

15:41.61] So I want to be very clear to you and the community, this is not something that's

15:45.63] just a-- this is not an exhaustive list today.

15:48.30] I'm just walking through the very top high points of where we need to be focused as

15:53.61] a community, where my office is focused as your city manager in bringing our staff

15:57.72] around these topics. Again, so talking about public safety, the

16:02.79] downtown by far is one of those elements. Oh, I'm sorry. Go ahead.

16:07.83] Yeah. I just had a question. Would someone be available after this meeting?

16:12.78] I brought my laptop. I wanted to get into ClearPoint to be able to

16:19.77] bridge what you're talking about and how we can follow along.

16:23.49] Yes. Thank you. That's a great point.

16:26.19] So someone will be available?

16:27.99] We'll make sure somebody's available.

16:29.34] Okay.

16:30.42] Samantha's-

16:31.08] Appreciate that.

16:32.16] Is Samantha here?

16:33.06] She's here.

16:33.66] Okay. Because ClearPoint, I appreciate the comment.

16:37.53] ClearPoint will be a way, but what we're finding is not everyone is going to

16:42.03] ClearPoint. So how do we elevate? How are we going to elevate in our

16:47.37] storytelling and communicating with the council?

16:49.98] More updates just like this specifically, so we can update that place, but you can

16:55.47] go look at it as well, because not everyone's going to go looking at ClearPoint

16:59.01] from the community's perspective, and how do we actually have updates that are

17:02.76] actually meaningful. So talking about downtown

17:07.44] safety. You got a question, Bruce?

17:09.63] No, I was just going to say I wrote down the same thing.

17:11.25] Okay. So downtown safety, order, and community vitality.

17:15.24] So the issue is how do we address the downtown? Just that's one specific area.

17:20.85] So that is a pub-- It crosses over multiple departments.

17:24.06] So you have health, you have legal, public works, PIO, et cetera.

17:28.14] One thing that's very important about the downtown is it is kind of like that

17:32.79] catalyst at the center of the city, but there is a lot of feedback from our

17:36.75] downtown businesses, if I've heard anything about this, is feeling safe in the

17:40.77] downtown in those capacities. So this is going to be reviewing not just the public

17:46.11] safety element of it, but our permitting, what we are allowing in those areas, but

17:50.16] also enforcing, again, the health codes and the permitting requirements that we

17:54.39] have in that area because I think that is one of the largest feedback that we're

17:58.98] receiving. But is how are we going to make it better partnering with the DSA to do

18:04.65] that? So you will see a much more robust effort. You're already seeing it.

18:08.52] One thing I'll say is we're going to, we've already started these efforts.

18:14.19] Vacant buildings, encourage redevelopment with creative solutions.

18:18.75] This is

18:20.91] We can't just keep having vacant buildings and not have some sort of creative way

18:24.93] to address those areas. So this is one of those places.

18:27.18] Deploy technology-enabled policing and public safety.

18:30.48] So basically, with the new body cameras that you all have adopted, this may not

18:34.56] seem like much, but it's tremendous because when you have

18:39.15] officer shortages or they're working on different things, the new body-worn cameras

18:44.01] actually do a lot of the reporting for the staff so they're not going back spending

18:47.73] a lot of time writing reports. It's actually deployed in the actual equipment that

18:52.14] we're purchasing for them. But also utilizing the drone system on-- We're talking

18:56.61] about traffic enforcement, that basically you can utilize that particular piece

19:01.62] because you can capture the actual violation

19:05.67] while it's happening. So instead of having an officer sitting at an intersection,

19:08.82] you can actually utilize drone policing, which is what we've done with the

19:12.24] motorcycles to help. Again, that's not facial recognition.

19:16.23] That's not doing anything other than capturing the plate, the situation, and it

19:20.52] actually taking place for actual video evidence.

19:23.16] Proactive and accountable enforcement, so it's basically increased traffic

19:27.00] operations. Again, all the things that we've been talking about before.

19:32.55] But the other element, the last one, we were talking about on public safety side,

19:35.67] but the other one is the prosecutor's office review.

19:38.19] It's really important basically just to make sure that we're actually able to

19:41.37] prosecute and move those projects through the prosecutor's office, and that doesn't

19:45.63] mean the prosecutor's not doing a good job.

19:47.40] It just means when we write more tickets than are tickets that are going to be

19:50.79] issued in those capacities, that basically, and that's not basically, I want to

19:54.39] clarify that statement. That is not something that's talking about a quota because

19:58.62] we're not allowed to do that, but it's basically how we are increasing because our

20:02.10] traffic tickets have declined. But also, is that a question of whether they're

20:07.74] moving through the prosecutor's office or not? So evaluating that process.

