Richardson City Council Goals Session September 16, 2023

Change is Growth

OPENING

This report will be far from perfect because there is no record to review. I attended this 4 ½ hour session in person, trying my best to take detailed notes. I only have my memory and my chicken scratch to reference, so I hope that they are accurate. I just wish you didn’t have to take my word for it.

As I walked into what appeared to be the same council chambers that are audio and video recorded every Monday night, I noticed at least four cameras that could’ve and should’ve been recording. But they weren’t.

The meeting begins at 8:31. All councilmembers are present as well as City Manager Don Magner. Eight visitors are also in attendance, each of us there for our own reasons, keeping an eye on Council. A couple of those visitors are former councilmembers. None of us are there to speak. Only one public comment is submitted, by me. I asked Council to explain why the meeting wasn’t filmed and gave a list of items I thought would have a chance of being considered.

Mayor Dubey states that they don’t record this meeting, not because they don’t want to, but because logistics prevent filming. He cites “breakout sessions” as the main reason.

(JN: Someone call the pooper scoopers. The only reason this meeting is not being filmed is because a majority of Council didn’t want it to be. I do sincerely appreciate the members of Council who continuously prioritize the 120,000+ Richardson RESIDENTS and asked for the meeting to be recorded. As far as the logistical excuse goes, don’t buy that either. This is the first Council meeting I’ve attended in person instead of virtually. When I heard about the breakout sessions, I pictured something like different rooms with different exercises. When they say “breakout sessions”, all they mean is that the already small group of seven councilmembers split into a group of three and a group of four and move to opposite ends of the table to have a 5-minute discussion on that current topic. In total, I think no more than 20 minutes of the entire meeting were these “breakout sessions”, and the group organically decided to do away with these and have the discussion with all seven together by the end. The angles of the cameras already set up in the room could be adjusted. Microphones could simply be turned on. If you need an omnidirectional microphone to capture the more casual format of the discussion, get one, and turn it on. There is no excuse. This meeting was not recorded precisely because four councilmembers did not want it to be recorded, and that is the only reason.)

The session’s agenda is displayed on the screen. Today’s purpose is to update the Role of Council, Rules of Engagement, Vision, Goals, Strategies, and Tactics. 

Rick Robinson of Ramsee Consulting presents. He starts by asking Council what they hope to achieve today. He also references a survey that Council had evidently turned in beforehand. Councilwoman Justice wants to achieve a strategic direction for staff. Councilman Dorian wants an infrastructure plan for each district. Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul wants a clear understanding of Council’s goals. Mayor Dubey wants everyone on the same page, especially in understanding the differences between staff and Council. He further states that Council should stay away from staff tactics. Councilman Hutchenrider states that Council operates in a Board of Directors capacity and that all councilmembers represent the city at large, not their individual districts. (JN: For someone who has been so adamant about staying on topic and answering the current question, I have to quote Councilman Hutchenrider and say, “That is not the question being asked.”) Councilman Corcoran wants to see Council on the same page as far as how they interact with each other and the public. Councilman Barrios hopes to cover the Council survey and feedback. Mayor Dubey adds that he also hopes to achieve transparency.

Rick says that they won’t get to an infrastructure plan in today’s meeting, but they will try to cover everything else.

Rick then goes into teaching Council what leadership is. (JN: I don’t think they need to be taught this. They are all qualified leaders in their own right.) He goes into a long-winded explanation about how Enron should’ve prioritized other “pillars” besides profits. He then transitions to a discussion on growth. He, along with Council, agrees that simply maintaining the status quo isn’t going to keep us where we are. Instead, if we only try to maintain, we will experience decline. If we want to obtain our goals for the future, we must continue to grow. Then, everyone seems to agree in unison that Change IS Growth. (JN: I hope certain members of Council remember this when they say we shouldn’t change just for the sake of changing, or when they use offer excuses like “we’ve always done it this way”. Council should embrace changing their ways for the good of the People.) Rick also suggests that Council should advertise the benefits of change, and not just the changes that occur. He says that the results of the change are what’s most important.

ROLE OF COUNCIL

Now for the discussion on revisions to the current Role of Council statement. It took almost 40 minutes to get to the first actual item. It also becomes evident that Rick is working with older versions of some of the statements up for revision. He has to pull up the website where he confirms his error. He presents a proposed new Role of Council statement that I will try to attach below. The current versions can be viewed here: https://www.cor.net/government/city-council/council-goals . 

