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 A strategic plan is a measurable guide that spells out and
prioritizes certain issues the city wants to address within a
specific time frame. It is important to note that it is not an
exclusive nor all inclusive document. Many of the ideas that came
out during the day of discussion did not make it into the plan. That
does not prohibit the city from looking at those thoughts
individually and acting on those as well.
In the last 90 minutes of the day, Davison split the attendees up
into sub-groups and sent them off to different rooms. Their assigned
task was to take their goals for the plan and turn it into
“smart-goals.” The smart goal was to be concise but also precise,
identifying the task, how it would be addressed, and a timeline for
when the goal would be accomplished.
City Administrator Clay Johnson was not assigned to a group.
Instead, his task was to go room to room and touch base with each
group as it worked on its goal and action plan.
The group met back together to share their smart-goals, and then
went back into their separate sections again. Their second task was
to create the steps that would be taken to achieve the goal.
Smart Goals and Action Plans
Infrastructure
Alderwoman Marty Neitzel and Waste Treatment
Manager Tim Ferguson
Smart Goal – “Within two years the city of Lincoln will educate the
general public on the implementation of a multi-phase road and sewer
infrastructure project to develop a safe and reliable utility system
to be completed within 20 years.”
Action Steps
1. Identify the phases of the various construction projects as well
as project costs.
2. Hold public outreach programs with the citizens of Lincoln to
discuss what the projects are and how to go forth with improvements.
3. Determine funding mechanism for the projects (bonds, capital
improvement dollars, grants, rate increase, loans, etc.).
4. A secondary public information meeting to advise constituents of
how the city will go forward.
5. Award construction bids and begin implementation.
6. Review the project success with the general public, talking about
how the projects benefited the community.
Economic Development
Alderwoman Kathy Horn and Building and Safety
Officer John Lebegue
Smart-goal: “The city of Lincoln will identify and address the
barriers of Economic Development within Lincoln.”
The initial goal was: “To facilitate economic development by
creating a cohesive city boundary over the next year, through the
annexation of vacant, developable lands that are directly abut and
in some cases surrounded by the city limits.”
Lebegue expanded saying he was talking about areas of Woodlawn Road,
Fifth Street, and north on Kickapoo to Interstate 55. He said doing
the annexation now would speed the process for industries that are
looking to come to Lincoln by eliminating one step in the
development process.
Johnson said he liked what Horn and Lebegue had come up with, but he
felt that their statement was more of an action step than a goal. He
said what they had should be kept as an action step, but he wanted
the goal to be broader.
The goal then became: “Within four years, the city will identify and
address the barriers and obstacles of economic development within
our community and will seek the addition of three new businesses and
15 new jobs.”
After another review, the goal was established with a broader
definition. It was then changed to read: “The city of Lincoln will
identify and address the barriers of Economic Development within
Lincoln.”
It was then noted the action plan would include retention plans and
an attraction plan, and a job numbers goal.
Action steps
1. Identify all properties and owners that could be subject to
future annexation.
2. Estimate the extent and the cost of infrastructure that would be
required for potential areas of annexation.
3. Develop and implement design and appearance standards for the
corridor and new development.
4. Retention and possible extension of the Enterprise Zone, and also
look at other development incentives that could be utilized.
5. Develop and fully utilize local talents to enhance and encourage
development.
Another action step was added to the list by the group that would
address the property tax in the city. It was suggested that the
tactic could be to bring all taxing bodies together to discuss the
situation and look for possible solutions.
Quality of Life
Alderman Jeff Hoinacki and Fire Chief Mark
Miller
Smart goal: “To provide support for recreation and tourism
opportunities that impact the quality of life for our residents.”
The goal began as: “A three-year (plan) to bring the community
together at the Apex to provide local government goals and
communicate with our constituents.”
Miller said the idea was to create a big event that would include
all factions of the city, offering information about who they are
and what they do. This would be an expansion of the current
community nights being held. The program would include open
discussion about what goes on in the city and what the city offers
its constituents.
The two men noted that their topic was broad and had initially
included tourism and festivals, which are not city functions.
Davison noted though that what they were looking for is to engage
the people in their city. Johnson said that the task is “How do we
engage our citizens?”
The group talked about the issues of walkability, bike paths, and
dog parks and wondered if they could be folded into the smart goal
in some fashion.
Johnson suggested a broader goal that the group agreed was more
appropriate. The goal was changed to: “Identify five new
recreational opportunities and implement the initiatives that have
the greatest impact.”
When the group broke up for the second time, Davison accompanied
Hoinacki and Miller. When they returned, the three had authored a
new, broader goal that included recreation and tourism. “To provide
support for recreation and tourism opportunities that impact the
quality of life for our residents.”