20:11.31] And Jordan and his team have done a very good job of working with other attorneys

20:15.12] just to work and navigate through the legal system here of how to improve those

20:19.26] processes. But also when it comes down to permitting in the downtown, again, it's

20:24.66] important to know that if someone is violating that process and a ticket is issued

20:28.32] by the law enforcement, that it will be prosecuted accordingly because I believe

20:32.61] that is a gap that has not taken place as much as it should have.

20:37.23] Public safety, so evaluation of ROI.

20:40.38] So the city contributes a lot of money or provides money to different services.

20:44.43] So one of the things is to evaluate where those are being invested.

20:48.27] Are we receiving the ROI or return on those programs?

20:52.11] The street outreach team, expansion consideration, with funding that we do have

20:56.97] because that street outreach team is actually taking resources into the community.

21:01.11] This was, by the way, for those that will be watching online or just for the

21:05.13] councils for memory, this was actually created

21:10.86] based upon the North Glenstone CID.

21:14.01] Starting that process was how we create and deploy a outreach team.

21:19.59] Then we got the Quality of Place Care Team, which is a new initiative that Tim is

21:23.55] working on, and Anita's been working on this as well,

21:27.21] which talks about the unhoused in the community, and obviously we got Chapter 18.

21:32.37] So what I'm stating is these are going to be the elements that we're working on in

21:36.12] these next 30, 60, 90 days. This is not all-inclusive of everything that's going

21:41.37] on. So if you're wanting to know where the art museum is or other departments or

21:45.54] what's the airport's plans as well, I'm only hitting the highlights of what we've

21:49.86] heard specifically to work on as part of my overall discussion between myself and

21:54.99] council on what my priorities are as the city manager moving forward.

21:59.64] Economic vitality. Yes.

22:01.08] Back up. I'm sorry. What do you see as the greatest public safety need?

22:06.27] To enforce the codes we have

22:09.18] by far and to report because quality of life issues, I believe when you look at

22:14.28] even traffic enforcement, I think those elements are--

22:19.65] A lot of times you can find, and I believe we find this a lot whenever there are

22:23.07] traffic pull or when you're pulling somebody over, even if you increase that, it's

22:29.07] probably where you're most likely to also find

22:32.94] bad actors through just that.

22:35.64] Just to add to your own comment. Every survey I've ever seen shows public safety is

22:41.43] the citizens' top. Some aspect of public safety is the top concern.

22:47.76] Yeah. I think it's enforcing what we have, but it's also at the same time it's

22:51.84] actually having a strategy of what we're addressing because I think it's the same

22:54.72] thing about time and capacity. What do you have the capacity to address?

22:58.38] If you're dealing with one thing, you've got to put a lot of your focus and efforts

23:02.61] on those. And so I think it's very important about what is the actual

23:08.91] focus of any department for that matter.

23:13.98] So, yes.

23:16.17] Going back also to public safety.

23:20.01] Couple of slides you had vacant buildings.

23:22.80] I'm not sure did you want to keep that under public safety or more so

23:29.01] a different priority? Because the four actionable

23:35.28] part of the portfolio that you're presenting is not really touching on vacant

23:39.63] buildings, and so I'm wondering if it's going to be covered up under another

23:44.88] priority here because that right there is such a key.

23:49.59] Vacant buildings, dilapidated vacant homes, and that's what been getting those up

23:55.47] to their highest and best use and allowing for sight sound

24:01.02] supervision of the community to keep an eye out on those areas that are

24:06.45] improving it with activity, quality of life issues, outdoor recreation,

24:11.82] amenities that are surrounding those particular buildings.

24:15.66] And so I don't know if you wanted to keep vacant buildings under public safety.

24:21.24] It certainly needs to be under quality of place, development processes,

24:27.12] and certainly economic vitality.

24:29.16] Sure. Absolutely. Yes.

24:31.11] I'm just going to add to that. I think it's imperative that you keep it under

24:34.11] public safety because you often talk to the fire service, 40% of our fires are in

24:39.84] vacant structures.

24:42.12] We've talked with criminal conduct.

24:43.74] A lot of our criminal conduct happens in vacant properties.

24:47.01] And so I'm not disagreeing it should be maybe in economy development, maybe in

24:51.60] something else as well. But I think it's imperative that there's a lot of cross--

24:57.51] It's a vacant building, but it's also a hub for criminal conduct.

25:02.58] And I think if you don't keep them both in there, I think you're missing an

25:05.94] opportunity to link up some of these problems.

