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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes - Futures Committee - 10/08/2018 - City Manager’s Office 300 LaPorte Avenue PO Box 580 Fort Collins, CO 80522 970.221.6505 970.224.6107 - fax fcgov.com MINUTES CITY OF FORT COLLINS FUTURES COMMITTEE MEETING Date: October 8, 2018 Location: CIC Room, City Hall, 300 Laporte Ave. Time: 4:00–6:00pm Committee Members Present: Mayor Wade Troxell Kristin Stephens Ray Martinez City Staff: Darin Atteberry, City Manager Jeff Mihelich, Deputy City Manager Lucinda Smith, (Staff Liaison) Presenters: Sean Carpenter, Climate Economy Advisor, City of Fort Collins Josh Birks, Economic Health Director, City of Fort Collins Additional Staff Present: Joe Wimmer, City Manager’s Office Kelly DiMartino, Assistant City Manager Community Members: Dale Adamy, citizen Nina Bodenhamer Meeting called to order at 4:04 pm Approval of Minutes: Ray moved to approve September minutes. Kristin seconded. Motion passed unanimously. 3-0-0. Chairman Comments: None Think Tank Item 6-2018: City as a Platform: Final Report Key Findings and Recommendations Sean Carpenter, Climate Economy Advisor, City of Fort Collins 2 Josh Birks, Economic Health Director, City of Fort Collins • City as a Platform came out of a series of work to meet City Council’s initiative for innovation in our community. • City as a Platform is a comprehensive, new communication and collaborative framework between community members and the public/private sectors o People want greater transparency, communication, input, etc., expectations of how they engage has changed o City as a Platform is innovation and finding way to flatten communication and have better engagement in the community o Looking at ways that the City can “co-create” for better outcomes and a more prosperous city • Review of the work done by the City as a Platform 2017 taskforce o City staff across several departments whose work included: ▪ Internal focus groups ▪ Peer city research ▪ Key informant interviews with business and civic groups • Heard from some of these groups that the City is not always transparent, can move slowly and there is a need to improve the online interface ▪ Benchmarking of what “world class” innovation and public/private engagement looks like • Key principles for “platform thinking” o Do no harm—protect fiduciary and public safety responsibility o Innovation is a choice—difficult to achieve, rare and has risks. There is a need to understand where we have a reason to take a risk to innovate o Manage risk, don’t eliminate it o No unfunded mandates—very clearly in discussions. People want to work here because it is creative and innovative, but we can’t just add things as other duties as required when staff is already working 100- 110%. City as a Platform can be built into job descriptions so accountable for outcomes o Seek durable partnerships ▪ Longer lasting relationships can be more beneficial—using longer lifecycle value with some businesses rather than one-off relationships ▪ Example of Colorado smart city alliance partnerships—repeated engagement has greater value. o Leverage technologies to improve City services • Continues to be a need to define what innovation is and what it means in the context of the City. A subgroup of ELT is reviewing that question as part of the larger City as a Platform (CPTF) report and recommendations. Key concepts developed in that report and under consideration by the subgroup include: o Differentiating “innovation” from “process improvement” and / or “organizational excellence” o Establishing a common definition for innovation. The draft definition in the CPTF report is: an Innovation needs to directly or indirectly support the mission of the city AND; o An Innovation also needs to meet at least two of the following three criteria: 3 ▪ Makes a current practice obsolete ▪ Improves value by a minimum of 30% (via savings, avoided costs, increased revenue etc.) ▪ Provide a unique product, service, or experience that is highly valued by residents, business or other community stakeholders • Recommendations under 4 themes o Structured innovation—let it brew and stew ▪ One of the key actions out of the report is to pick some key focus topics— have broader conversations that allow for innovation to occur ▪ Have focal point within staff ▪ Create a way to communicate work that is being done ▪ Create a process that allows good ideas to flourish—don’t overly structure to allow for creativeness ▪ Focus on the process—allowing the process to inspire innovation ▪ Policy changes that support “Durable Partnerships” o Customer Experience o Support existing assets o Smart City development ▪ **mix of process improvements with many different tools** Make sure we prioritize what is important to City as a Platform—pick a few different things (internally prioritize and communicate externally) ▪ Coordination is important. • Next steps: o EHO develop cost benefit analysis of the CPTF recommendations o Provide timelines and a step by step guide on goals for each recommendation achieved. Evaluate best way to implement these things ▪ Socialize some of these findings ▪ ELT discussions around this o Share recommendations with Futures committee and get further input Comments/Q&A: • Question asked about if City as a Platform is engaging citizens or enabling things to happen that haven’t happened? o Both—different things get placed in buckets • Standard purchasing arrangements affect ability to be innovative. o Innovation when seeking durable partnerships may need to be more narrowly defined (i.e. step out of normal purchasing process and take some risk) • Questions related to how to operationalize City as a Platform include: o Fostering a cultural change; i.e. city built on procurement basis o How do we engage in co-creation? o How does City facilitate a conversation that allows key concepts, ideas and partners to gain traction? • How is City as a Platform different than “plan do check act?” o Difference is large jump—i.e. innovation not small, incremental changes (not just looking at process improvements) 4 o City as a Platform means facilitating more transformative changes rather than incremental • Discussion around the different economies within our community and considering how these fit into City as a Platform, including how to leverage them from organizational perspective • Is there a need for a new position such as a Chief Innovation Officer? o Innovation needs to be integrated at all levels of the organization o Do we have expertise and resources already available? • Polarity thinking— Recognize that operational excellence and innovation are polarities o Think through the unintended consequences of these polarities o Think of city organization as enabler for new opportunities o This thinking is culmination of exploring with folks how to have durable partnerships. • Other key take-aways include: o Identifying areas that are ripe for innovation o How do we communicate City as a Platform to community? o Need to socialize City as a Platform externally with key partners and with the workforce where they feel like they are empowered. o Keep original mission and goals in mind o Listen to staff to learn what tools they need to be innovative DO: Next Steps • Continue to explore what City as a Platform does, explore how we co-create, explore what innovation means and explore how we can create durable partnerships • Continue to socialize and operationalize what City as a Platform is. Update on the FAA/FRA visit to Washington, DC Mayor Wade Troxell • For the FRA, there may be need for a legislative approach to recognize the assumption to get a waiver—nothing short of preconception not good enough. • Two conversations with the FAA—remote tower—critical path once it gets certified there are other things that happen in sequence to get contract tower approved. President did sign reauthorization for FAA on Friday which allows for tower to be authorized. But the process to be authorized and appropriated for funding is a different process. o Remote tower doesn’t mean being operated remotely • Drones (UAS) some language in FAA reauthorization about flying drones during wildfires which makes it a felony Additional Discussion: Culture of innovation and boundaries around it Meeting adjourned by Wade Troxell at 5:28 pm.