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Action Steps
1. Identify five new recreational opportunities and implement
initiatives with the greatest potential of impacting the quality of
life.
2. Support existing recreational events.
3. Support the new festival series.
The group talked about the many other organizations that would be
involved. Mentioned was the soccer program, sporting events and
tournaments, working with the Logan County Alliance and being sure
that the city is offering high-quality services to the citizens.
Davison said some of these could make their way into the Mission
Statement. Hoinacki also said that they didn’t name names because
they wanted to leave it open to all groups by not specifying anyone
in particular.
Operation Improvements
Aldermen Scott Cooper (not pictured),
Todd Mourning with City Clerk Susan Gehlbach and Street Department
Superintendant Walt Landers
Smart goal: “Implement a monthly city initiated contact with our
residents.”
The goal began as: “Develop and implement a procedure for
aldermanic/constituent communication and implement with 100 percent
alderman compliance by April of 2015.”
Mourning said he felt yhe wording could be better on the goal. He
explained the objective was to improve the cycle of communication
between constituents, aldermen, department heads and city
administration. What he wanted to see is an established
communication path so that everyone is included in constituent
issues.
Davison suggested: “Develop and implement a process for
communication between constituents, council and staff, and implement
with full compliance by April 2015.” Johnson added to that saying,
“The goal should be an efficient and timely responses to citizen
requests and complaints.”
The smart goal was then re-worded to read: “Develop a formalized
response process and procedure to ensure efficient and timely
responses to citizen requests and complaints.”
Davison still felt like what they had authored was more of an action
than a goal. She said the real goal is to improve communication.
Johnson said then maybe the goal should be to: “Implement a monthly
city initiated contact with our residents.”
He said the action steps could then be the procedure for call backs,
and more.
This topic involved quite a bit of discussion, but in the end,
everyone agreed that keeping this particular goal vague was a good
idea as it would permit a wider variety of initiatives. The group
decided to go with Johnson's suggested goal.
The discussion turned then briefly to how would that goal be
measurable. Among the suggestions was a customer satisfaction survey
after the city addresses a constituent concern. Johnson said the
process was used in Aurora, and it was successful. Other thoughts
included a newsletter to constituents.
Action Steps
1. Develop and implement an aldermanic/constituent/administration
communication process by April 1, 2015.
2. Implement a board of education program by May 1, 2015.
3. Issuing contacts with constituents by newsletters by December
31st, 2015.
4. Customer service feedback form on the web by June 1, 2015.
5. Conduct annual customer service surveys in the sewer bills in the
first billing cycle of each year.
6. Quarterly Lincoln 2020 tactic reviews to measure achievements.
The first to be held during the first committee of the whole meeting
in August, 2015.
7. An annual board retreat to review the Lincoln 2020 plan and its
tactics.
Education
Mayor Keith Snyder and Assistant Police Chief
Paul Adams
Alderman Steve Parrott also volunteered to be in this sub-group, but
was unable to participate because he was called to leave before the
day concluded.
Smart goal: “To elevate the numbers and levels of educable,
employable and engaged citizens by the year 2020.”
The goal was first written to read: “Increase the number educable,
employable, and engaged citizens by convening a series of meetings
among educators, employers, and young people in partnership with the
Logan County Alliance by December 1, 2015 with a goal of increasing
those numbers by 2020
After some discussion, it was decided that the goal included an
action step. It was re-written to be more concise, with the last
part of it being reserved as an action step.
Action steps
1. Collaborate with the Logan County Alliance in their education
efforts.
2. Convene a series of meetings with educators, employers and young
people. Charge that group to create a community education task force
that would own and implement a project to measure education and take
steps to improve that for the citizens of Lincoln.
Snyder mentioned that one thing this group could do would be to
communicate and work with the four areas where adult education
programs are currently underway. Currently, there is the LTEC
program for high school students in Logan County. The Logan County
Development Partnership is involved with the ATIM program, educating
prospective workers in manufacturing. The Lincolnland CEO program is
set to kick off this fall. The Community Action Partnership of
Central Illinois and Home Sweet Home Ministries are getting ready to
initiate a new program to educate clients on how to successfully
seek out employment opportunities. Snyder said all these programs
were working independently but with the same goal. The new task
force could be a collaborator between the four.
What comes now?
With this portion of the work being completed, Davison will take all
the information gathered at the Saturday meeting and fine tune it
into a single document. The end result will be a draft Strategic
Plan that the city officials will review and approve or change as
needed.
The plan, when finished may not be exactly the wording used at the
meeting. Davison will be responsible for keeping the integrity of
the vision intact while polishing it into a more concise and
professional format.
[Nila Smith]
Lincoln 2020 - A clear
vision of the future
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