25:07.92] So it's both great points. What I would say about the slide deck in and of itself

25:13.92] is what I say about the council's priorities, there's a number of things that all

25:17.82] cross over into one another. What I want to demonstrate today is that we are

25:21.75] actually going to focus on vacant buildings, regardless if it's in one specific

25:26.49] category. But literally, this framework is about where is the manager's office,

25:31.98] where is the staff knowing it's being directed in these next 30, 60, 90 days

25:36.48] because it's not something-- One thing I've learned about because of that tangled

25:41.61] piece, it takes a lot longer to push things out, and it shouldn't take a year.

25:46.44] It should be something that we can be focused on, that we can deliver on those

25:49.47] elements. So talking about the vacant buildings, be it public safety, economic

25:54.24] vitality, what are we going to do because there's certain elements on the

25:57.09] enforcement side, and that's more back to the prosecutor's office and what Jordan

26:01.02] and his team are doing. I think that the city attorney's office has done a great

26:05.70] job of identifying, "Hey, we're ready to go and kind of do the work," and then

26:10.56] bring legislative policies back to council that actually address these things that

26:14.58] maybe we're a little bit weak on that need legislative approval.

26:18.66] And where does the council-- Because that's the one thing I appreciate this

26:21.93] council, what they do, they'll say, "How can we help you?" How can we help me, the

26:27.03] manager's office? It's literally we need to bring legislation to you that actually

26:31.59] helps address the very thing that we're talking about.

26:33.48] So the vacant buildings may take additional work on legislative sides. Yes.

26:38.97] Also,

26:41.40] I think the absentee owners don't realize that it's a public safety risk to keep

26:45.90] their buildings vacant. That is what attracts the problems is that the absentee

26:51.81] owner or the owner who doesn't get that building back up, they're

26:57.78] disincentivized to keep it vacant, and that's downstream

27:03.75] looking at what happens on the property.

27:06.00] Upstream is you have to address the property owner, and so

27:11.97] that is the thing that we should be looking at with vacant properties because we're

27:16.95] going downstream looking at who's starting fires.

27:22.08] That is downstream. If we could really address the absentee owners and the owners

27:27.30] of these properties that keep those properties vacant for years and years and years

27:32.64] and years, that is what is going to be transformational about vacant properties up

27:38.40] under public safety.

27:39.97] Council Member Hosmer. I agree with that 100%, but I think we talked about doing

27:45.61] some incentive programs to encourage people to redevelop, but we also should be

27:50.17] doing a disincentive. There's a cost you're going to have if you're going to hold a

27:55.15] vacant building in the City of Springfield for...

27:57.70] Again, a building on the square that's been empty for 30 years, that can't be good

28:02.95] for the developer, it can't be good for the owner.

28:05.02] And if we don't disincentivize that, they're not going to ever put it back in the

28:09.01] market. They just wait. And so I think it's

28:12.82] imperative that we have

28:15.82] carrots and sticks.

28:17.23] Yes.

28:18.40] And just to incentivize some people, you're not going to get everybody.

28:21.70] I think there needs to be a penalty for people to sit on property for years and

28:27.70] years and years.

28:28.63] So we'll add that to this slide because this is the next slide I'm transitioning

28:32.08] to, talking about modernizing the development incentive policy, that it's not just

28:36.61] about for large-scale development, it also needs to be for incentivizing or

28:40.42] de-incentivizing those that are, just as you just stated.

28:44.59] So how do we incentivize that? It needs to be revised, it needs to be modified

28:50.26] with today's standards and things that we're actually-- Because we're in a

28:52.60] competitive market, but at the same time, making sure that we're competitive with

28:56.23] them, but we're not also giving away

28:59.59] everything. So it needs to be evaluated what's in the best interest of the

29:02.41] community, but also what's the opportunity cost for us if we do not deliver.

29:06.19] So finding those incentive policies, redevelopment incentives.

29:09.85] So it's not just about taking property outside the city, and just to be clear, or

29:15.49] annexing, it's got to be how do we redevelop and incentivize to redevelop in the

29:20.20] middle of town. So there's a lot of opportunities.

29:22.75] I know Council Member Radziwonlis and I have talked about this at length about how

29:27.01] do we have those places where we incentivize and make it where it's more

29:30.46] profitable. Because if we've already seen in the missing middle conversation,

29:34.27] off-site improvements create a lot more of the cost, and does not allow us

29:40.06] to achieve that objective. So then the annexation conversation, the consent to

29:45.31] annex is one of those elements that we as a city need to address, is we have

29:50.05] properties that are immediately adjacent to our property or to our places that

29:54.73] we've already signed these consent to annex.

29:56.59] So that is one of those disconnects of understanding that if somebody is compact or

30:00.43] contiguous, they've signed their document, what is holding us back to executing

30:04.78] those consents? But also, where are we looking not just at the

30:10.51] current properties, but where are we growing outside the doughnut hole of the City

30:14.59] of Springfield? And so looking for areas that we can deploy and expand our

30:18.49] infrastructure to help grow the housing stock, but also commercial retail and some

30:24.04] industrial. But the whole idea, I know there's a lot of conversation, a lot of

30:27.52] words out there floating around, especially with the data center discussion, that

30:30.79] annexation and data centers are all synonymous.

