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Click here for a copy of the worksheet used In the strategic plan, there were four goals established in 2015:
- Improve communication with residents, employers, and
visitors.
- Identify and address the barriers to economic development.
- Provide safe, reliable, and sustainable infrastructure
systems.
- Improve the quality of life among Lincoln residents by
supporting recreation and tourism.
On Saturday City Administrator Clay Johnson distributed
copies of those four goals with additions made with red ink
showing what actions have been taken thus far to accomplish the
goals.
The strategic plan is a five-year document. At the initial
planning session, goals were identified and then a list of steps
to be taken to accomplish the goals were also identified.
Each of these strategic steps was identified with details added
as to what an action step should be, who would be the
responsible party to accomplish the step, by what date should
the step be completed, and how would the city pay the cost (if
any) of that step.
As an example, goal number three is “Provide safe, reliable, and
sustainable infrastructure systems.
 Strategy A says, “Create a comprehensive, coordinated
infrastructure improvement plan. Action step one says, “Identify
and prioritize infrastructure needs.” The responsible parties
are the City Administrator, department heads, and the city
engineer. The completion date is May 1, 2016, and funding will
come from the city’s General Fund, Sewer Fund, Motor Fuel Tax
Fund, and the Tax Increment Fund.
The council reviewed the goals and accomplishments, then later
in the day, broke into four groups with one goal assigned to
each group. The individual groups were then assigned to review
the goals and determine if there needed to be any additional
action items added in order to accomplish the goal.
A review of goals
Goal one: Improve communication with residents, employers, and
visitors
Review
For goal one, there were seven strategies with each one having
at least one action step.
The council reviewed the action items and noted that the
newsletter was among the steps to be accomplished. This has been
done, with some good results. Johnson mentioned that he feels
the newsletter is being well received. He noted an instance
where a resident had written a thank-you note for the newsletter
on their sewer bill.
It was also noted that the city is utilizing a Facebook page,
and new posts are added to the page at least once a week. Fire
Chief Mark Miller noted that the page does get a lot of response
and interaction from those who have “liked” the page. However,
Todd Mourning was concerned about the number of “likes.” He
noted the city only has 1,300 likes, and he wondered if the city
could “beg for likes.”
Johnson also talked about the recent implementation of the
“Rumor” page on the city website. He said he felt that was a
good move because it allows the city to comment officially on
issues that could be misunderstood.
Lincoln resident Bill Meyer was in attendance at the meeting. He
spoke up saying that he had viewed the city website, had gone to
the Rumors page and liked the idea of it. He did, however, want
to send a comment to the city, and had been unable to figure out
how to do that through the website. Johnson said that was
something that could and would be addressed in the future.
The group also reviewed the action items pertaining to board
education, and Johnson said the council participates in the
Illinois Municipal League, four members had attended a newly
elected officials conference, and four had attended the annual
conference in Chicago. This fulfilled the 10 hours of ongoing
education that had been recommended.
One strategy in this section had received little attention in
this past year. The strategy to “engage educators, employers and
young people to elevate the numbers and levels of educable,
employable, and engage citizens” had not been addressed. Johnson
and the council discussed that one component of accomplishing
this goal was that the Logan County Alliance was on board to
create an Education Council that would assist in achieving this
goal. To date, that council has not been created. It was noted
that the city had fulfilled the action item of supporting the
local CEO program by participating in a three-year commitment
for financial support of the program.
The last strategy of this goal involved creating a community
branding initiative. This is underway, as DCC Marketing has been
hired and is currently doing their work to create a brand and
marketing plan for the city.
Recommendations
In the breakout session, aldermen Michelle Bauer and Tracy
Welch; Waste Water Treatment Manager Tim Ferguson; and Street
and Alley Department Superintendent Walt Landers discussed goal
one.
The group discussed adding a new means of “televising” the city
council meetings. It was suggested that the council explore a
live streaming option that would not include Comcast. (It should
be noted that the city council meetings are currently being
aired via Lincoln College, through its agreement with Comcast.
However, the council has long wanted the Tuesday night meetings
to be aired, and that has not yet happened.)
The group also suggested holding informal town hall meetings in
the individual wards on a quarterly basis, and to continue
working on the survey process.
Goal 2: Identify and address barriers to economic development
Review
Among the strategies in this goal were to:
- Eliminate annexation barriers, develop and implement
design and appearance standards.
- Retention and expansion of the Enterprise Zone.
- Develop local talent and encourage development.
- Review and revise property tax assessment system.
- Engage educators, employers, and young people to elevate
the number and levels of educable, employable and engage
citizens.
In response to these action items, the council was
advised that a new annexation plan has been drafted and is
currently under review. The plan will come before the
council in the near future. Development of new 'Landscape
and sign codes' is also in the works. The city department
heads have worked together to create a 'Site Plan' review
process that streamlines the process for potential
developers. The city has also successfully worked with the
county to complete a new Enterprise Zone application that
will hopefully be approved to take effect in 2017.
In the discussion of strategy E, “review and revise property
tax assessment system” one action item was to hold a tax
symposium between all taxing bodies. The task is assigned to
the city council and the Logan County Alliance with a
completion date of June 2017.
