It’s good the City Council, old and new and City staff are working together towards the same goals, and checking in every few months to make sure everyone is heading in the same direction.
PSN reports on the workshop….
SIERRA MADRE – City officials Tuesday made plans for the next six months hoping to roll out public service announcements, revamp police training and survey local businesses.
Elected officials and members of the city’s staff developed the plan in a six-hour session Tuesday morning. The draft vision outlines the city’s objectives for the next six months.
The draft plan will be presented to the City Council for approval on May 11th.
In recent years, the brainstorming exercise, which is led by a facilitator and dubbed “a strategic planning retreat”, has been conducted twice a year to review the city’s key goals and update its objectives.
“As staff, we always appreciate this,” said City Manager Elaine Aguilar during the retreat. “Hopefully, we’re all on the (same) ship together going in the same direction. This process … facilitates that.”
One of the city’s most pressing goals is to update its general plan, which was last revised in 1996, said Councilman John Buchanan. A general plan committee was appointed last winter and it was suggested Tuesday that the council hire a staff planner to allow a department head to oversee the writing and manage completion of the general plan.
“We need to get that done because it’s the foundation for a whole lot of other planning in the future, or (for) limitations we want to put on certain things in town,” Buchanan said.
The city manager, with input from department heads and the Chamber of Commerce, would also conduct a survey of local businesses to determine what would stimulate their business as well as the local economy, according to the draft plan. The city manager would present the survey results, along with current economic data, to the City Council for discussion and direction by the end of August.
“I’d like to see green jobs come to our town because I think it would fit with our image,” Buchanan said.
Councilman Joe Mosca said he was concerned about the likelihood of doubling pension costs due to stock market dips, which would be a large burden for the city. He is also concerned about delayed maintenance projects, such as the paving of city streets, which cost more to upgrade over time.
According to the draft plan, the city manager would present a comprehensive fee study to the council in June to determine whether the city is charging what it should be.
“We have to make sure that two years out, we are not seeing deficits,” Mosca said. “That we are not having to dip into our reserves.”
Other objectives in the draft include hiring a part-time interim police lieutenant to develop and train sergeants, presentation to the council of a new filming ordinance and developing job descriptions for the city’s volunteers.
It’s refreshing to read the news without having it presented in a conspiratorial and paranoiac way. And, I can post comments here even if I don’t agree!