30:33.25] That is not anywhere what I'm talking about in this conversation.

30:36.94] I'm talking about just how does the city plan to grow its footprint over not

30:42.40] just 5 years, 10, 15, 20, but where are we going to be looking for those areas?

30:46.81] That's going to be a focal point. Kearney redevelopment plan, I said just drive

30:51.64] down Kearney, you'll understand.

30:53.43] This is one of those areas where this is a funding need, where I believe at some

30:57.79] point we have the conversation, when you establish a goal, where's the revenue?

31:00.88] Where's the sources to come together to pull this together?

31:04.78] Because a lot of these redevelopment plans, could be a lot easier.

31:08.44] When people talk about Trader Joe's or projects, I'm not saying it's coming, but

31:11.65] what I'm saying is, if we could go assemble property in these redevelopment areas

31:15.58] that the city does, and then incentivize that around those property acquisitions.

31:20.26] So a lot of the work that needs to be done is going to take some capital for us to

31:24.10] do that. So, yes, Council Member Horton.

31:27.49] Thank you. So I was curious. I see at least two of the three where

31:34.93] it could possibly tie into this new position that you were able to secure funding

31:39.85] for-

31:40.18] Yes

31:40.66] ... which was the engineering liaison.

31:43.39] Would that individual have a role to play in those three?

31:47.56] Is that

31:49.15] role even listed? Have you secured that role?

31:52.63] And would they even have a role in these two or three areas

31:58.57] here?

31:58.96] Absolutely.

32:00.28] That's still ambiguous to me.

32:02.71] I appreciate that. I think to that point is that what's important, because I think

32:08.74] you bring up a valid point, we were talking about it.

32:10.69] Where is the funding to achieve the priorities of economic vitality?

32:14.83] Where is that in the budget? And objectively, at some point, one of the

32:18.28] conversations that we'll continue to have is when we establish these goals, where

32:22.03] is the budget to execute that? And so that's very important, the discussion.

32:26.83] But to your point from the ambiguous piece is why it's not been deployed or out

32:30.49] there is it's literally getting around the clarity of what are we trying to

32:34.06] achieve. Because if we're not all on the same page of what that looks like, and

32:38.29] that's why this conversation, just both with council, with staff, and getting

32:42.79] clarity on what we're trying to achieve is do we want to have incentives?

32:45.76] Do we want to work with the redevelopment side?

32:48.25] That could be all over the map in that conversation.

32:51.13] So,

32:55.66] did I answer your question?

32:57.76] No. Maybe.

32:59.14] We can keep going.

33:00.04] Yeah. Okay. But I

33:03.52] 100% agree on that one particular piece is what does that position need to achieve?

33:08.29] But I think modernizing our incentive program, where we're going to consent to

33:12.52] annex, where we're going to deploy utilities, because a lot of this stuff is going

33:16.09] to be public-private partnerships.

33:17.62] It will not just be the days of the city coming up with the funding for everything.

33:22.30] It's kind of over. The best way to work on those things is public-private

33:26.05] partnerships, and that's what I envision for that position as a liaison is how to

33:30.01] achieve win-win-win success on growing and redevelopment, but also how to

33:35.95] expand our territory as well. Okay, so infrastructure, economic vitality

33:41.83] continues. This is utility deployment in strategic areas.

33:44.74] This is the one thing that I think the city in and of itself, we are doing right

33:49.60] now. We just approved about $8.2 million worth of sewer to the west.

33:53.92] We need to continue to be looking at those areas of opportunity where we put our

33:57.28] utilities to work that actually help us achieve both housing, help us also achieve

34:02.38] retail,

34:04.23] commercial, and industrial in our growth.

34:06.76] But also, how do we deploy it in areas that if we revitalize existing areas, say in

34:11.86] downtown, where maybe the infrastructure doesn't support it, or places that if we

34:15.49] would increase the capacity of what we have on the books.

34:18.37] This is a big piece for both the city, city utilities, and working with our

34:22.42] partners, is we have to be very strategic in deploying our utilities.

34:28.72] Because that will lead for additional economic opportunities.

34:31.93] I cannot stress this point enough, but we are starting to execute this.

34:35.23] This is the work where

34:38.38] Aaron Kemper and his team have worked with the county, city utilities, and are

34:41.92] pulling together this joint regional conversation.

