Executive Leadership Retreat Facilitation Services

The City occasionally needs to hire consultants to provide professional services when the workload exceeds the capacity of City staff or when specialized expertise is required for specific projects. In the past, the City has sought and processed Requests for Proposals (RFPs) and Requests for Qualifications (RFQs) on an individual project basis to support various initiatives. By establishing on-call lists for professional services, the City can reduce staff time and speed up project delivery, as it avoids repeated solicitations for qualifications and proposal reviews. This approach leads to cost savings due to economies of scale and significant time savings.

The City Manager’s Office (CMO) is seeking professional services to host an Executive Leadership retreat. The primary objective of this retreat is to build cohesion among various departments, foster trust across the organization's leadership, and create clarity around aligning departmental goals with the City’s strategic plan. The retreat will also focus on tools and strategies for operationalizing these goals with an emphasis on a shared vision that the team can revisit throughout the years. A more detailed description of the services and general needs can be found in the Preliminary Scope of Services.

The City of Santa Cruz was incorporated in 1866 and formed its current charter in 1948. It is governed under a Council/Manager form of government. A Mayor and six Council members set policy for the City and a City Manager serves as chief administrator of those policies. The City is located on the coast, 75 miles south of San Francisco on the northern edge of the Monterey Bay. It encompasses 15.8 square miles with cultural and ethnic diversity among its population of 65,000. Santa Cruz is part of the National Marine Sanctuary and is a popular tourist destination owing to its beaches, surf culture, and historical landmarks.

The City provides a full range of municipal services and facilities including a recreational wharf, public golf course, over thirteen hundred acres of open space, full beach services, refuse management, law enforcement, fire protection, and water and wastewater utilities. The City is also host to the University of California Santa Cruz, the Santa Cruz Harbor, and the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk amusement park.