Item B - Eugene Counts - Laserfiche WebLink

Home Browse Search

ECC UGENE ITY OUNCIL AIS GENDA TEM UMMARY Work Session: Eugene Counts Meeting Date: October 26, 2009 Agenda Item Number: B Department: Central Services/City Manager’s Office Staff Contact: Terrie Monroe www.eugene-or.gov Contact Telephone Number: 682-5412 ISSUE STATEMENT This work session provides a mid-course update on the progress of Eugene Counts, which grew out of the Mayor and City Council Retreat on February 6-7, 2009. The discussion will include an overview of the strategies being used to solicit input during the public engagement phase, an explanation of the methodology that will be used to synthesize the information, and a description of the anticipated deliverables. BACKGROUND Eugene Counts emerged from the February Mayor and City Council Retreat, and the follow-up work sessions on April 15 and April 29, as a way of connecting council goals to concrete outcomes that reflect community priorities. Those outcomes, in turn, will help provide a foundation for focused effort to make a meaningful difference where it matters most to community members. Outcomes and their related measures will help inform service delivery, budget decisions and strategies to improve performance, and will provide a transparent and accessible way for residents to monitor the City’s progress toward its goals. At the May 26, 2009, work session, the council reviewed the plan for the public engagement phase of Eugene Counts and chose to defer decision-making on outcomes and measures until the community had an opportunity to weigh in. Beginning in the summer and continuing through the fall, community members have been participating in multiple ways in the task of envisioning what successful attainment of the five council goals would look like, including identifying the most important results they would like to see for Eugene, and the types of information that would help them know how well the City was doing. The strategies being used to involve the community include surveys, focus groups, interviews and discussions, event drop-ins, community workshops, and social network-based outreach. This broad- based approach was designed to help engage community members across geographic and demographic boundaries, and make participation as accessible as possible. When data collection is complete in early November, information from disparate sources will be systematically analyzed and synthesized to identify the most sought-after outcomes related to each council goal. Using broad and deep community input as a foundation, staff will develop a recommendation for a set of outcomes under each goal as well as suggested measures for council consideration at the December 14, 2009, work session. Z:\CMO\2009 Council Agendas\M091026\S091026B and attA.doc