34:45.01] That's the one thing that's probably been lacking, and it's not because it's just

34:49.09] someone that needed to say, "Hey." Aaron's wanted to deploy this for quite some

34:52.03] time. So basically deploying this and getting all the regional partners together so

34:56.86] that we're not duplicating our efforts and we're not putting infrastructure into

35:00.10] places that someone else is also hitting as well.

35:02.68] The right of way management, utility coordination, modernization, critical capital

35:08.65] collaboration. And this is one of the things, working with city utilities, working

35:12.64] with ourself, is where we're deploying our resources collectively, not just the

35:17.11] city doing one thing, city utilities doing something, and we're just basically

35:20.62] making sure we have that collaboration. That's a big piece.

35:23.26] And then the regional coordination, which I already talked about, that Aaron is

35:25.90] working on, on infrastructure and community growth.

35:29.20] Because one thing about it is, is that Springfield cannot house all the growth,

35:32.95] that the other surrounding cities are helping in those pieces, but where are we

35:35.89] putting our infrastructure collectively to do that? The Renewed Jordan Creek.

35:40.99] This is a big one, too, because this is a point that I've had a lot of feedback on,

35:45.31] is what's going to happen and how are we going to deploy and utilize it?

35:48.25] How do we activate it? How do we create economic opportunities around it?

35:52.00] And making sure that it's well-utilized, it's well-programmed, but this is a

35:58.21] big piece of economic vitality. Then the industrial park conversation is this is a

36:03.28] high priority. But one of the nice things about it, if you saw the Earling Group

36:07.30] announcement last week with the opening of the improvements that we made on

36:12.58] LeCompte Road, and basically opening up a large portion of their property that

36:18.64] actually adds for an industrial park.

36:20.95] But also at the same time, I think we're down to the last half lot in Pick West

36:26.87] And so being down to that last one, how it arrived at that location or at that

36:31.52] state, we're to the point now that

36:35.03] really finding additional land or property that go to the next industrial site is a

36:40.52] high priority that we need to have a conversation about.

36:43.97] And it may be like it was in Pick East and Pick West, or it may be a public-private

36:48.74] partnership with a private owner.

36:50.45] It just depends on what is the highest and best use that we can utilize.

36:54.68] I know that we've had conversations about how to build, I guess it's called Pick

36:58.07] Next or

37:00.02] whatever we want to call it. But anyway, that's a high priority in those

37:02.57] conversations, and I've been talking with both the chamber and city utilities and

37:07.58] other stakeholders about where and how that would come about. Housing.

37:14.54] This is probably one of those elements that when I think about the homeless,

37:20.12] unhoused, and projects, where we're going to have workforce, how do we deploy this?

37:26.06] And moving forward, this topic comes to the forefront the most.

37:31.19] So when we saw the missing middle pilot 1.0, which we're working on, the math

37:36.86] shows you there was a loss, even with the city giving away the land and doing that.

37:41.39] So making sure how do we address the missing middle pilot, but it's also evaluating

37:46.73] how we actually have come up with the funding that actually work on the offsite

37:50.87] improvements or different things that actually help us move the needle.

37:53.75] I can tell you there's been two things.

37:55.31] I go down to Chapter 36, ongoing amendments.

37:59.06] I've seen two projects so far, I believe that at some point were in conceptual

38:03.38] design, go away from what would've been great missing middle projects because

38:09.29] it would not comply with the new Chapter 36.

38:13.22] And so I think it's very important that we continue to have conversations about

38:18.53] those new changes and making sure that it's not something that's pushing away from

38:22.61] the housing priority,

38:24.86] and making it more difficult. Because if I've had any one comment in relationship

38:29.45] to our building codes and the Chapter 36, is right now it's

38:35.21] encouraging people to say, "What can I do to build something in the county not to

38:39.50] have to comply and/or to meet that new requirement?" So I think those amendments

38:43.82] need to make sure that we're not moving away from our housing priority completely.

38:48.38] It's creating a negative versus a positive.

38:52.01] Then I put in there the review and amend all BDS-related city codes.

38:55.10] Thank you, Martin, for being here because this is Martin's. This is his work.

38:59.72] What he's recommending,

39:03.26] in his work, is to review how we do development processes, how we work on those

39:08.06] elements, to make building processes easier, but also at the same time, have

39:12.38] accountability for moving the housing forward.

39:16.82] Public works development process analysis and adjustments.

39:21.08] Basically, it's just what do we need to do from a process analysis and where do we

39:25.37] deploy resources or infrastructure to help meet a housing need?

39:30.08] Because sometimes a lot of it, again, comes down to offsite improvements that need

39:33.26] to be made, especially on the redevelopment areas, and public works need to be a

39:37.01] part of it, and there needs to be a budget associated with it each year.

