Five months on as a City Councilor

I would like to harken back to my first email of May 18^th regarding the City Council retreat and say that the Council has indeed moved forward in a positive manner and I am happy to say that the retreat was effective as is shown by the progress we have made on the topics covered by this email:

• Appointee evaluation process
• City Council Goals for 2019-2020
• Strategic & Long-term Finance Committee

As always, I welcome your feedback and ideas. Please share this email with others who might be interested (they can then request to be added to the list). If you do not wish to continue receiving updates from me, please let me know and I will remove you from the list.

City Council has developed and approved an evaluation process for the City Attorney and the Municipal Judge that includes written documentation of performance using a series of questions that reflect the quality of their performance in areas of their responsibility:

• For the City Attorney:
  • Legal Consultation
  • Legal Representation
  • Staff Work
  • Interactions with City Council and the Community
  • Personal Characteristics
• For the Municipal Judge:
  • Judicial Administration
  • General Administration
  • Professional Conduct
  • Professional Development

The evaluation process will occur on an annual basis (at a minimum) with on-going feedback during the year.

For me, this was a great exercise in learning about the responsibilities and activities of the attorney & judge. It was also a fantastic way to get to know them better by sitting down with them individually and hearing about their experiences, challenges and successes in their positions as well as gaining understanding about how their performance affects our community.

The evaluation process for the City Manager will be discussed at the City Council Study Session on Sept 10 at 4 pm. As part of that process, Council has developed a series of questions that reflect on the City Manager’s quality of performance in areas of his/her responsibility and interactions with Council & the community. These questions are based on qualities, characteristics and skills that Council believes are important in determining the success of Durango’s City Manager. They include the areas of:

• Community Relations, Collaboration, Public Interaction
• City Council Relations
• Implementation of City Council Goals
• Team Development
• Organizational Management and Development
• Economic and Community Development
• Financial Management
• Strategic Leadership
• Management Style

The City Manager evaluation process will also occur on an annual basis (as a minimum) and will include the results of a public feedback process (as required in the City Charter). There will also be a system of on-going Council feedback during the year. The results of the evaluation processes will then allow Council & the appointees in the development of goals & objectives for the coming year.

As Council moves forward in hiring a new City Manager, the thoughtful creation of the evaluation process questions will be a very useful guide in the search for the best candidate to manage City operations efficiently & effectively, create a culture of continuous improvement, develop collaborative relationships that will benefit Durango and the region, & promote economic and community development that will benefit all.

City Council created and approved Goals for 2019 – 2020. The five over-arching goals are supported by specific actions and will be refined by Council with support from Staff to include time-bound achievable results. These goals will inform the upcoming budget process for 2020 as well as the decisions that City Council makes for the future.

City Council Goals

• Continue to address Durango’s affordable/attainable housing, including options for homeless population
• Expand Durango’s unique identity as a driver of enhanced quality of life and sense of place
• Improve environmental resiliency and encourage responsible stewardship of natural resources
• Require & support effective utilization of resources
• Advance fiscal sustainability and resiliency

The full list of  goals & actions can be found on the City’s website at http://www.durangogov.org/169/City-Council and clicking on the “quick links – City Council Goals” on the right side of the page.

My focus during the 2020 budget process will be to curb growing expenses & encourage revenue generation in order to:

• rebuild reserves in the General Fund,
• plan for needed facilities maintenance & improvement, and
• promote programs to create economic development & housing-for-all.

And finally!

The proposal from the working group for the City’s Strategy & Long-term Finance Committee will be made to the full Council in the coming month. We spent four weeks exploring the purpose of the committee as well as defining the skills and experience desired for the members. Once the Council has approved the proposal, the City will reach out to the community and request applications for participation on the Committee.

This project was so much fun to work on! It will be exciting to have long-range forecasting and strategic planning to support City Council in making informed, thoughtful decisions regarding the future.

Please continue to reach out to me with your ideas, thoughts and concerns; I fully appreciate that I was elected by the people to represent the people. The vitality, health, & prosperity of our community is my priority.

Kim Baxter

Passion, Patience and Persistence (possibly my new motto!)