Now it’s time for the first “breakout session”. During these smaller group discussions, it’s difficult to hear what’s being said. I was able to make out some discussion on the term “stakeholders” and whether it should be changed. Once they return as a group, Council generally agrees with the intent of the proposed Role of Council statement. Councilman Hutchenrider asks for the word “transparent” to be included somewhere. Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul expresses his opinion that residents only contribute about 40% to the budget while businesses contribute 60%. Therefore, he thinks that the importance of both categories of “stakeholders” should reflect their budget contributions. In other words, residents are not more important than other stakeholders. (JN: Yikes. I’m here to fight for the 120,000+ residents of Richardson, the people who have to live with the decisions that Council makes. NOT those who profit from those decisions, regardless of their contribution to the budget. The only people who get to vote for Council are those who live in Richardson. I don’t think it’s controversial to say that they matter most. I’m shocked to hear the mayor pro tem disagree.) Councilman Dorian wants to include “input from the community” in the Role of Council statement. Council expresses great confusion about his suggestion. (JN: There was nothing confusing about what Councilman Dorian said. He simply asked to include the responsibility that Council consider and value input from the community. I agree. That is certainly their role. But I guess Council disagrees.) Rick will take this feedback and write the Role of Council statement.

RULES OF ENGAGEMENT

Next up is the Rules of Engagement statement. Again, I will try to include the slides indicating Council’s feedback from the survey and Rick’s proposed statement below. 

Council agrees that these Rules of Engagement should be used to hold each other accountable. Before they conduct another “breakout session”, Councilman Hutchenrider has some thoughts he wants to share with the group. He asks for “focus” to be defined and suggests that no off-topic discussion be allowed. Rick clarifies that “focus” also means showing up prepared and being present, not on your phone. Time for another “breakout session”, then a short break. 

Finally, an hour and a half into the work session, we are hearing Council’s thoughts on the second agenda item. Councilman Corcoran suggests that the Rules of Engagement should include “support” instead of “subvert”. Council generally agrees, save for one. Councilman Barrios wants to see Council respect dissenting opinions. He wants Council to let people say things that they don’t agree with. (JN: If you recall at the Council meeting discussing Comprehensive Plan community feedback, Councilman Barrios was interrupted by Councilman Hutchenrider for saying something that Councilman Hutchenrider thought was inappropriate. What did he say that was so inappropriate? That community feedback should be representative of Richardson’s diverse population…) Councilwoman Justice suggests that there should be a limit to Council’s open-mindedness. She states that they should prioritize efficiency instead. Councilman Hutchenrider says that councilmembers should prioritize effective governance over their own personal philosophy and beliefs. Mayor Dubey states that not every councilmember needs to say something on every item. Councilman Barrios continues to ask for a response to his desire that Council respect dissenting opinions. Rick responds by suggesting that the Rules of Engagement statement include allowing everyone to express their opinions. All of Council, besides Councilman Barrios, disagrees and wants to prioritize efficiency. Distractions are offered such as “Today is about why and what, not how.” (JN: Council really doesn’t want to acknowledge Councilman Barrios’ point about respecting all opinions. They won’t even respond to it. They just keep citing “efficiency”.) Councilman Barrios is forced to cave and support Council’s decision, just like they wanted. What a shame.

VISION

On to the Vision statement. Again, Rick’s proposed statement and Council feedback from the survey are presented.

Councilman Hutchenrider asks why “globally recognized” needs to be part of the statement. Councilman Barrios wants to keep “residents value accessibility” as part of the statement. Less than 10 minutes were spent on the Vision statement, so I don’t have any other notes for this portion.

GOALS

A little over two hours into the work session, the Goals discussion begins. The four Goals are categorized as Cultural, Internal Business Process (IBP), Customer, and Financial. The Culture Goal is up first. Less than five minutes were spent on the Culture Goal, and I don’t have any notes. As I recall, Council was okay with keeping it the same. Slides are attached below.

The IBP Goal discussion took up 30 minutes and used another “breakout session”. I don’t recall exactly who said what for this portion. Feedback from Council that I recorded in my notes includes asking to change “easy to understand” to “consistently applied”. There was also some discussion on whether to include the word “accessible” and if the IBP Goal was too wordy. Slides below.