39:43.19] Strategic communications. This is probably that place that

39:47.93] both council, the feedback I've received, the listening sessions, is how are we

39:52.79] communicating with the public more on a strategic side, talking about

39:58.10] integrated strategic communications plan, but this is both internal and external.

40:03.65] So it's important that we're communicating with our staff what we're working on,

40:06.29] but it's also important to communicate with the community in advance.

40:10.25] I think a lot of times what's happening,

40:13.10] not by intention, but a lot of times the information is getting to the community,

40:17.69] even sometimes to the council, at the council meeting.

40:21.98] So basically, having that information out there 30 days in advance, 60 days in

40:25.64] advance, you all are talking about this conversation, it helps with transparency.

40:29.84] People can say, "Hey, I'd like to know more about that." But also just telling the

40:33.74] story. I think I don't have the video for it to roll out, but there's a video roll

40:37.97] out that we're going to do on Renew Jordan Creek, but I think you're going to see

40:41.00] it with Neighborhood Works program.

40:43.37] The communication staff, y'all done a fantastic job of actually evolving and

40:49.13] making these changes to go to more of a storytelling aspect so the citizens are

40:53.33] more a part of it from the beginning versus towards the end of it.

40:56.90] And Abe, I think you brought it up many times as like, hey, there ought to be some

41:01.58] sort of story that we're sharing, that we're working on.

41:04.73] Because there's a lot of good going on inside the city of Springfield, but at the

41:08.39] same time, it's how do we get focused around what that story is and why the

41:12.53] framework matters so much for us to do that, is if we've got 27 projects going on

41:17.12] at one time and we're like, "We really need to focus on four or five to tell a

41:21.80] really good story," that's something that is very, very important as we move

41:24.74] forward as an organization. That's why the framework matters so much to what we're

41:29.45] working on, is that we have to stay focused on what we're trying to achieve.

41:38.72] So basically, I really want to just to roll out, this is what we're going to work

41:42.62] on, specifically over the next 30, 60, 90 days.

41:47.06] And what I would still say again to the staff, to the council, and to the community

41:52.73] is this is not exhaustive. This is basically just the start of where we stay clear.

41:58.70] If I can go back to one

42:02.39] space that if I had my perfect world, is that we would get out of what

42:08.42] I call spaghetti junction and get into focused outputs that we can deliver on a

42:13.76] routine basis that we can report to the community, "Hey, we've reduced this

42:19.70] by this many

42:22.70] crime reductions, this many foot patrols, this many contacts.

42:25.91] We've reduced our timeframe for development from here to there," and report those

42:29.51] stories out, but also at the same time to celebrate, like Neighborhood Works Plus.

42:33.47] Some of the best feedback we've received to date is just the fact that we've rolled

42:36.89] out the first $5 million

42:39.77] towards those Neighborhood Works programs.

42:41.69] And so, if I could come back to one slide, that really is

42:47.90] what my role is and what I want to provide to our staff is clarity for how they

42:52.46] function, but also how we deliver those outputs.

42:55.13] But what interferes with that is when there's so many different external inputs

42:58.88] being added before we can even deliver the first few, it really does make it much

43:03.44] more difficult. So what I'm going to ask, what can we do to help is how do we

43:06.50] reduce the total number of inputs and stay to a focused output?

43:14.33] Comments, questions from members of council? Council Member Horton.

43:18.65] I just had a question about when you're meeting with your team, how much

43:23.39] conversation is being had about the clarity around FOR SF?

43:29.63] Oh, great question. So

43:35.39] that is going to be basically the catalyst of this conversation because when you

43:38.96] look at FOR SF,

43:41.54] and I don't have necessarily the specific data, Maurice may be able to add to it,

43:45.38] but I know that we've actually deployed and asked how much does staff actually

43:49.58] understand at FOR SF and how do they know why they're pursuing FOR SF?

43:55.97] That is one of those pieces where

43:58.76] there's not a lot of clarity around it because not everyone even understands it

44:02.00] completely from a staff level.

44:04.49] That's interesting that you would say that, because the community, 10,000 touch

44:10.19] points in terms of telling us as the city what they wanted to see, and

44:16.31] maybe it's more of a how-

44:18.26] Yeah

44:18.32] ... than a what. Because I think that some clarity around what is essentially our

44:23.99] North Star is a starting point-

44:26.87] Yes

44:27.11] ... as well that

44:30.08] the staff as well as even the council could benefit from just that refresher.

44:36.08] I think you and I, we've talked about

44:39.98] we're coming up on five or six years since adopting the FOR SF.

44:46.79] And we've talked about Springfield Regional Arts Council, how they've done some

44:52.19] community engagement around their strategic planning.

