Agenda - Council Work Session - 02/19/2013 - Strategic Planning

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July 28, 2008 Dan Bartholomay Program Officer The McKnight Foundation 710 South Second St., Suite 400 Minneapolis, MN 55401 Dear Mr. Bartholomay: On behalf of the City of Ramsey, I am pleased to provide you the final report of Grant No. 05 -1237 to the City of Ramsey. At the same time our community was feeling the effects of the recent economic downturn and receiving its share of bad press, the McKnight- funded Ramsey3 project was a positive force that gave residents the opportunity and vehicle to contemplate what could be rather than dwell on what might have been. As you know, Ramsey is a unique three -part process designed to assist the community in charting its future course. During Ramsey' nationally- renowned experts led a series of four public forums and staff /council workshops organized around four critical issues facing metropolitan communities: transportation, innovative zoning, regional intersections, and community ecology. Ramsey used the innovative technique of Open Space Technology to allow participants to create and manage their own agenda of parallel working sessions around central themes of strategic importance. Most recently, the City completed the final stage -- Ramsey -which used facilitation tools not commonly used by cities to develop a shared vision and explore unique and cutting -edge tools to implement that vision. Through this process, we have learned to discuss tough or contentious issues in the open, to tackle challenges together, and to talk about what we want for Ramsey rather than what we don't want. While we had anticipated submitting this final report to the McKnight Foundation in June, we appreciate your flexibility in extending the timeframe so that we might make this report as robust as we felt it deserved. The attached report describes in detail the activities of the Ramsey3 process and the way in which this process has successfully and fundamentally changed the way the City connects with its residents. In addition to the descriptive portion of the report, we also provided a "Lessons Leaned" section. From the beginning it was our hope that our experience might serve as a model or provide information useful other communities facing similar issues as Ramsey. Thus, we believe that some reflection on the project's challenges as well as the elements contributing to our success is essential. Finally, although this report contains a detailed narrative of the Ramsey3 project, we also are in the process of compiling a supplemental resource book that contains items such as speaker's bios and contact information, community announcements and invitations, OST convening guides, etc. We would