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HomeMy WebLinkAboutagenda.council.worksession.20230717AGENDA CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION July 17, 2023 4:00 PM, City Council Chambers 427 Rio Grande Place, Aspen I.Work Session I.A Council Goal Work Plan: Customer-Focused Government I.B Financial Update and 2024 Base Budget Assumptions I.C Council Board Reports and Updates ZOOM Join from a PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone or Android device: Please click this URL to join: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/87421615836? pwd=U2tWTzhWUFN1VzQwSFo3dzdseDdEZz09 Or join by phone: Dial: US: +1 346 248 7799 Webinar ID: 874 2161 5836 Passcode: 81611 International numbers available: https://us06web.zoom.us/u/kemn325oNa Customer_Focused_Govt_Worksession_Memo_7-17-23.docx Exhibit A - Customer Focused Government workplan.docx 2023 Financial Update & Base Budget - 7.17.2023.pdf 1 1 MEMORANDUM TO:Mayor Torre and Aspen City Council FROM:Tyler Christoff, Public Works Deputy Director Kim Ferber, Police Chief Alissa Farrell, Administrative Services Director Jenn Ooton, Senior Project Manager Phillip Supino, Community Development Director MEMO DATE:July 10, 2023 MEETING DATE:July 17, 2023 RE:Council Goal – Customer-Focused Government REQUEST OF COUNCIL: Staff is requesting City Council feedback on the new Customer-Focused Government workplan. SUMMARY AND BACKGROUND: City Council adopted its 2023 to 2025 Goals in June 2023, including the Customer- Focused Government Goal. This work plan details the milestones to be undertaken by staff to support City Council in reaching its articulated goal. Importantly, due to the scope and scale of the activities in this work plan, only some of these items can be completed within a two-year timeframe; many will take much longer. Much of the effort outlined in the attached work plan is both on-going initiatives that demonstrates action around our organizational values and programs that staff believe best meet Council’s goal. Importantly, the actual work discussed in the attached Customer-Focused Government work plan has been and continues to be performed by the cross-departmental team of staff identified on the “By” line above. DISCUSSION: Staff would like City Council to consider the following for this work session: Subgoals B, C, and E are interrelated, so the staff response to these subgoals will be different from many other Council goal elements. The “development review process” and “land use and permitting application” are different phrases describing essentially the same core services: development services provided primarily by teams within the Building, Engineering, Parks, Planning, and Utilities departments. The Land Use Code, Title 26, is one element of the suite of regulations in the 2 Page 2 of 2 Development Allotment Application Process Municipal Code which govern and facilitate development. Additionally, ongoing staff thinking and work on these topics is integrated and coordinated. Given this interrelatedness and the shared intent behind each of the three subgoals, staff intends to present responses to these subgoals together. This will ensure efficiency of work product, Council discussion, and improve the effectiveness of potential responses. Are there any edits City Council would like to make to the draft Customer-Focused Government Work Plan? In particular, staff asks that City Council pay particular attention to the Project Description for each milestone, as that is a staff interpretation of City Council’s intent. ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS: Staff believe that continuing to seek community alignment to deliver core business functions creates inherent efficiencies and supports organizational efforts to implement Aspen Sustainability Action Plan policies. Maintaining and enhancing relationships with residents, businesses, and visitors is critical to provide services essential to our community. The city provides core and elective functions intended to assist the community in meeting its goals outlined in the Aspen Sustainability Action Plan. FINANCIAL/BUDGET IMPACTS: Each milestone in the Customer Focused Government work plan includes discussion of resources required, including financial resources. CITY MANAGER COMMENTS: EXHIBITS: A. Council Goal Work Plan – Customer Focused Government 3 Exhibit A – Council Goal Workplan -- Customer Focused Government Customer-focused Government:Maintaining and enhancing relationships with residents, businesses and visitors is critical to provide services essential to our community. The city of Aspen will continuously improve customer service, services and processes with our customers in mind. This will be accomplished through: Goal Owner: Tyler (primary), Phillip, Alissa and Kim  a.Assessing customer service standards for the organization   Milestone: Customer Service Standards Assessment Project Description: Setting recorded service standards is a common approach to establish, teach, and reinforce consistent levels of service performance and enhance the customer experience across our