The Customer Goal and Financial Goal discussions took less than four minutes total, so I don’t have any notes for that portion either. The slides for both sections are included below.

STRATEGIES

Now, the penultimate agenda item, Strategies. This is the point in the meeting where Council decides to stop having the “breakout sessions” and instead have a group discussion. Councilman Hutchenrider says that there should be no district-specific focus but a citywide focus for all councilmembers instead. Councilman Dorian suggests that they should be mindful of similar businesses being too close to one another. He supports diversifying businesses and spreading it out to all parts of the city. Mayor Dubey suggests that they call it economic development.

About three hours into the meeting, it’s time for another break. The Strategies discussion continues as Council gives their feedback on what should be removed and added. Councilman Barrios wants to add a water conservation strategy. Council decides that is a tactic, not a strategy. They also decide that it’s already covered under “protect city investments”. Councilman Hutchenrider wants to change “incentives” to “opportunities”. That wraps up the Strategies discussion. Slides below.

City Manager Don Magner states that Council will be briefed at a future meeting after Rick takes their feedback and forms the updated Role of Council, Rules of Engagement, Vision, Goals, and Strategies.

TACTICS & CLOSING

One last item remains, Tactics. Rick states that he will go around the table and hear individual suggestions from each councilmember. He will then ask Council if they support each tactic suggested. He will take the tactics that Council supports and give them to staff to take a look at. Council takes a few minutes to write down the tactics they want to suggest. This was the highlight of the meeting for me.

Councilman Corcoran wants to discuss federal and state housing grant opportunities. (Council supports having the discussion.)

Councilman Barrios wants to make diversity an economic driver and incubate small local businesses. (Council supports having this discussion as well.)

Councilwoman Justice wants to establish a Community Engagement Board. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilman Dorian wants to see continued investment in the Spring Valley Corridor. (Council supports this.)

Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul suggests adding a Diversity Board. (Council agrees that this would already be covered under the Community Engagement Board.) He also wants staff to create a publicly accessible comprehensive GIS product including the current state of parks and infrastructure. (Council does not support this.)

Mayor Dubey wants to see more internal employee events to celebrate city employees and build rapport between staff and Council. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilman Hutchenrider wants to conduct a Fire Master Plan and discuss the placement of a new fire station. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilman Corcoran also wants the city to participate in regional homelessness initiatives. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilman Barrios adds that he wants to see clear and transparent processes for Council training and committee placements. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilwoman Justice wants to discuss a virtual attendance policy for Council. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilman Dorian wants to continue attracting business development, especially for Richardson Square Mall. (Council thinks this might be redundant but agrees to discuss it anyway.)

Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul wants to evaluate the concrete repair strategy. (Council doesn’t.)

Mayor Dubey wants to advocate to state legislators to retain local control. (Council supports discussing it.)

Councilman Hutchenrider wants a review and update for Boards & Commissions roles. (Council supports discussing.)

Councilman Corcoran wants to pursue the Silver Level Bike-Friendly designation. (Council supports discussing.)

Councilman Dorian wants to equally distribute capital improvements, especially ensuring that North Richardson doesn’t receive unfair attention compared to South Richardson. (Council supports discussing this.)

Councilman Corcoran wants to see zoning changes to promote increased and diversified housing options. (Council supports discussing.)

Councilman Barrios wants to create environmental initiatives. (Council supports discussing.)

Mayor Pro Tem Shamsul wants to see more multicultural events. (Council thinks this will be covered by the Community Engagement Board discussion. He just can’t win today.)

Councilman Hutchenrider asks questions about what type of housing grants will be pursued but now is not the time for that discussion. He also asks if they are considering creating one board or two, but again, that discussion won’t happen right now. These will all be noted by staff who will decide what needs discussed or presented to Council.

Councilman Barrios asks if they should do this again. City Manager Don Magner replies that they should not. Staff will handle creation and brief Council at a future meeting. At 12:52, after nearly 4 ½ hours, we are finally adjourned. The 2023 Council Goals Session is in the books, unfortunately only thanks to those who attended and kept records. I hope this is the last time this meeting isn’t recorded for the public.