Clayton Celebrates Our 60th Anniversary

Before our regular business at our next Council meeting, the City will be starting early in celebration of our 60th anniversary.  It wills start at 6:30pm on March 5, 2024.

Mayor Jim Diaz will be reading a proclamation in celebration and we are inviting speakers to attend and share their thoughts on their history with Clayton, and what living in Clayton has meant to them.  Everyone is welcome and we would be honored if you could attend and participate.

A cake and refreshments will be served.

My 2.20.24 Meeting Summary

On Tuesday the Council met to discuss two significant items:

- From our last meeting, there were nine strategic goals that were identified:

1. Public Safety, Infrastructure, and accessibility (roads, sidewalks, and ADA)
2. Community Parks and Recreation
3. Economic Development- promoting available spaces, growing number of families into community, improved downtown activity
4. Maintain vibrant police force, maintaining community policing model
5. Balancing the budget
6. Maintain the aesthetic of the City of Clayton (LMD)
7. Disaster Preparedness and Fire Prevention
8. Preserving the historical nature of the town
9. Environmental Sustainability

From there, we formed a mix of two person ad hoc committees among Councilmembers to discuss and present the strategic objective of each.  The intent of this would be discuss and narrow the nine goals down to five.  While all are important issues, like all organizations the City has limited resources and needs to focus and prioritize those most important right now.  After discussion, the Council chose the following five goals to prioritize (not in any specific order):

- Public Safety, Infrastructure, and accessibility (roads, sidewalks, and ADA)
- Community Parks and Recreation
- Economic Development- promoting available spaces, growing number of families into community, improved downtown activity

- Balancing the budget
- Maintain the aesthetic of the City of Clayton (LMD)

These goals will serve as guidance as staff prepares more information regarding financial projections and mid year budget discussions that will occur at our next meeting on March 5.  One thing to note about #4 above regarding the police force.  While I consider our police one of the City's most valuable assets, most Councilmembers felt that we addressed many of the needs of the police at our last meeting when we approved a renewed 3 year agreement with both the Clayton Police Officers Association and the Chief.  

The ad hoc committees among Councilmembers was an opportunity for us to collaborate on our shared visions, especially for those Councilmembers who haven't worked together very frequently.  Unfortunately there were slide presentations created as if they were authored by the committees, but during discussion it was clear that these presentation materials were never seen by either Vice Mayor Trupiano or myself and also attributed to us views that we did not agree with.  This misrepresentation undercut the ostensibly collaborative purpose of the committees.

- We formed an ad hoc committee consisting of myself and Councilmember Tillman to discuss potential solutions or actions that the Council could take regarding the impact excessive parking may create downtown.

Upcoming Council Meeting 2.20.24

 At our next Council meting we will be discussing a couple significant items:

- We will be discussing strategic goal setting.

- We will appoint two Councilmembers to an ad hoc committee to gather information on downtown parking and potential permit parking options.

If you have any thoughts or questions on the above please let me know.

My 2.6.24 Meeting Summary

On Tuesday the Council met to discuss several significant items:

- We approved an updated agreement with the Clayton Police Officers Association (POA).  The current agreement is set to expire at the end of June and the Council wanted to ensure that an agreement was in place prior to that occurring.  While the details and negotiations were held in closed session, I believe that the POA and the City came to terms that all were satisfied with.  

Our recent community survey highlighted what we already knew - the community highly values our police and the Council wanted to ensure that message was received.  With this new three year agreement - members of the POA will receive a 15% increase in year 1, with a 4% increase in year 2 and year 3.

- We received a presentation of the results of the community survey.  The survey was lead by a highly experienced market researcher and supported by diligent and dedicated interns at very low cost to the City thanks to contacts made by Vice Mayor Trupiano.  Originally staff had proposed conducting similar outreach and engaging consultants to do so at a cost of around $30K that was rejected.  

The results of the survey were not surprising - public safety and our police, small town feel, and great trails and parks, were among the many things that make Clayton a great place to live.  There were additional insights that were revealed, including the community's sense of prioritization, and what direction they'd like the City to go in.  There were also a significant amount of free form comments offered that were helpful to read.  This survey will serve as a tool as we move forward with strategic planning.

- We identified strategic priorities and formed ad hoc committees to flesh out these ideas.  At our next meeting we will discuss each further and narrow down the list.  The next step will be to determine if and how these priorities can be operationalized.  Ultimately all will take additional funding or a reprioritization of current funding.

Here are the ideas we gathered for further discussion:

- Public Safety, Infrastructure, and accessibility (roads, sidewalks, and ADA)
- Community Parks and Recreation
- Economic Development- promoting available spaces, growing number of families into community, improved downtown activity
- Maintain vibrant police force, maintaining community policing model
- Balancing the budget
- Maintain the aesthetic of the City of Clayton (LMD)
- Disaster Preparedness and Fire Prevention
- Preserving the historical nature of the town
- Environmental Sustainability

Upcoming Council Meeting 2.6.24

At our next meeting we will be discussing several significant items:

- We will be discussing the terms of an updated collective bargaining agreement between the City and the Clayton Police Officers Association.  The current agreement will expire at the end of June this year and the Council wanted to get a head start on negotiating and finalizing this agreement.  The police are an incredibly valuable asset of this community and this agreement recognizes that.

- We will discuss the recent community survey and its results.

- We will discuss strategic goals in preparation for future meetings in February and March.

If you have any thoughts or questions on these items please let me know.