organization. Customer service standards apply to the interactions between an organization and its customer and the resulting customer expectations. Maintaining and enhancing such relationships is critical in the local government space as many services we provide are essential to our community and alternative services are often not available. Equally important are our internal services and the norms associated with serving and interacting with our peers. The combination and intersection of these concepts is central to our organizational culture. City staff intend to show leadership in this space and to demonstrate to the City manager and City Council tangible development in identifying: 1) who our customers are, 2) what our customer service practices are across functions, and 3) a common set of customer service standards proposed by the Matrix Team. Standards are intended to promote consistency, unity, identity, pride, clarity, and accountability. Individual departments are encouraged to exercise creativity in aligning their practices with the city-wide standards. Departments will be encouraged to interpret and apply the standards based on their own expert knowledge of their customers. Maintaining a small-town experience is an important aspect of customer service in Aspen. Timeline: Staff anticipates a robust, iterative discussion to capture current customer service norms and to explore development of these standards to maximize our full potential as an organization. Hosting meetings every 2 to 3 weeks for approximately 4-6 months will likely provide the time to create a constructive baseline as a foundation for capturing existing ‘standards’ and best practices in the larger organization. Conclusion of this scope of the project should generally coincide with the completion of the 2023 Compass goals and the development of the 2024 plan. Staff and facilitator availability along with the general forming, storming, norming, performing development of the core team will ultimately dictate the pacing and level of recommendations at project 4 termination. Based on these unknowns staff anticipates the potential for a secondary phase of this project to explore individual department standards, city-wide training and rollout, and future development in the customer service space. Resource Needs: The project team will utilize local service-based entities and context, inspiration, and foundation for this project. Contact has been made with CMC, Aspen Skiing Company and various hotel operations in our community. Additionally, staff has investigated ISO standards for ‘Excellence in Customer Service’ and will assess how these may support City efforts in this space. Council Engagement: Council will be asked to review project teams findings and recommendations, share feedback, and consider resource requests associated with implementing new efforts within the organization. Milestone: Completing a gap analysis of customer services provided by the Police Department. Project Description: Staff will complete a gap analysis on current services being provided to victims, residential and business alarm customers, and community outreach initiatives. The department will seek feedback from: internal and external stakeholder surveys steering committee members law enforcement organizations who embody the delivery of the highest service standards to their community to identify inefficiencies, streamline processes, and enhance customer service. Timeline: Staff will complete an analysis of current practices, develop surveys, stand up steering committee team(s), and collect resources to evaluate best practices by the end of Q4 2023. Beginning Q1 2024 meetings will be held bi-weekly to evaluate feedback and develop key recommendations for consideration. Staff anticipates completion by the end of Q2 2024. Resource Needs: Staff will assess current resources to determine if additional requests to City Council are necessary. Staff may seek to identify and implement a software platform to randomly seek anonymous customer feedback during law enforcement contacts and encounters, cost to be determined for consideration. Council Engagement: Presentation to City Council b.Continuing to optimize development review processes.   5 Milestone: Permit Advisory Group Project Description: In March, 2023, members of the Agency Directors team created an inter-departmental task force, the Permit Advisory Group, to drive innovation and optimize the development review process. The task force includes staff members from the four development review agencies: Engineering, Utilities, Community Development, and Parks. In the intervening months, the group has initiated several process changes and driven a push to reduce the volume of permits awaiting review by their respective departments. The group has been chartered and empowered to continue this work indefinitely. Their objectives are to optimize the development review process by – assessing current practices, finding efficiencies, analyzing best practices from comparable communities, recommending structural and resource changes to Agency Directors and the City