Council,

Here are this week's items:

Council Direction

- Petition to State Parks Board - I forgot to mention this in my comments on Monday night. I'm attaching additional information in advance of our 11/13 conversation, where we’ll need to take action if we are going to meet the 11/15 deadline. We will be recommending that we sign the petition.

Council Follow-Up

- Next Budget Discussion - We have some parking lot items planned for our final budget discussion. We will also provide a listing of the major changes to this budget vs. last year, in case there are any changes before we print a version of the budget for action. The 13th will also be our typical discussion of revenues, budget public hearings, etc. We are planning action for the second meeting in November.

- Webinar on Bicycling Tourism - Several staff and community members viewed an international webinar on this topic on Wednesday. We are excited about the possibilities of continuing to make the ODT, and Sequim in general, an easier destination to visit for cyclists. Much of what we learned was around the organization of information online and signage in the city, which we'll be more closely evaluating. Anything we do for tourists will benefit all of our residents.

- Promoting Remote Technology Workers on the Peninsula - We'll be hosting a meeting today with the EDC and local businesses to do a deeper dive on state legislative changes that could help remote workers in rural areas. We'll let you know if there are any possible edits to our legislative agenda and policy as a result.

- Youth Services Task Force - We have our monthly meeting today. The two key items for discussion are Youth Summit Next Steps and Teen Center Development. We'll be splitting the Teen Center project into a separate team and have a check-in on that project planned with the Council by the end of this year.

- State Emergency Management Director - The State's Emergency Management Director will be on the Peninsula today. We are meeting with him this afternoon.

- Emergency Management Incident Management Team - We are working with Fire District 3 and FEMA to train a blended team from both agencies to run our Emergency Operations Center (EOC) in the future. As we put this effort together, we'll be bringing forward an interlocal agreement to support it. Combining resources will allow both agencies to have more depth and versatility to handle an extended incident, especially those that require 24 hour EOC operations. We'll be training our staff to specific positions in the EOC and training heavily over a multi-year period as we get this system put together.

- Community Emergency Management Plan (CEMP) Update to Begin - Our November meeting will begin the kickoff to our plan update that we have scheduled for 2018. Eventually, we'll be bringing a revised plan to you for action. The Police Department will be leading a multi-departmental team to complete this project.

Related Items

- Records Focus for 2018 & Beyond - We've set a goal to become a top performing records management organization at the national level by 2025. We'll be determining the measures for success for this goal over the next year. I'm creating capacity within the organization to allow us to focus resources on further records process definition and process improvement, disposal of unnecessary records, strategic digitization of records, IT systems to manage records, and transparency. We are looking to make it easier for the public and our staff to find the information that they are seeking. We'll be asking you to also help us create capacity internally by further focusing Council priorities for the next several years.

- Capital Project at Carrie Blake Park - While we are opening the road, punch list work continues on site. The project is a lot broader than just the new entry to the park. It includes new pathways, landscaping, pickleball court grading, rain gardens, etc. We are planning a ribbon cutting for mid-November when all of the work is done. We'll let you know as soon as we have a date finalized. We should know the exact date in the next 1-2 weeks.

- Project with Azerbaijan Shaping Up - A step that is a US State Department condition of our hosing Professional Fellows from foreign countries is organizing an outbound project. Charisse and I have been working with Aydan to put together a one-week project for June 2018 in Baku, Azerbaijan with Aydan's department (State Agency for Public Service and Social Innovations). The project is focused on presentations and discussions around civic engagement and organization development. We are fortunate that our previous fellow, Seymur, also works in her department so we have two contacts there. Only about 25% of projects proposed get funded but if we are fortunate to get selected, I'm confident that both sides will benefit tremendously. The model we've developing for collaborating with Aydan's department is one that we can replicate in the future. It involves continued collaboration via internet conferences, and even the formation of international project teams to tackle common/emerging problems experienced by both of our organizations, well after the in person visits are complete. We are going to test it further with Shiso City, Japan in 2019-2020 as we look to expand that relationship.

- Chamber Business Showcase - I attended this event on Tuesday night at Sunland. It was a packed house, a great turnout! Businesses are also still talking about the business Blitz. It was greatly appreciated.

- BIG Ideas Conference – I attended this weekend-long conference, through the Alliance for Innovation, in Raleigh, NC in early October. This year’s conference focused on pre-emption of local government powers by state and federal governments. It was a fascinating and thought provoking experience, as always. I described some of our efforts to keep focused on local issues despite all of the partisanship going on at the state and federal levels. I will be participating in a follow-up session with a small group hosted by the Drucker Institute in January to further conceptualize how we can take actions from the discussion we had at the conference. Here is a link that includes the white papers that formed the context for the discussion at the conference if you are curious to learn more. This issue of pre-emption is evident in many arenas. A good example that you may recall was federal limitation on our ability to regulate small wireless facilities. http://transformgov.org/en/learning/big_ideas

Charlie's Schedule

- Out Monday - I'll be out of the office Monday for a family celebration, but I'll be in town.

Thanks,

Charlie Bush

Council,

Here are this week's items:

Council Policy Direction

- Olympic Discovery Trail (ODT) Petition – We’ve been asked to sign a petition to State Parks in support of an ODT connection through Anderson Lake State Park. This would help to complete the ODT link between Discovery Bay and Port Townsend. We’ll have an action item for your consideration on 11/13.

