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scoraggiogroup
City of Atascadero
Insight Report
January 25,2019
Coraggio Group
2240 N Interstate Ave.Suite 300
Portland,OR 97227
503.493.1452
coraggiogroup.com
Overview
Coraggio conducted one-on-one interviews with each City Councilor and City Department Heads,as well as
a focus group with community business leaders.Based on these conversations ,we have identified six key
themes ,and found that there are more areas of alignment than disagreement among City Council members
and City staff leadership.On the pages that follow ,each of these six themes is highlighted with
representative quotes from our conversations:
>The City has a talented and dedicated staff that is very effective with the limited resources they have
>There is a desire to focus on fewer highly impactful priorities
>Aligning on a common vision for the City and community will help clarify our priorities
>Generating additional revenue for the City is seen as essential
>Economic development,with a focus on revitalizing downtown,is still an opportunity
>Quality of life concerns,including wildfire readiness and the homeless population,are top of mind
Atascadero Ten-Year Vision (City Council,2014 )
Atascadero is a beautiful and authentic city of outdoor recreation,culinary adventures,
and welcoming hospitality.It's a safe place where the arts &history thrive,and the
diversity of experience,generosity of spirit,and small -town ambiance are here to be
enjoyed by visitors and residents alike.
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The City has a talented and dedicated staff that is very
effective with the limited resources they have
>“The people who work here are the best.We can’t pay as much as other places around us,but we
can make it a great place to work.It’s pretty unusual.”
>“We have a pretty lean staff and a pretty full plate.”
>“We’ve been trying to trim the fat for years,but I don’t know how much there is to cut out.”
>“We’re consistently efficient with lean resources.Given what we have to accomplish,we accomplish
it quite well.”
>“We’re still being asked to do everything with fewer resources.It affects employee morale.”
>“We have less staff and less resources than most of our neighbors and we put out a better product.”
>“We can count on them for putting a lot of time,money and energy into events that bring people to
Atascadero and into our downtown.”
>“They support existing business very well.They have been very supportive through the years.”
There is a desire to focus on fewer highly impactful priorities
>“It’s easier to measure things you do if it’s going to impact the largest number of community
members.”
>“If you add something new,you have to take something away.”
>“The more scattered we are,the less focus we will have on the important things.”
>“What can we do with the resources we have?”
>“[We struggle with]being able to tell the community no.”
>“I don’t want strategic planning to be:‘Here are the 25 goals we want accomplish this year.’”
>“Expectations from the public and the Council are rising without the resources to deal with it.”
Aligning on a common vision for the City and community will
help clarify our priorities
>“Try to find our identity,we don’t really have an identity beyond a bedroom community.”
>“We need to have Council and City staff on the same page as far as vision.”
>“I would like for us to figure out what is the identity for Atascadero.Things like culture,who are we,
how do we identify ourselves,what makes us,us?”
>“[We need to]have a coherent vision of what our community is at least at a high level.If we have
consensus of vision,the decision criteria is:‘Does this get us closer of further from our vision?”’
>“People are not going to want to go to a town that doesn’t have identity.”
>“We want to be the best of who we are;we don't want to lose that small-town feel.”
>“How do we continue to make Atascadero a destination?How can we make Atascadero more
attractive as a destination?”
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Generating additional revenue for the City is seen as essential
>“Maintaining and improving City services,in an economy that doesn’t generate much sales tax or
TOT—how do we provide a sufficient level of services with less money?”
>“[There are]things we’d love to do but don’t have enough money for.”
>“How do we increase City revenue?”
>“Being proud of the fact that we charge less for everything [is]running our city into the ground.”
>“Our expenses and our needs are outpacing our revenue.I don’t know that we can bring in enough
retail and TOT to fill that gap in the long-term."
>“If we have something people truly want,I think people are willing to pay more to get that.”
>“Our zoo is a drain on City services...it’s a tough one because a lot of the community take pride in
having the County’s only zoo.”
Economic development,with a focus on revitalizing downtown
is still an opportunity
“We can’t keep being this bedroom community we’ve been for 100 years.”
“Jobs into our community is a key one.Particularly tech jobs because we don’t have the physical
space to accommodate much else”
“We have a lot of development coming in and we have the opportunity to do things right.”
“Let’s create the kind of environment where you want to take your kids on a Saturday night.”
“We have for years tried to have a more vital downtown and only in the last five years have we made
progress.”
“We need to focus on our business community and in particular making our downtown thrive...if we
don’t get that right and the downtown is dead...then we won’t attract more investment,we won’t get
additional services,we won’t be attractive to employers.”
“One of the focus areas I would like to see is the continued activation of vacant lots and buildings in
the downtown.As much as there is so much growth,these vacant lots detract from the beauty of
what has grown.”
“[We should foster]partnerships with local developers to have collaboration and joint understanding
of the types of businesses we would like to see in the community.”
“Whether we like it or not,we need a more diverse housing stock.We don’t need more 5,000 square
foot homes on 3-acre lots.We need more townhomes and apartments.”
“We could be making a better plan to avoid some of the issues around parking.Stay in front of that.”
“I talk to new businesses,or businesses hoping to come to this community,who get different
answers from different departments,or either from staff members in the same department.The
process to get through permitting to open your doors can be tedious,difficult,and inconsistent.”
“We have a lot of interested parties wanting to be a part of our growth.”
“There is a perception that we’re so business friendly that people can go forward without permission
and without consequence.”
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Quality of life concerns,including wildfire readiness and the
homeless population,are top of mind
>“Fire Station 1 needs significant Improvements just for safety.”
>“We have to address homelessness.”
>“Fire safety is a big issue for everyone.”
>“We underfund and understaff our police and fire.”
>“It’s a challenge for us to deal with the homeless community.Some of the community’s efforts to
help homeless folks draws more people to the city.”
>“We need address housing because there is money coming for it from the state.We need to do it on
our terms.”
>“Homelessness ...if we don’t talk about it the public will bring that back up.”
>“I would love,at the end of two years,for the City to have a solution for the people who are
experiencing homelessness—a plan to help them in some way.”
>“I don’t think we can blame the homelessness on the City,but somehow it seems to be our problem
to deal with."
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