 "We can move beyond simply accepting what comes if we proactively
engage the future," Snyder said. "If we work together to address our
challenges head-on and seize the opportunities available, we can
write our own future and make Lincoln the community that we all want
it to be."He outlined three proposals
designed for Lincoln to engage the future:
-
Create a shared
vision for what we would like our city to be, and a strategy for
how to get there, through the adoption of a comprehensive plan
for Lincoln.
-
Implement
operational changes to cut costs and increase accountability.
-
Further update and improve the city's
Web pages to better serve local residents and visitors.
Snyder said that the primary way to engage the future is for
Lincoln to develop a shared vision for the community and a strategy
for how to get there. A tool that communities use to do that is a
comprehensive plan. Such a plan would set forth a vision for the
growth and enhancement of Lincoln. It would set forth concrete ideas
in the areas of public infrastructure, community facilities,
physical image, land use, housing, transportation and economic
development.
Logan County completed its own comprehensive plan in 2006, and
Lincoln was included in that plan. The county plan, though,
suggested that municipalities could benefit from the development of
a more specific plan geared to their own needs. The last
comprehensive plan focused solely on Lincoln dates back to the
1970s.
Snyder said that as a first step in gathering citizen input
toward a comprehensive plan, he would work with the city council to
schedule a future council meeting in each of the city's five wards.
"By moving out of the council chambers and into the community, we
all will gain a better understanding of the needs of the community,"
he said. "We'll also start taking the steps we need to forge our
shared vision into a comprehensive plan."
Snyder outlined what he called five
"fresh approaches" to the operation of city government. He said
these approaches would "help the city cut costs and provide greater
accountability for the expenditure of taxpayer dollars." They are:
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top of second column] |
-
Providing
purchasing and contract management training for city buyers to
ensure that the purchase meets a well-defined need, that the
city has received the best price possible and that the city
receives all it pays for.
-
Creating
accountability forms for groups seeking funding from the city so
requests can be compared across groups and from year to year.
-
Initiating a
citizen-based budgeting approach to allow citizens to have
direct input on the budget and allow the city to educate
citizens on fiscal challenges.
-
Establishing a volunteer initiative to
connect willing volunteers with appropriate opportunities in
city operations in order to provide additional services while
saving costs.
The third way Lincoln can engage the future, Snyder said, is to
further enhance the city's online site. "The updates made to the
site over the past year were needed, but we can do more to serve
both local residents and visitors," he said. "We need to leverage
every opportunity afforded by the Internet. If we do, we can
communicate and inform better, respond quicker to citizen concerns,
and streamline city procedures."
He offered several specific suggestions for improvement,
including these: being able to send e-mails to all city officials
directly from the site; posting city budgets and financial reports
online; offering forms to submit reports on potholes, street
conditions and code violations; allowing sewer bills to be viewed
and paid online; and creating an electronic "suggestion box."
Snyder said that additional information about his proposals is
available in his "Engage the Future" platform
paper, posted below. That platform paper is also posted at
SnyderForMayor.com.
Snyder released details on his other two issues, "Energize
Economic Development" and "Elevate
Community Pride," earlier in the campaign.
[Text from file received from
Keith Snyder, candidate for mayor of Lincoln]
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1. Have a shared vision for what
we would like our city to be, and a strategy for how to get there
... versus just dealing with the crisis of the day with no real
goals in mind The city of Lincoln faces a number of
challenges and opportunities. We can sit back and simply accept what
happens to us, or we can take the initiative to try to address those
challenges and seize those opportunities head on. The key way for us
to engage our future is to create a shared vision for what we want
Lincoln to be; not what others want or the way others see us, but a
vision for the future that gets us where we want to go. Hand in hand
with that vision we need a strategy for how to get there.
The tool that communities use to create a shared vision and
strategies is a comprehensive plan. According to state statutes, a
comprehensive plan is a document that advises and guides a
community. A comprehensive plan sets forth a vision for the growth
and enhancement of a community in the areas of land use,
transportation, community facilities, public infrastructure,
physical image, housing, and economic development.
