Richardson's 2025-2027 Key Tactics

Source: Ramsee Consulting Group.

In my fourth installment of what happened during the Richardson City Council's 5-hour goal-setting worksession, I reported this about the tactics the council came up with:

After a lunch break, the council broke into two groups of four (with the City Manager added to the seven council members). They were tasked with coming up with their top ten or so tactics. I was confused. There are 13 strategies, but only 10 tactics? Rick Robinson explained that council will decide the top ten tactics, but staff will come back with a long, full list of tactics. When the council came back together they had eight unique tactics, which I wasn't able to capture. Rick Robinson will take the list and do some combining and type them up. The council as a whole then talked about other tactics they wanted to add. Individual council members offered individual tactics. There was little attempt at voting to accept or reject the ideas offered, only some wordsmithing, as always, so I don't know how this discussion will move forward. It seemed to me they ran out of time to produce what I most wanted, a SMART set of short-term action items for the next two years.

Source: Ramsee Consulting Group.

At the August 11, 2025, Richardson City Council meeting, we got to see more. Not the final version, but more.

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City Manager Don Magner prefaced consultant Rick Robinson's presentation by saying, "Rick is also going to provide a little bit of a teaser, if you will, on some tactics that were generated that Saturday. I'll remind you that this is not the full list of tactics. I'll be returning to you in the next few weeks...with the full list of tactics for you to consider that would then ultimately make up a work plan for the 25-27 term."

After Rick Robinson's presentation, Mayor Amir Omar said, "It looks like a great list of tactics. I know some of this was some input by individual council members and whatnot after the fact, which is great. It looks like it's all very much part of what we all have in mind."

If all that sounds like a grab bag, ad hoc process, so be it. The Council is happy with the result. And the result isn't final yet. City Manager Don Magner still has to give his input. Keeping all that in mind, here's the list consultant Rick Robinson presented that he called "key tactics."

1. Consider reconstituting the Environmental Advisory Commission
2. Explore strategies to make it easier for stakeholders to provide input to the City
3. Explore additional strategies to support and encourage small- and medium-sized businesses
4. Review the City's regional involvement in unhoused initiatives (particularly as it relates to the upcoming World Cup activities)
5. Receive and discuss next steps of Housing Needs Assessment
6. Review existing master plans and prioritize actions items
7. Review existing special reinvestment areas and reconcile any outstanding difference in understanding
8. Reconcile the future land use plan and existing zoning
9. Review Council Rules of Order and Procedure
10. Evaluate Boards & Commissions: All things
11. Review the Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance: All things
12. Consider what we can do to increase public engagement and solicit input—short- and long-term
13. Explore how we can engage with our state and federal representatives in a more direct and intentional manner
14. Consider discussion/approach to new technologies/smart cities
15. Explore creative ways to recognize and reward city employees
16. Review the City's existing design standards and discuss strategies for updating/Investigate low-cost, intentional ways to improve the city's aesthetics

Robinson didn't number the tactics. I've done so only to make it easy for me to refer to individual tactics. The order does not imply importance.

I would give priority to tactics 4 and 5. Housing needs and initiatives addressing the unhoused are fundamental to any city's health and prosperity.

I would also rank highly tactics 8 and 11 (I see these as overlapping). The city invested a lot of time and effort updating its Comprehensive Land Use Plan. Unless our Comprehensive Zoning Ordinance is updated to match, that Comp Plan is little more than wishful thinking.

There aren't any tactics that I think should be eliminated.

There is one tactic that I would like to see added: Explore the city's approach to offering economic development incentives (review balance between small and large investments, conduct after-action reviews, increase public transparency).

I want to see City Manager Don Magner's full list of tactics. I hope he connects the full list to the strategies the Council agreed on. That's needed to be able to answer the question, "If we do all the tactics, will we achieve all of our strategies?"

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Quotes have been lightly edited for clarity and brevity.

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"When each tactic's done,
will we find the promised shore,
or drift past the goal?"
— h/t ChatGPT