The Hollister City Council is, after all, coming together for a
common goal, to prioritize and tackle issues for the upcoming
year.
The Hollister City Council is, after all, coming together for a common goal, to prioritize and tackle issues for the upcoming year.
The Council backed out of an earlier retreat to South Lake Tahoe because of a lack of participation and after spending $1,500 to participate, but now the five Council members and City Manager Dale Shaddox have planned to unite for a retreat in Hollister.
The retreat will include planning for the coming year and management of the 2003-2004 budget, according to Shaddox. Officials have said the budget should be finalized sometime in early July.
Shaddox said the goal of the retreat is to develop “common goals and objectives.”
No date has been set, though officials said it would likely occur at the newly renovated Veterans Memorial Hall.
“It’s so we know what the priorities are and what the expectations are,” Shaddox said.
The Council and Shaddox had planned to attend a statewide Leadership Team Workshop organized by the California League of Cities May 28-30. After a deposit of $1,500 had been sent, Hollister backed out of the weekend because conflicts arose for two Council members. The deposit was forfeited.
“I don’t know if the Tahoe thing was needed,” said Mayor Brian Conroy, who could not attend the conference because of work responsibilities.
Conroy said the Hollister retreat would concentrate mostly on “setting a direction” for the future, as opposed to improving intra-Council relationships.
Shaddox also said the retreat in July would not focus on improving relationships among Council members. Rather, through the process of coming together and setting goals, “the better we all will get along with each other,” he said.
Councilman Tony Bruscia hoped the Council focuses on setting future goals and “team building and working together.”
Officials have discussed the possibility of hiring an outside facilitator for the local retreat, but most Council members were against the idea.
“It’s a waste of money for a facilitator,” said Councilman Tony LoBue, who was joined by Conroy and Councilman Robert Scattini in the sentiment.
Though Conroy did not think a paid facilitator was necessary, he said inviting a local person to perform the duties would be “very, very cost effective.”
Bruscia said he would advocate an outside facilitator only if team-building activities make the agenda.
Scattini said since he joined the Council in January, “we’ve been doing a pretty good job” of getting along.
“We’ve got some major issues coming up,” he said. “We’ve just got some things we need to fine tune.”
If the city uses the Veterans Memorial Building, there are potentially no other costs because city and veterans agencies are not charged for its use.
LoBue, mayor during the May 2002 retreat, said he was disappointed because the retreat has been delayed beyond original plans for this May. He said Council members at last year’s event agreed to hold this year’s retreat exactly one year later, “so we could see what we have accomplished and what we haven’t accomplished.”
Regardless of timing, he said, “I (still) want to revisit the issues we were told were going to be completed by May.”
Shaddox, who joined the city in early May, said the most difficult part of planning a retreat is coordinating schedules.
“That’s the key, availability,” he said.