Lincoln needs to develop its own comprehensive plan. The city did
participate with the county in the development of its comprehensive
plan in 2006, but the last comprehensive plan that focused
specifically on the city was adopted in the 1970's. The Logan County
comprehensive plan suggested that municipalities in the county could
benefit from the development of a more specific plan geared towards
the needs of each community. The city of Lincoln should build on the
work done in the 2006 county plan to develop its own plan for its
own future.
Two communities similar to Lincoln adopted their own
comprehensive plans recently. Canton, IL adopted its most recent
plan in January 2008. Canton is the largest community (population
15,288) in Fulton County. It suffered the loss of its primary
employer in 1983 when the International Harvester Company ceased
operations. Macomb, IL adopted its comprehensive plan in December
2007. It is slightly larger than Lincoln (with a population of
20,050), but is home to Western Illinois University.
In the cases of both Canton and
Macomb their comprehensive plans contained the four following
elements:
-
Community
Assessment: an inventory of existing conditions.
-
Policy Formation:
the vision, policy, and framework that guided the plan's
creation.
-
Major Plan
Elements: recommendations for the future.
-
Implementation Steps: actions required
to accomplish the recommendations.
My campaign previously discussed the need for planning in the
areas of economic development and city beautification. A
comprehensive plan for the city can envelop both of those elements
as well as addressing many other critical issues.
As a first step toward gathering citizen input that can be used
for a comprehensive plan I will work with the city council to
schedule a future council meeting in each of our five wards. The
purpose of these meetings will be to learn and to listen. The
council members from the ward will be asked to make a presentation
to the full council about their ward: the residential/commercial
mix, the infrastructure situation, the housing stock, the community
facilities, things unique to the ward, etc. In addition time will be
afforded to the residents of that ward to share with the council
their concerns, ideas, suggestions, and dreams.
By the time all five wards have been visited the council should
have a deeper understanding of the needs of the entire community and
the steps we need to take to forge that shared vision in the form of
a comprehensive plan.
2. By implementing operational enhancements to cut costs and
increase accountability
Another way we can engage the future is to pursue fresh
approaches to the operation of city government. The new approaches
outlined below will help the city cut costs and provide greater
accountability for the expenditure of taxpayer dollars.
Explore the option of buying the city's electricity from
alternative suppliers. The city of Lincoln currently buys all of
its electricity from Ameren CILCO. The sewer treatment plant is
already exploring the purchase of electricity in the market and the
rest of city government should follow suit. Actual savings will
depend on city specifications (for facilities, traffic signals,
streetlights, etc.), but some organizations have seen savings of
10-15% when switching to market suppliers. If the city could cut
costs by switching to electricity generated by renewable sources
such as wind, that would be an added bonus.
Provide purchasing and contract management training for city
buyers. Taxpayers need to be assured of three things when the
city contracts to buy goods or services: a) the purchase meets a
well-defined need; b) the city has received the best price possible;
and c) the city receives everything it pays for. To assist employees
with contracting responsibilities the city can provide them with
additional training in identifying and defining needs, negotiation
skills, and contract management. Lincoln has a number of individuals
with professional expertise in procurement who, if asked, would
share their knowledge in training sessions as a community service.
Create accountability forms for groups seeking funding from the
city. The city should develop a standardized form for all groups
that approach the city asking for taxpayer funds. The form would
solicit information about both the request and the group. Because it
would be in a standardized form, that information could be used to
compare the community impact from group to group. As the information
is collected over the years, it can be used to compare each group's
community impact from year to year.
Initiate a citizen-based budgeting approach. Some innovative
communities have adopted a citizen-based budgeting process that
relies on the input of local citizens to prioritize services and
oversee the process of creating, implementing, and monitoring the
city budget. Davenport, IA, for example, administers citizen surveys
each year to evaluate city services, identify shortcomings, and
prioritize needs. They then host a series of forums to openly
discuss survey results and financial challenges. Using the surveys
and the forums the council then develops the city budget. Such an
approach in Lincoln would allow citizens to directly impact the
budget and the city to educate citizens on fiscal challenges.