Manager, and taking responsibility for ensuring ongoing improvement and alignment with organizational standards.The task force reports to the Agency Directors and City Manager. Timeline: Ongoing Resource Needs: The task force is assessing current resources and will make recommendations to future resource needs in coordination with related Customer Focused Government goal initiatives. Council Engagement: Task force work will be included in Council reporting on related goal items, including the customer service standards, Land Use Code, and development review policies goal items. c.Amending the Land Use Code to simplify processes and improve coordination between agencies. Milestone: Code Amendments Project Description: Community Development staff maintains a running list of code sections that require amendment. Historically, these code sections are presented to Council triennially for amendment. Council’s desire to find efficiency in the development review process creates an opportunity to bring these ideas to Council for consideration and code amendment. Additionally, past Councils have identified Board and Commission jurisdictions, authorities, and review processes as areas of misalignment between policies, regulations, and development outcomes. Board and Commission reviews are a significant step in the land use process.Assessing the role and authority of Boards and Commissions in the Land Use process and the alignment between those boards’ standards, processes, and development outcomes presents an opportunity to support Council’s desire to both simplify process and improve coordination. 6 Finally, staff from Planning, Building, Climate Action, Utilities, and Engineering have been coordinating since 2022 on identifying regulations is different Municipal Code Titles which are contradictory or are counter to adopted policy and development outcomes. Council's desire to ensure improved coordination between departments creates opportunity for that coordination work to continue apace and result in code amendments in support of this goal. Timeline: Begin staff work to define the issues and possible approach in Q4 2023. Depending on Council’s desired scope, developing policy direction and the full code amendment process could extend into 2025. Resource Needs: TBD depending on Council's desired scope. Small-scale code amendments can be managed by existing staff. Code amendments resulting in changes to development outcomes, policy changes, or restructuring of Boards and Commissions would require significant consultant support, between $75,000 and $250,000. Factors like public engagement requirements, process length, and legal support would significantly influence cost, staffing, and timeline. Council Engagement: Project scoping work session in late 2023 – likely included with related goal elements. d.Ensuring meaningful access to services and information for all members of the community through a focus on accessible and multi- lingual communications.  Milestone: Advance accessibility and multi-lingual efforts for the city Project Description: Staff propose continuing to work towards a myriad of projects that are underway for immediate and ongoing progress related to this goal. These projects provide a comprehensive and embedded educational foundation related to diversity, equity, inclusivity, and accessibility to coincide with the specific action plan items around accessibility and multi-lingual expansion. Parallel to immediate initiatives in progress, subject matter experts/consultants are requested to develop a city-wide DEIA assessment and implementation plan (gap analysis), along with an accessibility consultant to ensure compliance of the new State Accessibility Law. Specifically, the projects include: Project Plan for Compliance with Colorado State Accessibility Law: Over the course of the next year, staff have been working towards a project plan to meet the new State Accessibility Law which goes into effect over the summer of 2024. This plan includes an accessibility review, audit, document remediation, and updating all materials related to any online content including but not limited to the city’s website, intranet, text, images, forms, PDFs, documents and third-party applications. Along with 7 ensuring compliance in the creation and publishing of any online content and materials. Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Accessibility (DEIA) Steering Committee The City of Aspen is committed to fostering a diverse, equitable, inclusive and accessible environment that values and embraces all races, ethnicities, cultures, gender or gender identities, religions, sexual orientations, nationalities, socioeconomic statuses, languages, disabilities, ages, or any human qualities that differ from another group. For the next year, this committee has developed a work plan that includes internal education and culture building to support and educate staff on DEIA principles. In addition, the committee is selecting a consultant (a subject matter expert) to complete a gap analysis focused on City of Aspen policies, programs, services and processes to