City Council The McKinney City Council is working to set its strategic goals and strategies.[/caption]

The McKinney City Council met Jan. 20 to identify the city's key priorities for the next one to two years.

The list of top six priorities consists of:

• Direction for strategic and economic growth, with specific focus on commercial and retail expansion, a downtown parking garage and new city hall.

The potential development of a new city hall has been highly discussed in the city for some time. According to city staff, they are taking the first steps to begin the process by working to develop a request for qualifications to select a firm to conduct a space needs analysis. That analysis will help give staff a better idea of what offices will be housed within a potential new city hall and the amount of space the site will need. The last needs assessment was done in the early 2000s.

In order to construct a new city hall, a bond election would be needed, officials said, adding that the earliest anyone could see a ribbon cutting and grand opening of a new city hall would be three to five years.

• Operational excellence, including updates to the city's open records request policies.

• McKinney National Airport and its growth, including public education about the airport.

• Maintaining a financially sound government

• Enhanced quality of life in the city

• Maintaining a safe and secure community