The two-day annual City Council retreat is scheduled for Thursday, Feb. 2 and Friday, Feb. 3 at the Revolution Mill Color Works Meeting Space.
The Thursday meeting begins at 8:30 a.m. with breakfast for the City Council, city staff and invited guests. The meetings are open to the public, but if you haven’t been invited you don’t get breakfast. According to the agenda the meeting will be called to order at 9 a.m.
Friday breakfast is from 8 to 8:45 a.m. and at 8:45 the meeting begins with a review of Thursday’s meeting.
Some years at the annual retreat the City Council spends two days discussing issues facing the city and what can be done to solve them.
Other years, the city hires a facilitator to help the City Council get in touch with their feelings about issues. These discussions often include the use of colored dots.
This appears to be a feelings year. Rachel Yost, a managing partner at SIR Institute for Tomorrow, will be conducting the meetings.
SIR Institute of Tomorrow states on its website, “We are a nimble band of curious minds eager to make a difference for our clients, our community, and our world.”
The website also states, “SIR is a boutique strategic management consultancy designed and staffed to meet the needs of today’s organizations – strategic, seasoned, data-driven, nimble, creative, and results-oriented.”
The City Council agenda for Thursday lists the “Retreat Topics”’ as
“Topic #1: Strategically Managing the Issue You Are Facing Today
“Topic #2: Inside: Making Greensboro Municipal Government A Best Place to Work
“Topic #3: Making Greensboro a Winning City for Generations to Come”
Assistant to the City Manager April Albritton will give a report on “What Our Constituents Want: Research based insights on Greensboro’s Residents.”
From 11:10 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., “Each Council member shares their Top 2 priorities and why.”
Thursday will end with a “Dynamic Exercise: A Vision for Greensboro.”
Guess we shall see but I know a leopard does not lose its stripes. I don’t expect the taxpayer to gain anything from the feelings of council.
Interesting that #3 is the last item and not the first.
There’s a story there.
How much do we pay the “facilitator”. What a joke. If we want to see a Greensboro that we are pleased to live in, we need to vote these idiots out of office as soon as possible. In fact, can they be impeached?
Their goals and visions will be self serving and antifreedom. Largesse and spending will be the result.
We know what their priorities are but are we going to let them get away with doing them.
God, PLEASE help Greensboro live in peace until better days.
Years ago, hearing that a facilitator was coming was a cringeworthy experience. The meetings were anything but spontaneous. The facilitator had a hidden agenda that was based on what the audience was supposed to hear and then come to a predetermined conclusion. If someone in the audience were to make a comment that did not fit into the narrative, they would be quickly reeled in and set straight. Nothing changes.