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top of second column in this section] |
Establish a volunteer initiative.
Lincoln residents care about their community and many would be
willing to volunteer their services to assist during difficult
times. The Council has been exploring this topic and should take
steps to formalize a process to connect volunteers with appropriate
opportunities. Other communities have taken those steps and found
the experience to be positive. Mason City, IA uses volunteers as
part of its "Make Mason City Sparkle" program. Columbia, MO has a
city office of volunteer services that coordinates volunteers
working with clean up/beautification, hospitality, police, public
works, parks, disaster services, and medical corps.
3. By further updating and improving the city's website to make
it an indispensable tool for local residents and a showplace for
visitors
The third way we can engage the future is to fully embrace and
capitalize on the opportunities available on the World Wide Web to
communicate with and inform local residents and businesses and
individuals interested in Lincoln. Over the course of the past year
the city made several needed improvements to its website. More needs
to be done, however, to leverage the opportunities afforded by the
Internet to communicate better, to save time, and to respond quicker
to concerns.
Specific updates and improvements that should be pursued in the
next four years include the following for both city residents and
for visitors:
For city residents:
If visitors
could simply click on a link and send a message to a city
official it would facilitate greater communication with the
public.
Post committee
assignments for Council members and short biographies for all
city officials. Pictures are posted now for most officials,
but the public would benefit from being able to access
background and assignment information about all our officials.
Post the city
budget and financial reports. Local taxpayers should be able
to review the city budget line item by line item on the city's
website. Making the City Treasurer's reports available online
will provide additional details to those who are interested and
foster a better understanding of the city's financial situation.
-
Post agendas for
Council and Committee meetings prior to the meetings.
Meeting minutes are now posted after Council meetings, but
posting agendas will provide further information about issues to
be covered during those meetings and encourage more citizen
participation.
-
Create a Streets
and Alleys page. This page should provide details and
timetables for completion for any significant street projects.
It should also provide a mechanism to report and track on
pothole complaints, trees and brush removal, snow removal, and
street flooding.
-
Create a Sewer
Services page: This page should provide information on the
private company that manages the city's sewers. It should
describe common problems that can occur with an aging sewer
system and how those problems can be avoided. It should also
provide a means for local residents to view and pay their sewer
bills online.
-
Create a Code
Enforcement page: This page should describe the permits
issued by the office and outline the process individuals and
businesses need to follow to secure those city permits. It
should allow some permits to be completed, paid for, and
submitted online. It should contain examples of various code
violations and provide a means for residents to report and track
code violations.
-
Create an electronic "suggestion box."
This form would be a place where citizens could submit ideas to
improve city services, cut costs, and alleviate problems.
For visitors:
-
Create direct
links to hotels and motels, shops, realtors, financial
institutions, dining establishments, and theater listings.
The city website currently provides the results of Google
searches for realtors and financial institutions. The experience
of visitors would be enhanced if the site provided direct links
to those businesses, or, if they don't have a web presence, the
names and phone numbers of those businesses. If we want people
to visit Lincoln, we need to assist them in finding places to
stay, eat, shop, and be entertained. Rather than having to click
off the city site to find that information, we should provide it
in a simple, convenient, and visually appealing format.
Create a dynamic
Calendar of Events page that lists functions of civic clubs,
charitable organizations, churches, colleges, and schools.
The City Events page on the website now lists only city council
and commission functions. Visitors could be drawn to our
community for weekend and other special events if we provided
information on all the events scheduled in one convenient spot.
Information on the events could be submitted through a standard
form available on the website.
Create a "How You
Can..." page. Those unfamiliar with Lincoln need a clear and
simple way to understand how they can engage with the city and
get information about our community. A "How You Can..." page
would provide a one-click solution on how you can contact the
right official, how you can access the correct process or
procedure works, and how you can get further information.
By working together we can move beyond simply accepting what
comes. By Engaging the Future we can harness our own ideas, dreams,
and ambitions to build a better and brighter future for our
community.
[Text copied from
file received from Keith Snyder, candidate for mayor of Lincoln]
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