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Council talks about vision for the future of North BranchBy Barbara Brown The North Branch City Council discussed adopting a vision statement for the city at its Jan. 3 work session. Last spring the city sent a survey to residents asking for their opinions on the state of North Branch and where they would like to see the city go in the future. In November, the city hosted a vision workshop at North Branch High School and asked the 38 in attendance to prioritize the projects and ideas they had for North Branch. Out of that meeting, the city staff and council got a better idea of where to focus their efforts for short term (three to five years) and long term (15 to 20 years) goals. During the Jan. 3 work session, council members began combining the driving forces behind those ideas and their own thoughts about the city into a mission statement. While the council did not set a mission statement at the Jan. 3 meeting, some ideas were exchanged. Council members were asked to take several sample mission statements, presented through City Administrator John Moosey, and tweak them to design a statement. Each council member was asked to return to a later work session with mission statements of their own. The council also asked staff members to take several of the top ideas from the November session and come up with rough outlines of how those projects could be achieved, estimate costs for projects and create general time lines. Mayor John Pinsonneault said one of his top priorities for 2002 is to set a vision for the city that would help future councils and staff keep resident goals in mind while providing the most fiscally-responsible services available. Also at the Jan. 3 work session, the council agreed on committee assignments. Police Chief Jules Zimmer will remain at his post and also will direct the civil defense committee. The city attorney will remain Tom Miller, engineer will remain Julie Dresel, city administrator will continue to be John Moosey, the clerk is Bridget Conrad, finance director is Dave Stutelberg, planning and development will be headed by Al Cottingham and Gary Schaefer will remain the public works director. Councilmen Lofquist and Roger Else will be on the public works and roads committee. Pinsonneault and Lofquist will serve on the executive, personnel committee and economic development committees. The mayor and council member Amy Oehlers will be on the budget committee. Pinsonneault and Else will be on the police committee. Oehlers also will serve as liaison to the planning commission, on the cable committee and with the community education advisory council. Councilman John Pace Jr. and Else will serve on the liquor store committee, and Pace will serve on the parks and fire department committees. ©ECM Post Review |