Priorities - 5-26-23 City Council Strategic Planning Workshop

[0:00:00] mayor that's that's it for the presentations now we go to the next phase which is the last one is to discuss the the priorities um whether we want to confirm the priorities like we've had them in the past six years uh again uh that being uh Public Safety infrastructure and economic development or if Council wants to entertain all uh adding to the um uh to strategic priorities any other items that you feel should be considered at this point uh so again this is your opportunity council members to talk about areas that you feel should be included or maybe removed from what we have right now I think we have a pretty solid list but it's your opportunity right now to speak up and say hey this is something else we want to see as well one of the things that we keep hearing about over and over again is the importance of quality of life as our city and it is our greatest recruitment tool for economic development and our first joint meeting last week on Economic Development slash Community Development that slash quality of life we went through the various things that are what makes people attracted to the city of San Angelo and um is interesting what everyone said but they all kind of tied together in terms of Community Development if you will in terms of those assets and a lot of those assets were cultural they were Historic downtown they were Community Development opportunities or Community Development focused the river was brought up several times certainly the facilities that we have and need improved and those are certainly the river stage the Coliseum lake nazworthy is a wonderful quality of life opportunity the airport development as an economic development medical as Harry said thank God we have the medical facilities that we've had for treatment and the growth and in that

[0:02:04] area so when we take a look at this um and Michael presented many of those items to us today in terms of as well as Shane Kelton um like nasworthy with the lake nazworthy um sewer project and renewal our ability to increase that will add a lot of opportunity for Community Development down the road the airport as a major asset has needed investment and needed a focus and a vision for what it could be and can be for our city and I think it's great to hear what's going on out there it's unfortunate Rick's not here today Carl is to talk about the river and some of and the but Michael you brought it up one of the first impressions that you had coming through San Angelo when you first visited is going down Bryant Boulevard and seeing the left and the right and the river running through coming through downtown and seeing that river running through it we've long had a grain plan for extending the trail system a quality of life issue and a need to continue development on the trail systems whether it be at Twin Buttes whether it be at Lake nasworthy where whether it be a con extension of the river projects downtown around to Bell Street Etc but we have some great assets that we are always looking for additional funding to grow those assets so when we talk about confirming priorities I think today a lot of emphasis was put and focus was put on the cost and associated with maintaining these assets and making sure that we focus on the quality of life that we owe our citizens and then we also look at the cost of

[0:04:07] focusing on those quality of life and those assets to and it's devastating when you look at those dollars that are attached to that but I think over the past few years we have definitely put forth some strategies that have helped us move those things forward but we're not through and unfortunately what I think we do a lot of is we get started and then we stop and then we wait and then we start again and we've got to follow through on these projects we're applying for some grants to help us follow through on these projects hopefully we will get that money because they're things that will have a dramatic impact on this community and for example the 21 million dollar grant that we've applied for will have a great impact on our ability to connect neighborhoods connect walkability connect quality of life issues so I'm excited about that um so that's kind of my overview about what we've seen and to say a lot about where we've been and the focus but um I remember there was a report a moody analytics report that evaluated various cities in this in the United States and in Texas and the one thing that they said about San Angelo was San Angelo's not well known for its Economic Development it's well known for its quality of life and I think we need to keep that quality of life continuing if that's what's out there and be publicized about our city we want to make sure that we continue to focus on those issues that provide quality of life to our citizens we've regained our focus on their

[0:06:11] Americans with Disabilities Act and that doesn't just impact people with noticeable disabilities it impacts old people like me and throughout the community we have an awful lot of silver-haired bald-headed men there's no still we're here are you looking down here Larry up here but I think it's important to the community and uh Teresa has has really done one heck of a job of bringing that to the Forefront and I think it's something that we as a community should be very proud of and where we're headed with this I absolutely think it's fantastic well that is a quality of life issue and not to and and when we say that I also want to make sure I also add to that that you know part of our quality of life is our Public Safety police and fire because they all provide citizens with a sense of security and a sense of protection and so when I talk about those other assets as physical beings or physical plants if you will what's not listed there is the quality of life that is provided to us because of the quality of fire and the quality of police that we have and I don't think you all hear it often enough hear it frequently enough but it definitely is a part of that conversation and I believe that our citizens feel strongly that the police and fire had a tremendous sense of quality to this community so thank you again um for doing that and unquestionably when we talk about um focus on our assets certainly our employees are important part of our assets and we will never downplay the importance that our employees pay play in terms of providing the quality of life because almost every

