At the Sept. 10, 2026 City Council Workshop, Des Moines councilmembers tackled two critical pillars of municipal leadership: turning the city’s newly adopted Strategic Plan into concrete action and establishing guiding norms for more collaborative governance.
From considering Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) to maintaining transparent communication through the Citizen Action Board, the council outlined practical steps to advance its vision of becoming the premier waterfront community on Puget Sound.
Alongside these execution strategies, members engaged in a candid discussion on fostering council civility, humility, and mutual respect ahead of finalizing their official governance principles at the upcoming January retreat.
Strategic Plan Implementation
The council was led in a brainstorm discussion of how to implement the new Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan includes a Vision, Mission, and Values statement.
The Vision is:
“The Premier Waterfront Community On Puget Sound.”
The Mission is:
“Des Moines is committed to maintaining a safe, sustainable environment while ensuring a high quality of life for all to live, work, and play.
The Values are:
“Teamwork, customer service, safety, responsibility, and integrity.“
The discussion encompassed how we will know if the Strategic Plan is successful. Buy-in and support from both the community and city staff was one measure that was mentioned. The council agreed that they’d like to see a quarterly update on ways the Plan is being followed, with agenda items categorized by their status (ongoing, planning stage, or nearing completion). In addition to the quarterly update, the council will meet twice a year in a study session focused on Strategic Plan implementation. Additionally, City Manager Katherine Caffrey will include an update to the council as part of her annual performance review.
Councilmember JC Harris said that the city needs quantifiable targets, to measure any kind of progress. It was mentioned that key performance indicators (KPI) can be established, such as increasing per capita police officers, or sales tax revenue from downtown businesses. City Manager Caffrey said the city doesn’t have enough resources to truly track every KPI. Larger cities have dedicated staff to do just that, but Des Moines will only be able to track a couple of higher priority indicators.
Keeping the public apprised of the Strategic Plan implementation was also discussed. They want to make sure residents are informed when progress in key areas is made. The Citizen Advisory Board was mentioned as a tool for this, as well as all the typical modes of city media.
Effective Governance
The meeting also discussed ways the council can govern respectfully and effectively. In order to work together, many city councils embrace the following norms:
- Assume good intent
- Seek clarity and listen to understand
- Share reasoning
- Accept majority outcome gracefully
- Focus on the issue, not the person
- Avoid surprises, keep everyone informed
- Bring authentic self
- Support each other as a governing body
- Promote civility
Councilmember JC Harris said he thought that members of the council could come to the discussion of issues with more humility, knowing that they could be wrong. Councilmember Pierre Blosse stressed the importance of getting materials in advance of meetings, and doing the homework to be prepared to discuss things in an informed way. Councilmember Harry Steinmetz pointed out several things the council is already strong on, but said they could do a better job of not undermining the final decision. He said once people have explained their opposition to a vote, they should be done arguing it.
These guidelines are not rules of conduct, so much as principles to follow as councilmembers govern. At the council retreat in January the guidelines will be finalized and agreed upon.
Video
Below is full, raw video of this meeting:
