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fv. MWINDS "A i _s -- - Item No: 5 Meeting Date: Nov 4, 2013 Type of Business: Work Session To: Honorable Mayor and City Council From; James Ericson, City Administrator Item Title/Subject: Discuss 2014 Council & Department Head Strategic Planning Session 1 The City Council and Department Heads annually meet to review and establish goals, objectives, action steps and initiatives. The exercise, referred to as the "Council Retreat", allows for free flowing Council and management staff discussions in an informal, semi - structured environment for purposes of providing staff with direction for the year. Through 2008, the Council Retreats were facilitated by an outside consultant to assist the Council and staff through the goal setting and teambuilding sessions. From 2009 to 2013, the Retreats were self facilitated, led by the Mayor and City Administrator. While this process has resulted in ambitious goals and refined objectives, in recent years it has been increasingly difficult to manage the facilitation process while remaining a part of the dialogue. At this summer's League of Minnesota Cities Annual Conference, Council Member Meehlhause and I attended a session on strategic planning led by consultant David Unmacht and Saint Anthony Village City Administrator Mark Casey. (Refer to the attached information from this session.) The session was enlightening and Both Council Member Meehlhause and I recognized that the City of Mounds View would greatly benefit from having the next Council Retreat led by an outside facilitator. The one point Mr. Unmacht made that struck home for us is that while self -facilitated strategic planning sessions may result in perfectly adequate outcomes, they typically fail to fully engage the one or two people leading the retreat—it's difficult to effectively facilitate and participate at the same time. The Council has previously expressed consensus that an outside facilitator would be desirable for the next Council Retreat, so we have requested a proposal from Mr. Unmacht, who has agreed to facilitate the next Council Retreat. Assuming a four-hour single -evening retreat, Mr. Unmacht would charge $1,500. The proposed 2014 Budget includes funds to cover a facilitated Council Retreat. Assuming the City Council is supportive of having Mr. Unmacht facilitate our 2014 Council Retreat, the only remaining decision would be to determine the date. Third or fifth Mondays are a first choice, but the third Mondays in Both January and February are holidays. (There are no fifth Mondays in January of February.) As an alternative, Staff would suggest a Tuesday night either later in January or early in February.