St Charles Strategic Plan Community Forum
2022-10-21 02:17:00 +0000
St. Charles Strategic Plan Community Forum
Why did we have a Forum
Over the last few months, the city of St. Charles has been petitioning its citizens for thoughts and perspectives on an updated five-year Strategic plan. There have been meetings, interviews, vision forums, surveys, planning sessions, community feedback events, and online engagement tools in preparation for an initial draft. This meeting was primarily a high-level requirements definition for the project capturing the requirements of the various stakeholders (citizens, business owners, elected officials, and city staff). Then, the consulting company, BerryDunn, synthesized all information into a draft project plan for a community review. The project plan included the following:
- a mission statement,
- a vision statement,
- guiding principles,
- strategic priorities,
- and objectives for these priorities.
Balance and Growth
The theme of the evening was balance and growth. It was clear from present citizens’ concerns about the importance of St. Charles’s historic and natural resource preservation. The city’s key is balancing redevelopment while maintaining the other focus area of the community vision. Topics of housing and transport, business diversity, community, and amenities are also part of the discussion, but sustainability and preservation dominated the conversations.
The city had these statements and objectives printed on large pages in spots around the room. In addition, there were sharpies and post-it notes available for use. The conversation was about the language in the project plan rather than the substance of the priorities. Discussing the wording of the 11-word mission statement took almost 30 minutes, for example. Many people want to be heard and say something, which is the purpose of this forum. Consequently, discussing the strategic priorities was left as a more interactive endeavor; we roamed the room, engaging in conversation and saying our bit.
Strong Towns Ideals
As Strong Town advocates, we strive to make St. Charles safe, livable, and financially resilient. The essential characteristic of a Strong Town is financial solvency. We want St. Charles to have more assets than liabilities and the ability to pay our debts. What are the short-term costs of every proposed new development now, and what will we pay to maintain or replace for generations to come? The presented strategic priorities of organizational resiliency and financial wellness are two sides of the same coin. See the objective below.
- Identify and plan for maintenance needs of city infrastructure (roads, bridges, facilities, utilities, and fleet) in a timely fashion to ensure service delivery and proper asset maintenance continuity
The current financial costs for maintaining infrastructure are a financial obligation rather than an organizational one.
Abstraction and Action
The abstraction of knowledge from the community into a 5-year strategic plan is a simplification of the complexity of communication. The meaning and context of the information are stripped to objectives and measurables. Statistical overviews and key performance indicators for measuring citizens’ concerns miss the point of community forums. And with no review of the 2016 5-year strategic plan, all we have is words and minimal action. With a cursory glance at the goals and objectives, one has a sense of déjà vu on the content discussed.
October Meetup
2022-10-14 00:00:00 +0000
Strong Towns St. Charles October Meetup
Join up for the inagual Strong Town St. Charles Local conversation. This will be an inperson meetup at Fox Build on Saturday, October 22nd, 2022 at 5 pm. Fox Build is located across from the St. Charles Municipal Center on Main Street (IL-64) between The Graceful Ordinary and Smitty’s On the Corner. The meetup will be an introduction to fellow citizens intersted in Strong Town principles. No formal agenda.
- Strong Towns St. Charles October Meetup
- Saturday October 22nd, 2022, 5:00 pm – 6:00 pm
- Fox Build, 11 E Main Street, St. Charles, IL 60174