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Home My WebLink About2014-05-10 Board of Selectmen Minutes Off~OF)? Town of Reading e Meeting Minutes RECEIVED 639 lNp0PD [OWN CLERK COR ; Board - Committee - Commission - Council: ._ ,DING, Mas s. Board of Selectmen 1014 JUN 25 A 0 51 Date: 2014-05-10 Time: 8:00 AM Building: Location: Address: Purpose: General Business Attendees: Members - Present: Chairman John Arena, Vice Chairman Marsie West, Secretary Daniel Ensminger, Selectmen John Halsey and Kevin Sexton Members - Not Present: Others Present: Town Manager Bob LeLacheur, Assistant Town Manager Jean Delios, Town Accountant Sharon Angstrom, Fire Chief Greg Burns, Police Chief James Cormier, Library Director Ruth Urell, Public Works Director Jeff Zager, Minutes Respectfully Submitted By: Secretary Topics of Discussion: Board of Selectmen and Department Head's Retreat May 10, 2014, Conference Room, 8:00 a.m. — 1:00 p.m. Jordan's Furniture 1. Overview — (8:00 — 8:45) - The Town Manager made some introductory remarks and an overview of our goals for the day. He noted that the objective of the retreat is to develop an action plan. The last planning session was in 2006 and had 3 takeaways - Technology, Facilities, and Communication (steno note: large format flip chart sheets were on display). A brief background of everyone was provided as we went around the room and explained our backgrounds and experience levels from about 8:15 and ended around 8:45 2. Challenges Facing Town Government (8:45— 9:45) a. Revenues vs. Organization — The Town's revenue stream is roughly 2-4% yet spending is above that. There is a need to build an organization that lives within. How can the organization survive ups and downs in the economy, need an organization that is diverse. There is a need for a Strategic Plan and an understanding of how the organization connects. How do we integrate all parts of the organization? Especially in light of competing demands. JH we don't help them understand how that integrates into the enterprise. Bottom up organization, everyone is trying to do a good thing in there silo. Let people out of their silos to prosper b. Why Issue is Important - The Town is a Service Business - hard to measure outcomes. Sometimes not much overlap. What are the priorities given financial constraints? Currently the Town is a lean organization built on piecemeal changes. Page 1 1 Board of Selectmen Minutes — May 10, 2014 — page 2 C. Impacts /Organization of Issues - What is needed and how do you get there? Community priorities are the inputs to the Strategic Plan. Volunteers are a resource to help employees. Departments work well together. Boards are clear about their mandate. It can feel like a four sided rowboat, all pulling in different directions. BCC's in silos. Bridge was Town Manager - need other tools. Volunteers are a doubled edged sword; people will fill a void if you have it. Organization has been run on the backs of employees, good value for the Town but not for the younger generation. We have to understand what the workforce looks like. We are not able to hire our top choices - can you afford your top choice pick something in the middle - Relate this to peer communities pay and class. Schools are slightly below the median rate of pay. In Town Government we are substantially below the median rate of pay. HR is a real big topic. How we measure, for example the cost per pupil doesn't necessarily measure results. Can do something to attract good employees but how do you retain them? Communication and Perception issue - what services would you cut and if you can't would you be willing to pay more... residents in a silo. How to change the perception a little bit... How do we engage residents - World Cafe was good, drew tons of people. Two way communication to community. Schools - Early childhood center was a silver lining - Town Meeting "awakening" -where are we going with this. What is the best way to involve diverse crowd. Building projects frustration of weighing in and not being listened to... What are our goals? What is the capacity for big projects vs. ongoing operations? How to leverage volunteers? How to prepare for override? RMLD - unique asset as well as the risk we own for financial pending challenge - fixed costs and then a period of low rates with natural gas and supply issues and contracts. Getting ready to change the rate structure. That hits the same customers that we have. FACILITIES - where are we going with this especially in light of our structural problem and priorities, lack of agreement, putting it under schools which is 2/3 of the budget. Fix the $$ - Creative vs. do the basic iob. Look before you leap - study the issue then propose a solution. Common metric of studying things - look at the output - money spent vs. achievement - value proposition and price performance. Need to market the good things we are doing... Measure output... communicate to community., marketing. Inventory of Services and working with community partners. Social