News

Visalia City Council Mayor Brett Taylor opened the Council's 2025 Planning Workshop on Saturday, January 11 with a warm welcome and community thank you.

"We're excited to be here today to take a minute to look at where we've been and really use today to plan for our future," shared Taylor. "Thanks to our community members and City staff, Visalia is a thriving and growing city and your City Council is here to continue making Visalia the best it can be."

The Workshop was a special meeting of the Visalia City Council, held at the Visalia Convention Center, held to give Council the space to discuss short-term and long-term priorities and goals.

Opening with City business and moving into Public Comment, several members of the community shared items they'd like the Council to consider in their planning, from the clean-up event Dump On Us to finding ways to increase community engagement.

Moderated by Dr. Brent Calvin of the College of the Sequoias, the Workshop's discussion included growth, infrastructure, business, residents, education and governance as jumping off points.

"We're here to look at these buckets, these domains, and determine where the Council would like to refocus and drill down," provided Calvin. "The public feedback the organization is vital to this planning, and we can reorganize these domains with that input and our Council today."

The discussion ranged from supporting business and coordinating with local governement agencies to planning for new recreational opportunities and quality of life initiatives.

"Our City of Visalia General Plan is our blue-print and guides our decision making, but identifying community goals is important," added Taylor. "How can we consistently tie our work back to the General Plan while honing in on microgoals?"

To answer that question, the Council ultimately set their sights on four separate domains:

• Diversity of Recreational Opportunities
• Activities & Events
• Cultural Endeavors
• Homelessness

Governance

• Staff Education
  • Training to Grow Our Own
• Consistent Communication
  • Information and Feedback
• Continuing Transparency
• Agency & Organization
  • Coordination and Collaboration

With in-depth discussion on each domain, City staff were on hand to answer questions and take notes on the Council's direction.

"We thank the Council for their prudent leadership and valuable discussion today," shared Leslie Caviglia, City Manager. "What we do now is take these items back within our City Departments and get into the weed. Staff will review and get back to the Council with an update in 45 to 60 days, and use this to help our upcoming budget planning."

To stay aprised of Workshop items and City planning, City Council meetings are held the first and third Monday of each month, save for holidays. The full schedule of Council meetings can be found here.

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