TO:
Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
THROUGH:
Talyn Mirzakhanian, City Manager
FROM:
Patricia Matson, Senior Management Analyst
SUBJECT:Title
Status of the Current Fiscal Year 2025-2026 City Council Work Plan, Development of the Fiscal Year 2026-2027 Work Plan, and Approval of the Prioritization of Pending City Council Requests (No Budget Impact) (City Manager Mirzakhanian).
(Estimated Time: 3 Hrs.)
DISCUSS AND PROVIDE DIRECTION
Body
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RECOMMENDATION:
Staff recommends that the City Council review the current Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-2026 City Council Work Plan, develop the FY 2026-2027 City Council Work Plan, and approve the prioritized list of all pending City Council requests.
FISCAL IMPLICATIONS:
There are no fiscal implications associated with the recommended action. However, specific Work Plan items may have associated fiscal implications, which may require expenditure approvals at future City Council meetings.
BACKGROUND:
Based on past practice, the City Council develops a Work Plan document that outlines key priorities and projects, beyond daily operations, that City Council directs staff to focus on over a specific period of time (typically the fiscal year) and that may require many hours of staff time or substantial financial resources, include high community involvement or community interest, or have a significant impact on City operations.
Through periodic updates and an annual review, staff provides updated information regarding the projects in the Work Plan and offers the City Council the opportunity to add new projects or remove them, as desired.
The City Council Work Plan features priority levels on projects, funding sources, and department(s) and commission(s) involvement. Priority levels are organized in the following categories with the following definitions:
• A - Critical
• B - Important
• C - Normal
Staff also utilizes a Department Work Plan document that consists of new, ongoing, or State-mandated efforts to which staff is dedicating significant time and resources and are not on the City Council Work Plan but are required for regular operations. The document is not intended to showcase each department’s full day-to-day operations.
DISCUSSION:
The City Council adopted the Fiscal Year 2025-2026 Work Plan at the May 20, 2025, meeting and has received periodic updates regarding its progress, with the latest update occurring at the October 21, 2025, City Council meeting.
The City Council Work Plan showcases the City Council’s priorities for the coming 12-18 months. The updated Work Plan reflects completed items and pending actions for each project (Attachment). Additionally, staff has provided a condensed Work Plan Summary (Attachment), which includes updated project status and target dates of completion for each of the 18 Work Plan items.
The City Council Work Plan includes initiatives across several City departments and many of the items require collaboration among multiple departments. To inform the City Council which items involve cross-departmental and commission efforts, a Department and Commission Involvement Matrix is attached (Attachment).
In addition to the City Council Work Plan, staff has also provided the Department Work Plan (Attachment), defined above, to showcase additional items that staff is working on that are not on the City Council Work Plan and a list of Notable Accomplishments (Attachment) from each department since the last annual Work Plan meeting.
Development of the FY 26-27 Work Plan
In developing the upcoming City Council Work Plan, City Council may carryforward existing work plan items, remove items, modify existing items or add new Work Plan items. Following direction provided by City Council, staff will return with a finalized FY 2026-2027 City Council Work Plan report for approval in May.
In order to help facilitate the process, staff has provided the definitions of a City Council Work Plan versus a Department Work Plan:
• “City Council Work Plan” - a document that outlines the key priorities and projects that City Council directs staff to focus on over a specific period of time (typically the fiscal year) and may require many hours of staff time or substantial financial resources, high community involvement or community interest, or have a significant impact on City operations.
• “Department Work Plan” - a document that consists of new, ongoing, or State mandated efforts that staff is dedicating significant time and resources to that are not on the City Council Work Plan but are required for regular operations. The document is not intended to showcase each department’s full day-to-day operations.
Administrative Update
Community Development completed the City Council Work Plan item titled “Exploration of Rear Yard Setback Regulations for Accessory Structures in Single-Family Residential Zones.” This item will be removed and will not be included in the FY 26-27 City Council Work Plan when it returns for adoption in May.
Approval of Prioritized Pending City Council Requests
At the end of each City Council meeting, City Council has the ability to add future agenda items, also known as City Council requests, to a future City Council meeting via a three-step process. While some of these requests have been fulfilled by staff, there are several that are pending.
Staff has compiled a prioritized list of these pending City Council requests. Community impact, funding, and level of difficulty to complete were considered. Staff has prioritized each request as either low, medium, or high based on community impact.
Staff requests that City Council approve the prioritized list in order to move the pending items forward accordingly. Departments with only one pending request will work to complete the item as soon as possible regardless of priority. However, departments with multiple pending requests will be worked on in order of priority in between fulfilling their City Council Work Plan and Department Work Plan obligations, beginning with those labeled as high priority.
Staff has created a spreadsheet (Attachment) showcasing each pending request, their priority level, and supplementary information for reference. Additionally, to aid in the visualization of pending requests against the items already on the City Council Work Plan and Department Work Plan, staff has created a reference sheet for each department that currently has pending City Council requests (Attachment). These departments include Management Services, Finance, Parks and Recreation, Community Development, Public Works, Fire, and PD.
CONCLUSION:
Staff recommends that the City Council review the current Work Plan, develop the FY 2026-2027 City Council Work Plan, and approve the prioritized list of all pending City Council requests.
PUBLIC OUTREACH:
After analysis, staff determined that public outreach was not required for this issue.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW:
The status of the FY 2025-2026 City Council Work Plan and development of the FY 2026-2027 Work Plan is not a “project” as defined under Section 15378 of the State California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines because it does not have a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment. Therefore, pursuant to Section 15060(c)(3) of the State CEQA Guidelines, the activity is not subject to CEQA, and no environmental review is necessary. However, specific work plan efforts may be subject to CEQA, and CEQA review will be conducted by staff as applicable to each item, and as required by State law.
LEGAL REVIEW:
The City Attorney has reviewed this report and determined that no additional legal analysis is necessary.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Fiscal Year 2025-2026 City Council Work Plan (18 Items)
2. City Council Work Plan Summary
3. Department and Commission Involvement Matrix
4. Department Work Plan Items
5. Notable Department Accomplishments
6. Prioritized Pending City Council Requests
7. Departmental Reference Sheet of Pending Requests, City Council Work Plan Items, and Department Work Plan Items
8. PowerPoint Presentation