Min 12/09/2025 City of Wichita Falls i _ D,,
41
City Council Meeting
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Item 1 - Call to Order
The City Council of the City of Wichita Falls, Texas, held a special council/staff planning
session on the above date in rooms 8-10 at the MPEC, with the following members
present.
Tim Short - Mayor
Austin Cobb - At-Large
Whitney Flack - District 1
Robert Brooks - District 2
Jeff Browning - District 3/ Mayor Pro Tem
Mike Battaglino - District 4
Tom Taylor - District 5
Jeffery Jenkins - City Manager
James McKechnie - Deputy City Manager
Paul Menzies - Assistant City Manager
Blake Jurecek - Assistant City Manager
Kinley Hegglund - City Attorney
Marie Balthrop - City Clerk
Mayor Short called the meeting to order at 8:32 a.m.
Item 2a — City Council Strategic Planning and Goal Setting Workshop
Mayor Short opened the meeting with an invocation.
City Manager Jeffery Jenkins thanked Assistant City Manager Paul Menzies for
coordinating the planning session and expressed appreciation to Council and staff for
their participation. Mr. Jenkins outlined the purpose of the three-day workshop as an
opportunity to engage in focused strategic planning, long-term visioning, and goal
development for the City.
Rick Ramsee of Ramsee Consulting Group facilitated the workshop. Mr. Ramsee thanked
the Council and management staff for completing the pre-session interviews and surveys,
and invited participants to share their expectations for the planning process.
Mr. Ramsee presented a summary of interview feedback and discussed the importance
of leadership, the evolution of organizational goals, and the necessity of intentional
change to achieve improved outcomes. He emphasized that sustainable improvement
requires new approaches, alignment, and commitment. He reviewed core leadership
roles, including setting direction, executing strategy, and engaging and inspiring others,
supported by strategy, structure, controls, culture, and organizational capability.
Mr. Ramsee outlined the strategic planning framework, including vision development,
goal setting, and strategy formulation. Council discussed its role as governing officials
and participated in small-group discussions regarding the rules of engagement between
the Council, staff, and the public. Mr. Ramsee noted the importance of trust, compassion,
stability, and effective leadership.
Mr. Ramsee explained the SWOT analysis process, distinguishing between internal
strengths and weaknesses, and external opportunities and threats. The Council and
senior management reviewed a compiled SWOT summary and worked in small groups
to further refine the strengths and weaknesses. Opportunities and threats were assigned
as follow-up work for discussion later in the workshop.
Mayor Short recessed the meeting at 12:50 p.m. until Wednesday morning.
Mayor Short reconvened the meeting at 8:30 a.m. on December 10, 2025.
Mr. Ramsee reviewed the prior day's discussions and facilitated the Council and
management staff through the identification and refinement of external opportunities and
threats, and summarized the group's input.
Mr. Ramsee discussed the distinctions between mission, vision, goals, strategies,
objectives, and tactics, and led the Council through a visioning exercise. Department
Directors joined the session at 10:30 a.m. and provided a recap of the work completed to
date.
Mr. Ramsee discussed leadership versus champion mindsets, emphasizing the role of
leaders in developing future leaders and fostering organizational growth, and presented
a proposed community vision statement for Council discussion and consideration:
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
December 9-11, 2025
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"Wichita Falls is a vibrant, growing, unified, and aesthetically pleasing community known
for our high quality of living. Our diversity of employment, educational, retail, and
entertainment options are the envy of the region, and make Wichita Falls a place where
all residents, businesses, and other stakeholders are proud to call home."
The group then transitioned into discussions about goal setting. Mr. Ramsee introduced
concepts of financial and internal process goals, followed by the development of an
employee-focused goal that emphasized workforce engagement, service excellence, and
organizational culture.
Mayor Short recessed the meeting at 12:00 p.m. until Thursday morning.
Mayor Short reconvened the meeting at 9:10 a.m. on December 11, 2025, with the City
Council, management staff, and directors present. Councilor Brooks and Councilor
Browning were absent.
Mr. Ramsee reviewed the work completed over the past two days and led the entire group
through exercises to create strategies for our goals, and reviewed the strategies created
by the groups.
Councilor Battaglino and Councilor Cobb left the meeting at 11 :30 a.m.
Mr. Ramsee led the group through a "What do we need from each other" session for staff
and council, facilitated a discussion to clarify those needs, and reviewed potential next
steps.
Item 3 — Comments from the public to members of the city council concerning
agenda item "2.", above. Individuals should keep their comments to no more than
five (5) minutes, and the Mayor may limit the total number of speakers and/or total
amount of time for comments.
There were no comments from the public.
Item 4 — Adjourn
Mayor Short adjourned the meeting at 12:46 p.m.
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
December 9-11, 2025
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PASSED AND APPROVED this 20th day of January 2026.
Tim Short, Mayor
ATTEST:
Marie BalthroP, TRMC, MMC
City Clerk
CITY COUNCIL MINUTES
December 9-11, 2025
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