Council Follow-Through

- Business Blitz – We visited over 30 businesses on Tuesday morning, received a lot of good information, and will be following up with businesses over the next few weeks. We’ll have a high level report for you before the end of the year on what we heard.

- Enhancing Code Enforcement - We are going to be applying for some assistance in this area. As you may recall, Joe is currently a part of the Leadership ICMA (International City/County Management Association) program. The program includes monthly conference calls, several in-person meetings, attendance at the Senior Executive Institute, and a capstone consulting project. The program is aimed at developing the next generation of leaders in the city/county management profession. I am a 2008 graduate of the program's second class. After discussion with Joe and other staff last week, we think we've got a capstone project that is perfect for a Leadership ICMA team this year. We'll be applying to ICMA and, if accepted, will have available to us up to 5 members of the program to assist us with a consulting project. We are going to have them work with our staff to better define and streamline our code enforcement process, analyze the leading practices around the country that are best for Sequim, and make recommendations for provisions in our revised our code that we'll be asking you to consider. Timing for the project will be between February through July. In the meantime, staff will continue to advance our efforts in this area so that we provide a handoff to the Leadership ICMA team that allows them to get us as far as possible when they engage their project. Our cost will be to pay for travel, where necessary. Labor/services are free to us. Most of the project should be able to be done remotely. Having their assistance will allow us to press "fast forward" on our efforts to enhance code enforcement.

- Rally in the Alley - Charisse did a nice job organizing our 3rd Rally in the Alley of the year last Saturday, in partnership with Habitat for Humanity, DM Disposal, Sequim Sunrise Rotary, Lions, and other partners. We filled four dumpsters in the western area of town in a little over an hour. One of my major takeaways was the amount of trash in our shopping center landscaped areas. We'll be looking at some future code and program remedies to help us in this area.

- Bell Hill Estates – We received submittal of final plat for Phase A, which is 26 lots, including 2 storm water tracts, this past week. Bell Hill Estates is between Brownfield Road and Miller Road on the south side of town and you will recall approving the preliminary plat for all phases earlier this year.

Related Items

- Inclusive Communities Workshop – We partnered with Community Plus to host an initial workshop on promoting a more inclusive Sequim community on September 30th. The next one is planned for mid-November.

- John Wayne Marina Room Dedication - I represented the city last Saturday at an event organized by the Port to dedicate the conference room at John Wayne Marina in memory of former Port Executive Director Jerry Hendricks.

- Azerbaijan Lip Dub – US State Department Professional Fellow Aydan Rzayeva is now in our office and shared this Lip Dub from her department of the national government. As a part of the program, we are working on a follow-up collaboration project with Aydan’s department in Azerbaijan. She will be at our meeting tomorrow night.

- High School Options Class - I had an opportunity to speak at the High School Options Class last week about life and career choices.

- October Sales Tax – October sales tax receipts, which represent collections in August, came in at 121% of budget. Year to date we are at 106% of budget.

- Employee Engagement Webinar Published - I recently did a webinar for the Government Performance Consortium (GPC) and MRSC on employee engagement, along with an HR Professional from Spokane County. My presentation on our efforts starts about 25 minutes into the video and lasts about 15 minutes.

- Planning Calendar and 11/13 Preliminary Council Agenda - Attached

Thanks,

Charlie Bush

Council,

I’m still getting caught up after being away. Here are this week’s items:

- Strategic Partnership with the (Peter) Drucker Institute – We will be working with the Drucker Institute next year to develop departmental missions, visions, and values that are aligned with the overall city’s mission, vision, and values. After that work, we will have mission statements not only in the departments, but also down to the individual employee level. In phase 2, towards the end of the year, they will be helping us with development of our key performance indicators for each of our lines of business. Drucker staff will facilitate this process directly for the Finance and Public Works Departments. Our GREASE Team will observe and then will help to facilitate this process with our other departments. We are collaborating with Drucker to help them fine tune some tools that will be used with other cities in the future and, as a result, are getting a great deal for the amount of time we will be working together. Drucker is known for its extensive work in the private sector. We are now one of their small city partners. We’ve been talking with staff from Drucker for the past couple of years through the Alliance for Innovation and the timing worked out perfectly with our next steps in how we are working to align the organization, and their strengths in the same area. Here is a link if you want to learn more: https://www.drucker.institute/government/.

- Innovation Advance – Our Large Management Team (all of our supervisors) learned about the Alliance’s Innovation Academy this week through a three-hour in person advance (aka retreat). The GREASE Team is participating in the Innovation Academy, which features a series of online sessions and meetings and culminates with a city capstone project that we’ll be presenting in April at the Transforming Local Government Conference in Tacoma. The goals of the Academy includes training staff about design thinking, creative problem solving, and other key factors for innovation. We also completed an organizational innovation assessment and scored well. Of course, there are still some areas where we want to improve. Our Large Management Team spent time getting more familiar with the Academy and the experience the GREASE Team is having so that we can better support them and innovation in the organization moving forward. I was really impressed with the content of the session and the ideas floating around our organization are continuing to get more innovative. When we graduate, we’ll be the second city in Washington to complete the Academy. Here is more: http://transformgov.org/en/learning/innovation_academy.

- September Sales Tax (which represents July) – We had a strong month, coming in 12% over budget!

- Public Works Productivity – The attached email and list gives an illustration of how our Public Works field crew continues to make improvements to the community above and beyond what they’ve been able to do in the past. Kudos to them on a deep commitment to continuous improvement and public service.

- Council Planning Calendar – was attached

Thanks,

Charlie Bush