Lincoln 2020 – A clear vision of the future
Strategic Planning: Where are the opportunities, what are the threats?

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[March 11, 2015]  LINCOLN - On Saturday, the Lincoln City Council and city department heads spent the day discussing the future of the city and what to do to make that future brighter. During the six-hour session, the atmosphere was casual and friendly. Everyone in the room actively participated in the conversations and worked together to create a first ever Strategic Plan for the city.

A strategic plan should be a document that looks to the future, sets goals and expectations, and outlines a means by which those goals can be accomplished. As the group discussed the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats (SWOT) they needed to set a timeline. It was city administrator Clay Johnson who first set the date as the year 2020, meaning the plan would be a five-year plan.

Todd Mourning added to it, relating to the ‘2020’ as a term used in optometry to indicate clear vision. Therefore, the tagline for the plan became “Lincoln 2020 – A clear vision for the future."

Weaknesses and Threats

The group talked about several issues that were weaknesses and threats, but they also found even within those strengths and opportunities to do something better.

One item brought up by John Lebegue was the perception of the city for train passengers. He noted that coming into town on the train, the look of the city isn’t good. He said it needed to be addressed and improved. So it became an opportunity for the city to do something better.

Lebegue also spoke about the need to develop the business district along the train stop. He noted that the Blue Dog is near the train station, and it is a great place, recently recognized by the state as a Delicious Destination. He said the challenge was to get entrepreneurs interested in investing in that area.

The group also discussed another type of ‘perception,’ that of the citizens of Lincoln of city government. Mourning said it was a weakness. Lebegue and Jeff Hoinacki added that there is a lack of understanding among the constituents about what is going on. Hoinacki related it to the game telephone as a comment or story travels around a group of people, each person changes the story just a little bit.

Moving on, Marty Neitzel commented that the new Lincoln TIF District was a strength for the city, and she noted that it was a great asset in the development of the new Lincoln Grand 8 Theater.

As the group honed in on what the threats for the future of Lincoln are. Hoinacki said that there is a lack of investors with an “s.” He noted there has been basically only one investor in the future of the city. Katie Davison asked if the city had a Community Foundation. It does not, but several in the room liked the idea.

Mourning asked if there were any other ‘off the wall” ways for the city to make money outside of the taxpayers. Johnson said there absolutely were, but the challenge is to figure out what it is that will work for Lincoln.

Johnson moved on saying another big threat right now is the pending expiration of the Enterprise Zone. Right now, the city was working with the county to apply for a new zone effective in 2017. However, state rules have changed, and the number of zones available is going to be less than the number of municipalities and counties applying for them. Therefore, there is an uncertainty that the city and county will get a new zone in 2017.

Johnson also threw in a new strength, saying that Lincoln had competent and concerned department heads that were invested in the city. The staff was added to that as well.

It was discussed that the city’s older, charming neighborhoods are both a strength and a threat. Snyder noted that in Lincoln, there is not much opportunity for new construction homes. The older homes are not all in good repair. While certain areas are nice, other areas reflect a very run-down condition.

In new construction, Lebegue noted that one big hindrance in Lincoln is the property tax, which the group agreed was a threat. Snyder and others talked about the city’s efforts to draw a line on property tax by not raising the rate for 2015. However respectively, the city portion of the tax is only a small portion. The group talked then about whether the County could be persuaded to take action as well. It was decided that it would be worth having the conversation at least.

 

Continuing on in talking about taxes, Johnson said that another option would be to change the city of Lincoln from “Non-Home Rule” to “Home Rule.. But he said it would have to be done by referendum vote. Many in the room thought it would be a hard sell to get voters to make that change because they would not trust the city to keep reasonable tax rates.

In Non-Home Rule cities, the state determines certain tax rates, and the cities have to accept that. Johnson said one selling point for Home Rule would be that the state would not be involved. He said he would market the idea with the key point being, “allow Lincoln to decide, not Springfield.” He noted that in Ohio, many communities have voted for the Home Rule, and the outcome has been very successful.

Identifying small victories

Johnson said what the city needs to do is identify its small victories and show the constituents that the city government can be trusted.

Davison picked up on that and asked what those small victories would be. The examples given included the cooperation between city, local businesses, and the Railsplitter Antique Car Club in working together to resolve an issue with closing streets downtown for the car shows.

Other small victories included the completion of the reconstruction of Pulaski Street from Hamilton to LaDue. Another victory was the completion of one block of the downtown beautification project.

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Walt Landers said another small victory is how the city successfully addresses concerns of the citizens. He said when residents contact the city with a concern; the city should make certain that the right people listen and respond in a timely fashion.

Landers said there is a history of concerns not being addressed, and the city needs to be more attentive and make a bigger effort to address every complaint.

Establishing a chain of command

Addressing complaints led to another side conversation; when citizens have a concern who should they contact, and who should respond?

The real question in this matter, is how does the city keep everyone in the loop, and who takes the lead when a problem is reported. Part of the problem is the city aldermen and department heads are still adjusting to having a city manager, and want to make sure that when problems need to be addressed, the city manager is not left out of the loop.

Neitzel said that when constituents have an issue they want to talk to their aldermen. In general the aldermen around the room agreed, and also noted that they wanted to be the one the constituent calls. But, from that point, what is the next step? Before the city administrator position was created, the next point of contact would have been for the alderman to contact a department head. The group talked on if the alderman should be contacting Johnson so that he can contact the department head.

Landers noted that sometimes, the constituents do come directly to him with their issues; they don’t go to an alderman or the city administrator. Scott Cooper said constituents want their alderman contact to be “in person.” He noted, “they want to see a face, they want a phone call. That is all they want, to just explain it to us.”

Davison said there needed to be a process in place that included the administration. She talked about issuing work orders and creating a document that cycles through everyone. Neitzel said everything should go through the city administrator, but “the residents of Lincoln want the people they know, they want their alderman.”

Cooper said that, yes, Johnson should be in the loop, but it should be the aldermen who have contact with constituents. Around the room, most seemed to agree. Mourning said that the important part was to set a procedure and follow it consistently.

It was mentioned that the best means of doing this could be through the use of emails that include the alderman, department head, and the city administrator in all communications.

Davison brought the conversation back to the strategic planning process, incorporating this issue into the “needs work” category of Communication.

Creating Smart Goals

Throughout the morning, the group identified several issues that need to be addressed over the next five years. Among them the need for improved infrastructure for sewers, streets, and sidewalks. They talked about plans in place and what yet needs to be done.

They also discussed education as something they wanted to see made better. The goal is to bring the education statistic up in the city, noting that there are very few Lincoln residents who are graduates with bachelor’s degrees. They wanted to take steps to improve the quality of life in Lincoln, and they wanted to improve the relationship between constituents and city government. Finally, they wanted to improve the economy, through more industry and business, and better job opportunities.

Davison said that with the short list established, the next step in the process would be to create the smart goals that would address these issues. She said the group would be divided into sub-groups with each group taking on one issue.

The first step would be for the sub-group to verbalize the problem and give a solution with a time line. When the task was completed, they would come back together and review the smart goals. After this the sub-groups would meet again and author the action steps that would be needed to achieve the goal.

In the final segment of this series, LDN will review the smart goals and the action steps that will be included in the final product; Lincoln 2020 – A clear vision for the future.

[Nila Smith]

Lincoln 2020 - A clear vision of the future

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