News-Record.com

Greensboro City Council members and city staff are putting together a retreat that will likely take about two days as soon as late January or early February, according to a memo from City Manager Mitch Johnson.

Council briefly discussed a retreat at its Tuesday meeting but didn't set a date or agenda.

In his memo, Johnson recommends the retreat take place somewhere in Guilford County, "as there are several excellent facility options here in Guilford County."

Johnson hopes the council will set most of the retreat's agenda but hopes the meeting will cover some broader goals, including:

* Developing the council's key initiatives to form the backbone of the upcoming budget discussions;
* discussing the process for getting council more involved in policy development, as they expressed an interest in doing shortly after hiring Johnson in October;
* reviewing city government's critical needs and limitations, or as Johnson described it, a "State of the City" discussion.

Along with holding a retreat, according to Johnson's memo, some of council's other desires include a more transparent budget process and the development of options to get public input on the strategic direction of the city.