determine where improvements can be made as it relates to DEIA. While focused primarily internally, city programs and services that have a public-facing component which will be assessed as well. The phased approach will begin with a gap analysis and move to an implementation plan focused on addressing priorities identified. Although city staff are working towards a plethora of accessible and multi-lingual translation options now, this gap analysis will provide a multi-year, comprehensive and planned path forward for incorporating a strategic DEIA plan. This DEIA plan will include items such as multi-lingual and accessibility services for a broader and multi-layer approach along with additional, short-term and long-term comprehensive items. City-wide DEIA Training Another component of the workplan is to provide city-wide DEIA training as a foundational component to then layer on tactical, culturally sensitive plans, services, policies and procedures. This city-wide training scheduled for August of 2023, along with an embedded new hire and ongoing DEIA trainings are essential. Multi-lingual Pay Policy The multi-lingual pay policy is designed to encourage and recognize employees of the City of Aspen who use a second language during official city business serving customers, residents and visitors of Aspen. This program enables the city to recruit, retain and develop a high-quality workforce, allowing us to better serve the needs of our diverse community and provide communication in a culturally relevant way. The use of Spanish and American Sign Language (ASL) are currently the approved languages for the program. These languages were determined based on Aspen’s population demographics and customer service needs. The city will continue to evaluate the possibility of expanding languages eligible for the multilingual bonus program. Currently, this policy is in draft form with a scheduled finalization and implementation in the next two months. 8 Timeline: Current and multi-year timeline to be updated upon completion of the city- wide gap analysis. Resource Needs:Staff anticipate a potential request of up to $250k for the scope included above. Council Engagement:As part of the 2024 budget process, Council will be presented with additional funding requests related to accessibility and multilingual services directly related to this goal. e.Developing policies and/or regulations to ensure the review of Land Use and Permitting applications is administered in reasonable, fair and appropriate periods of time. Milestone: Policy development Project Description: Periodically the development review process (including engineering, building, utilities, and parks permitting) is assessed for efficiency, quality of service, and responsiveness of community sentiment around development. In 2001, the “Community Development Re-Engineering Report provided a host of recommendations to improve the development review process. In 2012, the “Bott Report” assessed structural obstacles to further optimization. As the community and development industry evolve, so to must the processes that govern it. To support Council thinking about the current process relative to desired outcomes, staff will provide Council with: understanding of the current process, data about the Aspen development economy and context, and background on adopted City policy related to economic sustainability, development and growth management, planning regulations, and community character. Additionally, comparative data about how similar communities manage the development review process will assist in staff and Council understanding and discussion. A work session will be needed to reach shared understanding of the goal language and desired outcomes. This discussion would include defining “reasonable”, “fair”, and “appropriate” within Aspen’s community and development context. Council may also provide staff with ideas for the desired outcomes from this process related to resident and customer service and experience, the pace and scale of development, and alignment between existing city policies related to development, growth, infrastructure and capacity, environmental health, and climate action. Following the work session, staff will work with the City Manager to develop responses to Council direction. Much of the staff-directed work will focus on departmental procedures and internal policies. Resolutions or ordinances codifying specific policy or regulatory changes will be developed with Council direction and provided to Council for adoption as needed. Data will be provided to Council as needed to demonstrate responsiveness to Council policy directives. 9 Timeline: Staff proposes the following project elements: Q4 2023 – info memo to Council outlining the history of process improvement initiatives 2001 to 2023, data analysis of current process, comparative communities report, and related AACP policy summary; Q1 2024 – work session to define goal language, desired outcomes, and policy alignment; Q2 2024 – work session outlining staff responses and next steps. Resource Needs:$20,000 to $50,000 in consultant support to produce comparative communities report, assist in data collection and analysis, and policy analysis. Depending on Council’s desired outcomes, additional financial and human resources may be needed, likely in 2025 budget. Council Engagement:informational memos, work session, possible resolution or ordinance adoption hearings – likely presented alongside related goal elements. 