44:55.37] But maybe it's a good time to kind of do some refresher and do some clarity around

45:01.58] FOR SF so that we can get anchored again in FOR SF, because

45:06.50] that is our plan. And so to the extent that we can

45:12.38] integrate and weave this all into what's being done here, again, I've mentioned

45:19.64] perhaps we've codified quality of place in Chapter 36 and other

45:25.64] areas, but just in terms of the language and the storytelling around FOR

45:31.28] SF. And I know with specific projects such as Renew Jordan Creek, Renew Jordan

45:35.81] Creek is a visible example of how we're trying to improve quality of place

45:42.14] But to the extent that we can get back, you talked about Mission Creek.

45:46.13] Forward SGF is our North Star, and to the extent that we can get back to really

45:51.95] verbalizing and communicating and coalescing and really rallying around

45:57.98] what our community told us that they wanted over the next 20, 30, 40 years, and

46:03.68] being able to communicate that, that is the thing that also inspires top-level

46:08.51] vision and inspires folks to want to be a part of it, that attractability

46:14.48] piece, but also the desirability and the civic pride

46:20.93] that folks really want to aspire to in our community as well.

46:25.70] So to the extent, and I didn't see it mentioned anywhere in your presentation, but

46:30.20] to the extent that we can start to get back to, and really start to

46:35.99] paint that picture around Forward SGF and quality of place, that is the thing that

46:41.61] really, really inspires people as well.

46:43.86] Yes. Great point. And I appreciate the comment again.

46:48.83] The

46:50.51] Forward SGF, definitely in the conversations we've had, I've shared it with the

46:54.86] mayor, Forward SGF from the overall what is the why, what's the objective, does the

46:59.57] staff understand it, was it clear when it was deployed?

47:02.36] I'll still go back to this, is when you have all those inputs coming in, Forward

47:07.16] SGF, I think it gets lost because it's like, "Hey, I want to work on this topic,

47:12.44] this topic."

47:14.93] It's like my dad always taught me, "Quit shooting at the cunning, pick out a

47:17.96] quail." We start doing a lot of different things, and a lot of things just get

47:22.22] lost. And I agree 100% because I think that's the one area that I'd like to get

47:25.61] around with Forward SGF is where are we at? Do they meet it?

47:30.78] So just because it's not in the deck does not mean...

47:33.36] Like I said, I think it's probably how I keep it short and concise, but at the same

47:37.88] time, that is definitely one of those pieces that at the five-year review, I

47:41.39] believe it's due every five years to review it, is that we're at that space as

47:45.44] like, does everyone still understand why?

47:48.05] Do we have the funding to execute some of the work that's outlined in it?

47:51.14] Because that's another element is I think that we're limited on money, but we try

47:56.03] to make up for it with actually adding additional things or projects to it, and I

47:59.42] think there's scope creep to your point,

48:02.15] definitely in Forward SGF, and then some people like, where's their time to

48:05.96] actually work on Forward SGF versus all the other competing pieces.

48:11.30] Random Yesti.

48:12.32] Yes, sir.

48:13.58] Thank you, Councilman Horton, because you just led into the conversation I'm going

48:18.92] to pick up, which is it is a big, complex document, and a lot of work went

48:24.65] into it, Forward SGF, that is. And I see Tim in the room here.

48:29.78] He would preach to us as architects sometimes, we had a very complicated contract

48:35.24] that we would always work with every project that we worked on called the American

48:38.99] Institute of Architects A201 document.

48:41.72] And I think, Tim, you mentioned at some point, maybe that's something you ought to

48:44.90] read every year. At least read through it once to refresh yourself on all the

48:48.89] pieces of it. And I think there's a value in reconnecting and maybe refreshing it

48:53.36] with everybody. But what I want to get to is I really believe this is a great

48:58.58] visual. It is complicated on this end and needs to come clear on that end.

49:04.67] I appreciate your recognition that it's not all about within our city limits.

49:10.40] There's a regional aspect to the growth of our city, and that

49:16.55] there's a couple of pieces of that that I think are really important.

49:20.28] And that is quality of place, which is a central theme of Forward SGF.

49:27.41] We are a core city, and we generate sales tax, property tax within our city to

49:33.03] support our expenses every year and hopefully move them forward.

49:36.44] This is also a fiscal discussion, not just a feel-good discussion, right?

49:41.36] I think our core city element has to continue to grow its economics using quality

49:46.67] of place as the way to retain, attract

49:52.22] residents, but also to stay one step--

49:57.44] Our surrounding communities are actually doing really well,

50:01.34] our bedroom communities. But we've got to stay one step ahead of that so that they

50:05.78] continue to come to Springfield to do some things that they want to do.

50:08.66] And I think the quality of place initiative is central to that idea of keeping

50:14.63] Springfield a core destination, not just for people outside our city, not just for

50:19.11] students and retention, but also for our bedroom communities to see us as a place

50:23.15] to continue to come to.

