October 6, 2009 Minutes Leadership Team
CITY OF DENTON CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
October 6, 2009
Joint Meeting of the City of Denton City Council and the Leadership Team of the City of Denton
on Tuesday, October 6, 2009, at 10:00 a.m. in the Council Work Session Room of City Hall.
PRESENT: Mayor Burroughs; Council Members Engelbrecht, Gregory, Mulroy, and Watts.
ABSENT: Mayor Pro Tem Kamp, Council Member Heggins
1.Council received a report and held a discussion with the Leadership Team concerning the
long, mid, and short term accomplishments, goals, objectives, plans, vision, missions, and values
of the City of Denton as it relates to city services and infrastructure, streets, parks, finances,
budget, planning, zoning and development, environmental issues, technology, public utilities,
taxes, engineering, economic development, codes enforcement, transportation, purchasing,
management, intergovernmental relations, boards, commissions and committees, meetings, and,
without limitation, any and all operations of the City of Denton city government.
Karen Walz, facilitator, reviewed the objectives of the Council’s planning session which
included review past successes, focus on future goal-setting for the community and provide
direction to City staff so they could prepare a strategic plan for the organization. She also
reviewed the agenda topics that were discussed. A set of priority issues was discussed and at the
end of the discussions, Council was polled on the importance of the issues. The ranking of these
issues was reviewed with the staff.
Linda Ratliff, Director of Economic Development, questioned the “Downtown Vitality” scoring
and was it scored lower due to what had already been done in the area.
Mayor Burroughs indicated that the scoring of the issues centered on what areas needed to have
resources channeled to for immediate needs. As far as the downtown area went, it was preserve
what was already done but not necessarily shift resources to the downtown.
Council Member Gregory felt that the City was already a long way there.
Walz stated that the next set of issues dealt with global trends that could affect Denton’s future.
One area, Demographics, was high on the list and indicated that it was an important issue to look
at in the future. It showed that it was important to Denton to be a diverse community.
The Guiding Statements, Vision Statement, Mission Statement and Values Statement were
reviewed by Walz. Discussions also dealt with the most desirable Denton of 2019. Four key
concepts were developed that included (1) Destination Denton, (2) Family Safe, Family Friendly,
(3) Sustainability Leader, and (4) Authentic Character and Heritage.
Potential areas for action included infrastructure, financial resources, natural resources,
downtown, infill, economic base, regional leadership, growing future leaders, partnerships,
effective communication, Denton’s maturing as an urban community, environmental/
sustainability leadership, and cultural assets and diversity.
Ratliff asked about the “growing future leaders”.
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October 6, 2009
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Council Member Mulroy stated that the discussion included Council having more deliberations
on making board/commission nominations. Council wanted to be more inclusive in the
community and identify talents needed on certain boards and commissions.
Walz continued with strategic issues which were important to be addressed as the City moved
toward the desired future. Specific action steps were detailed which would address the strategic
issues and overall priorities discussed. The action steps included actions by all, by Council, by
Boards and Commissions, by City staff Leadership Team and by other stakeholders.
Council Member Mulroy felt that as a follow up on boards and commissions appointments there
needed to be a dedicated time and attention to those appointments.
Walz stated that the last item dealt with “Additional Items” which were items suggested during
the Session but that did not involve the level of effort that would be needed to carry out the
action steps noted and might contribute to completion of the action steps.
Council Member Gregory stated that during the discussions, he had noted that an area of concern
was that it was difficult to get from north-south without going through floodplain. He felt that
point should have a more prominent location in the report.
Walz stated that while it was in the report, she would move in under “Family Safe-Family
Friendly” for more emphasis.
Council Member Mulroy stated that one of the areas under “Additional Items” involved “a set of
metrics that would provide the basis for action on individual development decisions and create
targets for the balance of development desired in the community”. This was an important item
even though a definitive set of standards was not done at this point.
Mayor Burroughs felt that this was the biggest tool that the Council would have and that
community involvement was needed. The metrics would show that they were moving in the
right direction. It would provide a look back at where the city was in the past and where it
currently was.
Council Member Gregory stated that he would like to see the Council start soon on specific
actions. One topic under “Action by Council” involved community/neighborhood meetings by
Council district. He would like to target some of those meetings between January and February
2010. He felt the meeting could have a short introductory presentation and then ask for citizen
comments. He would like to see some of these done before the May election.
City Manager Campbell stated that staff would prepare a calendar for Council consideration.
Council Member Watts asked about keeping Council up-to-date on their requests.
City Manager Campbell stated that he was working on an informal staff report that would
provide updates on Council items.
City of Denton City Council Minutes
October 6, 2009
Page 3
With no further business, the meeting was adjourned at 11:35 a.m.
_______________________________________
MARK A. BURROUGHS
MAYOR
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS
_______________________________________
JENNIFER WALTERS
CITY SECRETARY
CITY OF DENTON, TEXAS