Posted: 1/26/05
By MaryHelen Swanson
They got themselves dug out of the snow ñ North Branch city council members, city staff and department heads, that is ñ to come together last Saturday morning for a goal setting session.
All right, one staff member was missing, City Maintenance Supervisor Gary Schaefer who was, as expected, out plowing.
But those who made it to the session helped formulate five main goals the city council and staff will be working on this year.
To begin with, they retained the 2004 goal of the continued effort to get funding for the new bridge over I-35.
1So, that ñ bridge funding ñ is number one for 2005.
2 Number two is to work on downtown revitalization.
3 Number three ñ to try to get EVP, or emergency warning lights, installed at stop lights in town.
This emergency lighting system warns cars at stoplight intersections of oncoming emergency vehicles and allows drivers time to find a way to move out of the way.
4 Number four is to begin an effort to better communicate with the city residents.
The council wants to start being more proactive, said Mayor Gloria Karsky in a conversation Tuesday afternoon.
This may manifest itself in a weekly or less frequent column by the mayor in the Post Review and other local papers.
Sometimes, Mayor Karsky said, the council is working on issues that may not necessarily be brought up at a council meeting, so a column of this nature could keep the citizens abreast of whatís going on.
On a similar issue, Mayor Karsky said the city might like to work with Community Education to come up with useful information for the residents such as what they need to know if you want to put up a deck or other issues. Or, she said, perhaps the city, with help, could develop such a thing as a house maintenance checklist to help residents know when and how to do such things as maintain furnaces, smoke detectors, etc.
5 Number five, and the suggestion of Mayor Karsky herself, is to develop a global development review plan and set policy so that all potential developers are treated fairly.
Karsky said the city needs to identify the cityís current infrastructure capabilities to form into a checklist to help decide if a development will fit into the cityís plan.
Things such as roadways, water and sewer, etc., need to be weighed when a developer comes in with a plan.
The objective plan or checklist, the mayor went on, would be used as a tool for all proposed developments.
Besides the council, all of whom were present for the planning session, city staff and department heads also discussed goals.
As an example, Karsky noted, the police department talked about ways they can better serve the community.
Planning and zoning and public works also set goals for the coming year, she said.
The council and staff used the popular dot rating system to determine top priorities.
It works like this: when all ideas have been brought forth, and written on paper, the session participants put colored dots on their top, medium, and lower level choices.
Thatís how the top five were set for the 2005 year, Karsky said. Beyond the top five, another goal, the mayor said, was to improve on grant writing.
During the year, the council is updated through reports from the city administer on the progress of addressing the selected goals.
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