Page 179 - CityofSouthlakeFY26AdoptedBudget

City Manager’s Office - Department Goals

CITY-WIDE GOAL: Strengthen strategic planning and performance management efforts
to guide resource allocation and ensure defined, measurable outcomes.

Department Goal: Advance a culture of accountability and results-oriented performance that is balanced
with adaptability and innovative experimentation.

Implementation Strategy: City Department Overview
• Develop an overall strategic management and utility implementation plan that provides system
improvements, addresses renewal of existing aged infrastructure, improves customer understanding
and relations, and proactively ensures a resilient, cost-effective and sustainable system.
• Develop strategic management program measures to ensure leaders are properly managing and fully
aware of expected outcomes, monitoring progress, and aligning work efforts to meet expectations.

CITY-WIDE GOAL: Ensure the City’s culture, values, and norms reflect the evolving
profile and expectations of the Southlake community.

Department Goal: Champion a values-based organizational culture rooted in ethical leadership and
decision-making, employee engagement, and a shared commitment to excellence.

Implementation Strategy:
• Lead efforts to define and reinforce the City’s aspirational culture through consistent messaging,
training, and engagement across all departments.
• Utilize monthly leadership and quarterly accountability meetings and performance scorecards to
evaluate alignment between cultural values and operational practices.
• Establish cultural attributes throughout all City departments and divisions by promoting culture-
building activities, such as leadership roundtables and interactive dialogues, that embed core values
into daily interactions and decision-making.

CITY-WIDE GOAL: Maintain strong financial management through established methods
to continue achieving operational and financial goals while focusing future plans on
expanding organizational capacity.

Department Goal: Deliver high-value municipal services by aligning conservative financial strategies
with a focus on long-term resilience and customer-centered outcomes.

Implementation Strategy:
• Leverage financial trend data and analysis to proactively anticipate and understand customer,
environmental, management, economic and financial factors affecting City operations, while promoting
transparency in public reporting.
• Uphold the City’s financial guiding principles in the budget process by ensuring structural balance,
strong reserves, conservative debt management, and other key budgetary policy directives are met.
• Prepare for shifts in the financial landscape by exploring alternative revenue sources and ensuring
funding strategies accurately reflect the cost of delivering exceptional services.

FY 2026 City of Southlake | Budget Book 179