Council to get presentations from city departments; asked to approve facilitator for goal setting

VALLEJO – The city’s annual budget season officially begins Tuesday as the Vallejo City Council will receive presentations from various City Hall departments regarding accomplishments and challenges each department has faced over the past year.

Updates will come from the police, fire, public works, information technology, planning & development services, and economic development departments during the special Vallejo City Council meeting which begins at 6 p.m. via teleconference.

The presentations are scheduled ahead of the council’s upcoming review and ultimate approval of Vallejo’s 2021-2022 fiscal year budget. The city’s fiscal years run from July 1 to the following June 30.

Councilors will be asked to receive and review a $40,000 proposal from Urban Strategies to provide facilitator services for the council’s upcoming goal setting session – which is also a part of the city’s budget development process.

Both Urban Strategies and Diversity RD Global presented proposals to councilors during a Feb. 9 meeting. Diversity RD Global declined to submit a proposal, city staff wrote in a report to the council.

Urban Strategies’ proposal is $10,000 over the not-to-exceed limit of $30,000 set by the council during the same February meeting.

The Oakland-based Urban Strategies is proposing a six-week campaign “to facilitate community input (The #1 Goal Campaign) and assisting Council staff incorporate and amplify resident voices in the goal setting retreat.”

“USC proposes to work with the Council and City Manager to: 1) increase overall resident participation in the goal setting process; 2) increase participation of residents who have been historically disengaged from City planning efforts (specifically working class, low-income and residents of color); 3) facilitate the Council’s goal setting retreat; and, 4) document outcomes from the goal setting retreat,” the proposal states.

The seven-person council is expected to hold its goal setting over a two-day period, March 24 and 25, at the Cal Maritime Academy in South Vallejo.

The special Vallejo City Council meeting will being at 6 p.m., Tuesday, via teleconference.

The general public can provide comments during the meeting via ZOOM (https://ZoomRegular.Cityofvallejo.net), or via phone, by dialing (669) 900­6833.

The meeting can be viewed by watching Vallejo local channel 28, streaming from the city’s website: http://www.cityofvallejo.net/Streaming, or by joining the Zoom webinar: https://ZoomRegular.Cityofvallejo.net.