REPORT TO COUNCIL
SUBJECT
Title
Approval of the Council Strategic Framework and July 2025-June 2027 Council Strategic Priorities, and Receipt of Associated Workplan
Report
BACKGROUND
To better align organizational resourcing and capacity with Council strategic priorities, study issues, and Citywide work efforts, the City contracted with The Centre for Organization Effectiveness to facilitate an expanded Council Strategic Prioritization Process (Attachment 1).
On January 30, 2025, the City Council held a public retreat to build relationships and clarify roles with each other and staff. During the annual Study Issues and Budget Proposals Workshop on February 13, 2025, Council prioritized 10 Study Issues that may result in new or revised City policies. Council also referred four (4) Budget Proposals to the upcoming recommended budget (Budget Workshop scheduled for May 22, 2025). The City Manager assessed staff’s ability to undertake a portion of Council’s 10 prioritized issues, taking into consideration fiscal resources and departmental workloads, including the 25 existing study issues that are already underway. The City Manager determined that 4 of the Council’s 10 ranked Study Issues for 2025 will be added to the Workplan for July 2025-June 2027, as detailed in an Information Item to Council on April 22, 2025 (RTC No. 25-0518).
The annual Council Strategic Priorities Workshop was held on March 13, 2025. City staff provided Council and the public with an update on the progress toward addressing last year’s strategic priorities, core service delivery metrics, a fiscal overview, and insights from the 2025 National Community Survey. With this context, Council set five (5) draft strategic priorities that will guide the City for the next two years (the two-year period will better align with election cycles and resource planning efforts), as follows:
In the next two years, we are taking active steps to create…
1. A responsive, transparent, and efficient city government;
2. An accessible, engaged and welcoming community;
3. A sustainable city: advancing climate action, active transportation and the Vision Zero Plan;
4. A model to prevent homelessness, prioritize new housing, and support the unhoused community; and
5. Modern City infrastructure.
All these efforts feed into the development of the City’s recommended budget, with this year focusing on the biennial capital projects budget. The recommended budget will be presented to Council for consideration at the Budget Workshop on May 22, 2025.
EXISTING POLICY
General Plan, Chapter 2: Community Vision
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The action being considered does not constitute a “project” within the meaning of the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) pursuant to CEQA Guidelines section 15378 (a) as it has no potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment.
DISCUSSION
As the result of the robust Council discussion from the March 13 Council Strategic Priorities Workshop, a draft Strategic Framework, outlining the City’s mission, core values, community vision and Council resourcing priorities for 2025-2027 was created (Attachment 2). From the draft Strategic Framework priorities, staff has developed a proposed Strategic Framework Workplan (Attachment 3) to be used as a communication tool with Council and the public on major work efforts in Council’s updated priority areas.
The Workplan will serve as a clear priority list of significant work efforts for staff resources from July 2025 through June 2026 (FY 2025/26 and FY 2026/27). It includes a combination of items to implement Council-adopted and State-mandated plans (e.g., Housing Element, Active Transportation Plan, Climate Action Playbook), key capital improvement projects (e.g., including many Top 30 projects), continuing and new 2025 Study Issues, and other significant work efforts that require sizable staff resources and/or enhanced focus in the two-year period. Every City Department has items in the Workplan. It is important to note that this workplan only encompasses those significant items required to support the Council Strategic Priorities, and does not include the majority of the day to day service delivery completed by staff. Those efforts will be reported on separately on an annual basis, and also captured within the City’s budget document.
Should Council wish to deviate significantly from this list, or add additional items to the list, the City Manager will identify items that would need to be removed from the list or delayed in order to accommodate additional items. New items raised through Colleagues’ Memos, Future Agenda Items, and next year’s Study Issues process (which is currently under review through the Study Issues Study Issue) will need to be weighed against the priority items identified in the Workplan, and adjustments made as needed.
Going forward, staff will report out on the status of Workplan items in a clear and concise manner on a quarterly basis. Planning is underway to develop a visually accessible way to report on this information on the City’s website (e.g., dashboard or similar). Once an updated, consolidated reporting format is established, the intent is to move away from the City’s Knack tool currently used for Study Issues and Top 30 reporting and streamline reporting in one place. This will facilitate clearer access to information for Council and the public, and align staff reporting efforts to one list of priority Workplan items.
The proposed Workplan is organized by the Council’s five (5) priority areas. As a carryover from prior prioritization efforts, the Workplan also includes a handful of additional study issues or Top 30 projects not connected to an updated Council Priority. The intent is to minimize priority Workplan items not associated with a Council Priority going forward, but they are included in this first two-year Workplan so that reporting on existing items is not lost.