[0:08:14] one of these things that I talk about in reference to take good quality people executing their jobs well in order to make sure these assets Remain the assets that we have so we want to make sure that that's not dismissed in terms of an asset certainly our employees are an asset to the city of San Angelo and we thank them for the service that they give us so with that and I also would say that when we talk about employees and we talk about the asset that they are to to this organization we know that what we need to do is we look at this year's budget but as we move forward we need to do what's fair what's Equitable and what's reasonable and that means living within our budgets and living with a game plan to ensure that our people is a part of our assets are part of the conversation and that's kind of my thoughts Mary I'd like to I'd like to add to that as well employees are an asset a lot of times employees are seen as an expense and that could be further from the truth they are an asset I think at this point seven years ago the priority for city council included pay for employees competitive pay which was really not truly competitive because like a definition competitive means you're at or beyond the cities you compare yourself to I really do feel that we need to come up with a plan I know and you mentioned mayor I mean with we know what the the revenues are going to be what's going to be forecasted we have to live within what that's going to be but with that said we also one thing that keeps popping up and I keep hearing over and over and over again and it's only rightfully uh the right thing to do is

[0:10:16] to make sure that we do develop a plan because we talk about it just about every year but this this year really when we start looking at it we need to live within our means but also say staff members you guys need to understand that we do we have developed a plan that we're going to follow and uh we're showing you the importance of what you bring to the table quality of life yes police and fire heck Parks and Recreation I mean there's a lot of employees of the city that contribute to that quality of life so with Emir on that I'm glad you mentioned that but I think that's something that if anything should be a priority for moving forward is to address a plan that we can develop and present to city council members and say hey look this is what the plan is over multiple leaders don't I'm not saying this year but over multiple years this is what it looks like and this is living within our means as well yeah and with all due respect that's correct as it is all these things there are a lot of requests um today presented for us to for consideration and when we look at the totality of those numbers it's Way Beyond any number that we're going to have available to spend right so we you know we have to budget revenue and expense in the same column but what was good today and I'm I'm pleased that we spent as much time as we did and the presentations we took longer today than we normally do but I think it was very beneficial to everyone to hear from our various departments and understand not only what might be a top priority right now but what our long-term plans have to be need to be and then figuring out what's reasonable for this year but understanding that whatever our revenues are this year does not mean that those rev same revenues will exist in this next year if the business climate changes so they've got to be very good strategic plans I'm really pleased with the quality of work and presentations that were made today and I thank

[0:12:19] everyone for their patience and hanging out here as long as you all have to listen to it but I think it's also good for you all to hear the overall um presentation of our entire City Community mayor yes sir I want to want to answer your question Daniel you you ask a question of counsel um and I want to thank the mayor too for for bringing up the employee issue and the uh how valuable they are but Daniel I want to offer you my full support for you to develop a plan for compensation that is a I think every city employee knows that yes there are going to be years that we may not be able to meet a plan because of unanticipated unexpected things but to have a plan um I think is extremely important for stability within the organization for predictability for them as as human beings in their households but I also want to go back and be repetitious um to tie together infrastructure Economic Development and Public Safety as strategic priorities in my opinion we need to have the comprehensive plan reviewed and updated and we need to have the zoning ordinance updated it's been since 2000 the year 2000 when there was a complete a review and update of our zoning ordinance 23 years ago so as one council member I give you my full support for developing a Compensation Plan Daniel if we have to do a classification study I am beginning to see more clearly in my continuing conversations that I am having with different City personnel that we may need to look at classifications within our current plan so I I would fully support that so again you would have my full support uh and

[0:14:24] and what you need to do to bring us options to bring us proposals on a comprehensive plan review and update on a zoning ordinance update and on if it has to be a compensation and classification study you have my support um that's that's my input as one council member Karen do you have comment I will add my hat to Tommy's hat in the ring I support that as well thank you mayor that's what we have okay okay thank you again everybody for being here the work and effort that's been put into today's presentation as we move forward well we'll have some answers

Captured 2026-07-26 · source: youtube.com/watch?v=9HDRRQ0thNU