50:25.53] Mayor McDonald.

50:26.42] Oh, thank you, Mayor. Thank you for your presentation.

50:29.03] It was very enlightening and refreshing to see.

50:33.56] One of the things I wanted to visit with you about is you talked a little bit about

50:38.72] time and capacity.

50:41.78] And one of the things we have been moving as a council body is trying to

50:46.97] direct our personnel resources through what I funnel and

50:52.97] appreciate is through the committee structure.

50:55.76] I think that lends itself to a much more organized way of

51:01.49] addressing issues from the policy standpoint, for the personnel standpoint,

51:07.79] as opposed to what we used to have, every council member pinging-

51:12.80] Yes

51:12.95] ... you and everything. Can you talk a little bit about how that

51:17.57] maybe

51:20.12] has helped in terms of clarity and helped in terms of mission

51:26.60] success?

51:27.89] Yeah. I think that anything that we can do that would move to committee

51:35.18] would be much-- I believe it's helped tremendously.

51:38.28] I think it could be utilized even more.

51:40.53] And it's like, I know you all are busy and have things that are going on, and we're

51:43.41] adding to those agendas, but literally anything that could have those conversations

51:47.54] that the committee could work on or committees can work on.

51:50.99] Because no matter what, if it goes and it's pinging, I still see it that back to

51:56.99] that one slide is we're getting pinged all the time, and it's still happening.

52:01.73] So basically, whenever we're talking about legislation or reviews, it would be

52:05.54] helpful to go to committee because then it puts the department head or the

52:10.97] leadership in kind of in conflict.

52:13.70] We don't want to let the council down, but we still want to be able to deliver the

52:18.44] priority or Forward SGF.

52:22.13] And somewhere there's only so much time and capacity you have.

52:24.78] And if all of a sudden you're working on a specific topic or agenda, it's going to

52:30.66] take away from potentially what staff would be working on.

52:34.01] And I'm going to say this to you. I appreciate the comment and the question.

52:38.30] Staff are very much in favor of having a tier or some sort of system that basically

52:42.41] says, what are we specifically supposed to work on, and understanding what that is

52:47.21] because you get hit from different questions or requests.

52:50.82] How do we stay focused on that? I think anything that's legislative in nature or

52:53.88] requires review or additional pieces, if it would go through committee, would make

52:57.29] it a lot more practical. And I know that there's been changes to do that.

53:01.49] I think it's just very important that that continue and grow.

53:07.64] Other comments?

53:09.92] Mr. Mayor, one more-

53:11.03] Yeah, please

53:11.36] ... one more point because it was brought up, and I know that

53:15.23] Councilman Horton and myself and others, financial sustainability is also not

53:19.49] mentioned in this slide deck. And you just brought it up, Bruce.

53:22.73] So I want to be very clear that, again, I just kind of hit the high points of just

53:27.59] the framework, but also what we're focused on.

53:29.48] But that's not the only thing the manager's office is focused on.

53:32.39] So staff has provided what public safety will work on, but at the same time, what

53:37.43] am I working on specifically is the financial sustainability piece is actually

53:42.03] deploying and actually doing a review, and bringing partners of the community

53:46.55] together, be it a committee, whatever that may be. But we have got to evaluate.

53:51.23] We need to evaluate financial sustainability.

53:53.84] Stormwater was a big topic that's brought up.

53:55.82] Parks is a big topic that's brought up.

53:58.01] So making sure that we're talking about what are the needs to operate the city, to

54:01.82] have the funding to achieve these priorities.

54:04.43] Make no mistake about it, one thing about it is that eventually what I look forward

54:08.30] to is basically, I've said it and I'll say it again, is having priorities that are

54:13.43] funded. But if their funding is not there to do that, we need to have those

54:16.82] discussions as well. I think that's important to evaluate.

54:20.00] Do we have the resources to execute missing middle pilots?

54:23.99] Do we have the resources to actually execute all that's in Forward SGF?

54:28.22] I think they're great ideas, but without funding it's going to be difficult.

54:31.91] And not everything can go right back to the CAB asking for it.

54:35.33] So those projects and those dollars were basically designated in specific projects,

54:39.14] and so seen a lot of that.

54:42.14] Mr. Mayor, other comment?

54:43.70] No. Are there other questions or comments?

54:47.72] We have done a fabulous job of ending in an hour.

54:50.66] Yeah.

54:50.82] Look at that.

54:54.38] All right. Well, then we are adjourned.

54:56.48] Agenda today?

54:57.59] Pardon me?

54:57.95] Is there anything else on the agenda today?

54:59.03] There's nothing else on the agenda today.

55:02.12] Thank you.

55:02.78] Goodbye.