The five Council Priorities and associated Key Objectives for July 2025-June 2027 are as follows:
Council Priority: Governance - A responsive, transparent and efficient city government
Key Objectives:
• Build more data transparency (e.g., strides towards dashboard, communicating progress)
• Find ways to streamline work to prioritize existing core services with the increase in service requests
• Simplify processes (e.g., community event process)
• Keep City Technology systems up to date (e.g., NeoGov, Financial, Recreation registration software)
• Improve internal communications and employee engagement
Council Priority: Community - An accessible, engaged and welcoming community
Key Objectives:
• Focus on community engagement and communications (e.g., community equity assessment) to inform longer term efforts for various groups (e.g., youth, seniors, etc.)
• Increase active resident contribution and volunteering
• Increase public engagement
• Support and host community events and support groups to help different communities
• Study how land use and infrastructure changes can foster community
• Better support neighborhood associations and help create new ones
• Continue to promote equity, access and inclusion
• Enhance digital and language accessibility
• Improve communication (outbound and inward) with residents and businesses
Council Priority: Sustainability - A sustainable city: advancing climate action, active transportation and the Vision Zero Plan
Key Objectives:
• Advance Climate Action (includes moves from Climate Action Playbook plus other efforts related to climate action with clear measures)
• Implement Active Transportation Plan elements applicable to next two years (with clear measures)
• Implement Vision Zero Plan elements applicable to next two years (with clear measures)
• Implement traffic calming patterns
• Promote sustainable land use patterns
Council Priority: Housing - A model to prevent homelessness, prioritize new housing and support the unhoused community
Key Objectives:
• Enhance and sustain homelessness prevention programs including Tenant-Based Rental Assistance, tenant protections, and food programs
• Invest in non-congregate interim shelter and Safe Parking programs
• Increase the supply of affordable and permanent supportive housing
• Collaborate with nonprofits, neighboring cities and the County to better leverage our collective resources
• Work towards addressing disparities in who experiences homelessness
• Modify residential zoning requirements to assist in the development and preservation of housing
• Maintain efficient and effective development review processes
Council Priority: Infrastructure - Modern City infrastructure
Key Objectives:
• Identify infrastructure needs with plans in place (in priority order) to support core services
• Advance digital infrastructure (e.g., access to broadband, Wi-Fi in parks, etc.)
• Bring to Council a study session on next steps related to library services (value engineered main library, branch libraries)
FISCAL IMPACT
Council approval of the Strategic Framework Workplan does not have an immediate fiscal impact; however, resources will need to be allocated to implement some Workplan items. Opportunities to allocate resources include the FY 2025/26 budget process, with adoption scheduled for June 17, 2025.
PUBLIC CONTACT
Public contact was made by posting the Council meeting agenda on the City's official-notice bulletin board at City Hall, at the Sunnyvale Public Library and in the Department of Public Safety Lobby. In addition, the agenda and this report are available at the City Hall reception desk located on the first floor of City Hall at 456 W. Olive Avenue (during normal business hours), and on the City's website.
ALTERNATIVES
1. Approve the Council Strategic Framework and July 2025-June 2027 Council Strategic Priorities (Attachment 2), and receive the associated Workplan (Attachment 3).
2. Approve the Council Strategic Framework and July 2025-June 2027 Council Strategic Priorities with specified modifications (Attachment 2), and receive the associated Workplan (Attachment 3).
3. Other direction as provided by Council.
STAFF RECOMMENDATION
Recommendation
Alternative 1: Approve the Council Strategic Framework and July 2025-June 2027 Council Strategic Priorities (Attachment 2), and receive the associated Workplan (Attachment 3).
Levine Act
LEVINE ACT
The Levine Act (Gov. Code Section 84308) prohibits city officials from participating in certain decisions regarding licenses, permits, and other entitlements for use if the official has received a campaign contribution of more than $500 from a party, participant, or agent of a party or participant in the previous 12 months. The Levine Act is intended to prevent financial influence on decisions that affect specific, identifiable persons or participants. For more information see the Fair Political Practices Commission website: www.fppc.ca.gov/learn/pay-to-play-limits-and-prohibitions.html
An “X” in the checklist below indicates that the action being considered falls under a Levine Act category or exemption:
SUBJECT TO THE LEVINE ACT
___ Land development entitlements
___ Other permit, license, or entitlement for use
___ Contract or franchise
EXEMPT FROM THE LEVINE ACT
___ Competitively bid contract*
___ Labor or personal employment contract
___ Contract under $50,000 or non-fiscal
___ Contract between public agencies
_X_ General policy and legislative actions
* "Competitively bid" means a contract that must be awarded to the lowest responsive and responsible bidder.
Staff
Prepared by: Michelle Zahraie, Senior Management Analyst
Reviewed by: Sarah Johnson-Rios, Assistant City Manager
Approved by: Tim Kirby, City Manager
ATTACHMENTS
1. Strategic Prioritization Process
2. Strategic Framework - Draft
3. Strategic Framework Workplan - Draft