Council and staff strategize in all-day meeting

Huntington Beach’s staff and City Council determined the city’s eight core values Friday — responsiveness, accountability, quality customer service, honesty and integrity, teamwork, fiscal sustainability, community involvement, and openness.

Determining core values was just one portion of the all-day Friday meeting to examine past achievements and strategize for future problems and successes over the next six months.

Transparency, something members deemed important but didn’t make the top eight list of core values, will be evident to the public when the strategic plan and budget are released in the next couple of weeks.

Some argued that seeing budget numbers will put employees fearing layoffs at ease because they will at least know what they’re facing.

Councilman Devin Dwyer, however, said he wasn’t so sure.

“That’s going to make them feel better?” he asked.

Mayor Keith Bohr, on the other hand, was confident about the city’s accomplishments, despite economic setbacks.

“What I’ve sensed [from the public] is that we can’t do anything. We don’t have any money. It’s almost a paralysis,” he said. Bohr shot down such claims, saying the economic challenges have just forced the city to think more creatively.

All city employees are scheduled to see the strategic plan by Aug. 15, and the public will be able to view the document at the regular City Council meeting Aug. 17.