10 Quarterly Financial Update & 2024 Base Budget Planning 11 City Sales Tax Taxable Sales 2022 Actuals 2023 Projection 2023 vs 2022 Accommodations 354,632,618 361,725,000 2% Restaurants 192,771,817 196,627,000 2% Sporting Goods 73,242,116 71,777,000 -2% Clothing 148,934,872 141,488,000 -5% Food & Drug 80,289,156 78,683,000 -2% Liquor 13,461,296 13,327,000 -1% Marijuana 9,638,185 8,867,000 -8% General & Miscellaneous 105,822,257 108,997,000 3% Luxury Goods 57,516,124 57,516,000 0% Utilities 49,614,944 51,600,000 4% Construction 88,703,357 91,364,000 3% Automobile 36,072,126 37,876,000 5% Banking / Financial 5,412,430 5,142,000 -5% Health & Beauty 4,217,263 5,061,000 20% Total Taxable Sales $1,220,328,560 $1,230,050,000 0.80% Allocation of Tax Collections 1.50% Parks & Open Space $18,199,899 $18,344,900 0.80% 0.15% Transportation $1,820,006 $1,834,500 0.80% 1st % of 0.45% Housing Dev.$2,456,980 $1,375,900 -44.00% 2nd % of of 0.45% Kids First $3,002,976 $4,127,600 37.45% 0.30% Education $3,644,119 $3,673,100 0.80% 2.40% Tax Collections $29,123,981 $29,356,000 0.80% Pacing ~5% over 2021 YTD (thru April) Softening starting to show in large sectors Allowing for more downside risk Still strong collections overall: ~2% over initial 2023 budget projections Current 2024 forecast is for 1.8% growth 12 Real Estate Transfer Taxes $0 $100,000,000 $200,000,000 $300,000,000 $400,000,000 $500,000,000 $600,000,000 $700,000,000 $800,000,000 $900,000,000 $1,000,000,000 2022 YTD 2023 YTD $156,444,500 $126,194,967 $157,628,802 $61,903,415 $270,067,525 $154,125,264 $128,297,622 $149,463,311 $269,471,000 $199,475,217 Total Cash Consideration of Sales Jan Feb Mar Apr May 0 50 100 150 200 250 300 2022 YTD 2023 YTD 53 40 48 34 66 58 57 48 62 46 Volume of Sales Jan Feb Mar Apr May Artificially Propped Up: Two large sales skew #s By the Numbers: Volume Down 21% Consideration Down 30% Current Collections: 1.0% RETT: $6.7M 0.5% RETT: $3.4M 2023 Projections: 1.0% RETT: $12M 0.5% RETT: $6M 13 Lodging Tax $662$648$494$800$936$631$650$547$928$1,096$627$543$592$909$999$240$168$351$432$438$201$137$236$334$2872019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Average Daily Rate Jan Feb Mar Apr May76%75%38%70%78%79%79%46%79%77%79%34%66%78%76%40%1%33%40%38%38%2%36%31%32%2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 Average Occupancy Jan Feb Mar Apr May Occupancy starting to fall relative to ‘19 & ’22 Advanced bookings also lagging for summer YTD (thru April): Up 6.5% 2023 Projection: Up 3.0% 2024 Forecast: Up 1.0% 14 General Purpose Property Tax State Changes Assessment Rate with SB 22-238: Non-Residential: 27.900% Residential: 6.765% Cap On Collections: TABOR Limit = Inflation + New Growth Key Deadlines at County Assessors Office: August 25, 2023 –Preliminary December 10, 2023 –Final Deadline for City to Certify Final Levies: December 15, 2023 15 Clean River Program Property Tax 0.650 Mills for Stormwater Program vs 5.410 Mills Max in General Purpose Property Tax This Tax Has No Limiter on Revenue Growth 2018 -Council Lifted Artificial TABOR Limitation Infrastructure Replacement and Water Quality Projects Significant Collection Year 2023 Collection Year 2024 Net Total Assessed Values $2,008,903,130 ? Mill Levy Applied 0.650 ? Collectible Property Tax $1,305,787 ? 16 Question for Council Any questions regarding current collections or assumptions for 2024? Any direction on setting mill levies ahead of our first glimpse on actual valuations from the County in August? 17 2024 Base Budget Planning 18 Financial Planning Item 2024 Budget Planning Includes 2.5% Increase on Goods & Services 19 Financial Planning Item A framework to guide decision- making on compensation and benefits for employees. Ensure the city is a market leader, annual process. Compare jobs locally, regionally, and nationally, when appropriate. Total Compensation Philosophy (TCP) 20 Financial Planning Item •Employee Health Insurance Premiums –8% Increase •Employer Health Insurance Premiums –10% Increase •Maintain $0 for Employee only •Past two years, no increase in Employee Premiums •Plan Design Changes: •Increase out-of-pocket annual maximum (employee) •New Pharmacy Benefits Manager •Able to pivot if necessary, with additional claims data and contract renewals by end of August 2024 Health Insurance: 21 Financial Planning Item •2024 Merit Increase Recommendation –Up to 7% •Although early, local competitive peer group = 7% •For 2023, 3% COLA and up to 4% merit = up to 7% •Every 1% in merit equates to $425,000 •Multilingual Pay and Parental Leave Pay Policies currently under review. Expected to implement in 2023. 2024 Total Compensation: 22 Question for Council Is Council comfortable with the 2024 Base Budget assumptions as presented? 23