Stockton City Council Planning Workshop - February 23, 2026
Stockton City Council Planning Workshop - February 23, 2026
This special meeting was a priority-setting workshop facilitated by consultants Jan and Nancy Hettrick from Rap Tellus. The council discussed shared vision, identified top priorities, reviewed departmental plans, and engaged in a candid conversation about governance and collaboration. Note: The official minutes list the meeting date as February 19, 2026, but the user-provided timestamp indicates February 23, 2026. This summary uses the provided date.
Discussion Items
- Vision Setting: Council members shared what they hear from the community (crime, homelessness, roads, optimism) and their aspirations for five years out (safer city, thriving economy, youth investment, infrastructure, changed narrative). Common themes included public safety, economic development, youth activities, and infrastructure.
- Priority Alignment: Council members individually listed their top three priorities. All six members present (Mayor Fugazi, Vice Mayor Lee, Councilmembers Blower, Villapudua, Padilla, Ponce) agreed that public safety is a top priority. Economic development and infrastructure were also widely supported. Councilmember Padilla added homelessness, youth activities, and affordable housing; Councilmember Ponce included youth outlets.
- Staff Presentations: Police Chief discussed crime reduction (15-year low in violent crime), community engagement programs (Parenting with Purpose, Clergy Academy, Police Aides). Fire Chief outlined recruitment, technology, and regional dispatch expansion. Interim Community Services Director Audrey Jones-Fader highlighted youth programs, job expos, and the need for better marketing.
- Governance and Collaboration: A significant portion of the afternoon was devoted to discussing council norms, trust, and the ”no surprise” rule. Councilmembers expressed frustration with fractured relationships and a desire for mutual respect. Facilitators suggested revised norms: respect policy/operational roles, limit surprises, and treat each other with courtesy. No formal vote was taken, but members agreed to work toward these ideals.
Key Outcomes
- No formal votes or binding decisions were made. The workshop was informational and intended to guide the city manager and staff in budget preparation and work plans.
- Consensus on top priorities: Public safety, economic development, and infrastructure emerged as the highest priorities among those present. These will inform the city manager's budget development.
- Follow-up: The facilitators will produce a report documenting the day's discussion. Councilmembers expressed interest in a follow-up session to continue the governance conversation.
Meeting Transcript
Good morning everyone. I'd like to call our council priority setting workshop to order. You can go ahead and do roll call, Councilmember Lauer. Councilmember Isacas is absent. Councilmember Ponse? Present. Councilmember Tadia is absent. Vice Mayor Lee? Present. Mayor Fagazzi. I'm sorry, Councilmember Via Padua. Present. Mayor. Present. Thank you. So we have our quorum. I'm sure Council Padilla will come in here run in any second now. The welcome from me. Everybody's here. I feel like I gotta stand up though. If you don't mind. So this is my what 10th priority setting. I don't know if we did it my very first year. But I know that we did it every year after that. And I appreciate staff being here as council just to discuss what they feel are the priorities are for the city of Stockton. And I know that then you guys are off and running as to trying to put together a budget and a playbook for how we're going to achieve that. And I would say over the years we've pretty much stayed consistent in those in those priorities. But I'm hoping this year we can be a little bit more creative in how we might be able to address those issues because I think we've made substantial gains. Jan is uh uh professional and she's been doing this for a while for us, and I'm just excited that you both could be here with us today. And yeah, let's go. Okay. Thank you so much. Um did you want to go to public comment? Um is there any public comment? We've received a word. Seeing none, let's go. Okay. Um I'd like to introduce uh my colleague Nancy Hettrick, who's here with me today, and then I'll say a little bit more about myself. Yeah, good morning, everybody. So Nancy Hetrick with Rap Tellus. Uh I have also worked with Jan for many, many, many years. Uh it's amazing how time flies, uh, but we've worked together since about 2005. And I lead our strategic planning facilitation practice at Rap Tellis. Uh and really delighted to be able to partner with Jan and to be here with all of you today. And as Amir mentioned, um, I have actually been here in Stockton a number of years over over the last probably 10 years doing strategic planning, uh priority setting, uh working with city council, working with staff, and I'm delighted to be back. So thank you for the invitation to be back here. This facility is phenomenal. Um I came here yesterday to meet the staff to look at the setup and look at the room and and uh kudos to Stockton for building this fantastic uh facility and I love the room I love the setup. And as the council can probably tell, um you're sleeping a little differently than you would be normally in a council meeting. That's very intentional.
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