Rick Hoefle asked why the completion date was so far away on
this task. Bauer said that there was a lot involved in doing
a symposium. Each taxing body needed time to prepare and
come to the table ready to discuss the issues. She noted
that the date could be changed, or the task could be
accomplished prior to the target date.
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The 2017 date had been marked as the half-way point in the five-year
plan. Bauer said the thought was to reach that point then the city
and other taxing bodies would have two-and-a-half years to reach a
final goal.
Johnson also commented on this saying his question was hold a
symposium “to do what?” He said thus far, “we have not identified to
do what.”
Again, the action items pertaining to education are on hold.
Recommendations
Police Chief Paul Adams, and aldermen Rick Hoefle and Steve Parrott
were to make recommendations for goal two. The began by saying that
the Building and Safety Office and City Council should “stay the
course” in working on the Annexation Plan, as well as the Landscape
and sign codes.
On the other strategies, this group wanted the responsible parties
to continue driving toward finding solutions for the barriers to
economic development. They also wanted more engagement with Lincoln
College and Lincoln Christian University in an effort to keep more
college students in the community building their businesses here
instead of elsewhere.
Goal 3: Provide safe, reliable, and sustainable infrastructure
systems
Review
Strategies for this goal include:
- Create a comprehensive, coordinated infrastructure
improvement program.
- Provide multiple outreach channels to the public to inform
and educate them on the need for the program, plan, and costs
associated.
- Increase operational efficiencies to address infrastructure
needs and monitor costs.
To date, the only strategy that has been acted on in this
goal is the last one. One action item was to develop a work
order system to track resident concerns and inquiries and track
project progress and completion. In answer to this, it was
stated that the new sewer operations contract with American
Water does have provisions for this process to be completed.
Another action item was listed as ongoing, and work is underway.
Under “explore operational management technologies to improve
service delivery” action item, it was discussed that the city is
reviewing the financial software as well as looking into GPS
vehicle tracking. Johnson noted that the GPS is not to be used
to keep an eye on employees; it will be utilized to help
determine cost-effective use of manpower.
Recommendations
Those involved in making recommendations for goal three were
Mayor Marty Neitzel, Treasurer Chuck Conzo, Alderan Jeff
Hoinacki, and Fire Chief Mark Miller. The group said they wanted
work to continue as it is now concerning identifying and
prioritizing infrastructure needs. They want to move forward
with the action plans that include public information forums and
more public education through the city website and social media.
Goal 4: Improve the quality of life among Lincoln residents
by supporting recreation and tourism
Review
Strategies in this goal included:
- Continue to support the revitalization of the downtown.
- Continue to support existing recreation events and
initiatives.
- Support the summer festival series through promotion,
safely, and security.
The first strategy on this goal had two action items,
“Continue to support downtown improvement projects,” and
“Enhance TIF usage through education and investment." The
second action item was listed as “ongoing.”
For the first action item, Johnson said that bids have been
received for the library parking lot project and will be
opened this week. He also reported that the Lincoln Depot
restoration site plans are 30 percent complete. He
anticipates there will be a bid process take place in the
second quarter of this year, and the rehabilitation
construction projects could start yet in the 2016 calendar
year.
There were no other actions that had taken place for this
goal, though, at the end of the day, Johnson presented the
council with a new idea that would play into fulfilling
portions of the goal.
Recommendations
Aldermen Kathy Horn and Todd Mourning, and Building and
Safety Officer John Lebegue took on goal four. They wanted
to keep the current projects moving and continue to look for
funding via grants and other means so as to implement new
projects. They also supported to continue work on promoting
the TIF program. The group suggested hosting a group meeting
for planning that would include the city, Logan County
Alliance, downtown businesses, hotels, restaurants, and
event planners, so that all involved were aware of festival
dates and activities. Mourning said that it was important
that everyone be well informed and work together.
The group also spoke about the Logan County Alliance, saying
that the city needed to continue supporting the Alliance and
letting them know “that we have their back” while the group
is in transition and facing staffing issues.
With that recommendation a question came from Parrott; did
the Alliance know about the meeting on Saturday. He wondered
why they had not sent someone. Johnson said they had not
been specifically invited to attend. Parrott said that he
felt that if the Alliance is working for the city, it should
have wanted to have a presence at this meeting. It was also
stated that though the Alliance was not at the meeting, the
city is subject to the Open Meetings Act, and the meeting
was publicized, so they could have attended. Bauer said she
didn’t know why the Alliance didn’t choose to attend.
However, she said the work being done on this day was not
for the Alliance to decide. The council has the authority
over what is done and not done in the city, and is
responsible for the city’s strategic plan.
----- In regards to
chronology, the council reviewed the strategies, then heard
from department heads about the current capital improvement
projects. They then broke into their separate groups for a
period of about 20 minutes, then returned to the full group
format to share their recommendations.
Part three in this series will offer insight as to what was
discussed by the department heads during the discussion of
Capital Projects.
[Nila Smith]
Lincoln 2020
Strategic Plan 2.0
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