Media - as a way to communicate... Break Page 1 2 Board of Selectmen Minutes – May 10, 2014 – page 3 3. Community Partners — Defined as any Non -Town Employee (10 — 11:30) B /C /C's - consolidation of Town B /C /C's and Service Org's, Fraternal Orgs, Sanborn, Longwood, YMCA, Young Women's League, SPORTS ORGS, Cultural and Arts Groups, Religious Orgs, Library Friends and Foundation, Friends and Supporters, Friends of Reading Rec, grants State /Fed, MAPC, Prof. Groups, Social Media links to those groups. You have to manage the content - get people to like and share your page... Strategic Plan 1. Community Priorities 2. How to get input from Community - Focus Groups, Community Survey that is professionally crafted, Work with Higher Ed, 3. How do we measure our output/cost of providing? 4. Marketing and Social Media 5. Abbreviated world cafe -with service groups - Summit of all the organizations - community organization summit - Things that we do poorly: 1. Website - hire someone to restructure... have a process in place 2. Keep track of complaints or requests 3. Numerous inquiries to TM - Resident interactions -the ability to go in and see how many times they ask for something, assign someone to triage... 4. Not always need to be the Town Manager 5. Marketing to res or comm (realtors) 6. Communicate and Develop Relationships with Businesses 7. Capacity of Town Government vs. other organizations 8. Budget for capital projects, no staff to oversee or manage them What data to we gather, how do we measure - activity based, not result based ? Monthly Reports?What is worth reporting on or tracking? Think of it through the eyes of your customer-what is the top priority Sharon tracks revenue on a monthly basis - how are collections going (e.g., ambulance reports) maybe looking at wrong person for the measure. What's worth communicating -talk about the "wins" give people and understanding about what they are getting a bang for the buck TM and GM at RMLD are working together to be more proactive and less reactive... Work on marketing now and then later deal with the need for a strategic plan Action Plan - pressing needs 1. Zoning bylaw 2. Charter 3. Land Use - extra requirements like Local Bylaw Conservation 4. Town and Schools Facilities Building Program -Asset Management 5. Post Office Building - buy it just for the parking... 6. Library Construction Project - still working it out Page 1 3 7. Use of Facilities - Standing Building Committee (by Bylaw Committee) piece missing from building committee is money, make sure we have a strong financial eye on what is going on, keep things on track, Joe has a guy who can watch over an actual construction project. More Board of Selectmen Minutes – May 10, 2014 – page 4 neutral hands, wide range of expertise, need a financial professional expertise on projects - not having that is a risk. 8. Capacity /Infrastructure - We have a shortfall of recreation space, book in advance, scramble for resources including fields. Only 2 things to do -turf them or light them. Ice Arena is a big resource, drives revenue... recreational center that could house all our needs - being developed without any tax dollars the revenue streams are creating revenue sources back to the Town. Melrose, Pine Banks facility, was the funding source. Morelli field and Concord NH has a booming business going on and Bedford is driving hundreds of thousands if not millions of dollars being generated - all the parts connect Birch Meadow is revisiting the plan, what are we seeing, how are we seeing people using things... What do we need to do - Market is hot -we are well above the 2005 bubble burst... The development of specialized facilities and lease payments, profit sharing, etc. in the Town Forest... High Wire Act... Privately run popular in Washington State and in Oregon. Person that runs it is from Reading. Aging Population is a big factor - Housing is as well - How much can we do, we have a limited pool of resources do you think about partnering with community groups, some services we already provide like the library having a Large print collection and the demands of that age group. Programs at the Library include a lot of Senior Citizens so they repeat a program at 10 in the morning. A magnifier for reading a letter etc. How far do we go until we say Uncle. Fire Department is finding people - a resource of last resort Break Financial is a set aside... Marketing is the overarching component of all of the topics It was agreed that working groups would be formed as follows to undertake follow up work: 1. Community Partners— Kevin Sexton, Dan Ensminger, and Bob LeLacheur 2. List of Services and Performance Measurements— Marsie West and Jean Delios 3. Communication— Sharon Angstrom and Jeff Zager 4. Strategic Planning —John Arena, John Halsey, Jim Cormier, Greg Burns, and Ruth Urell October 21st is the target date to meet again -Tuesday PM -off site - Financial Forum is October 29th Meeting Adjourned at 12:30. Respectfully submitted, Secretary Page 4