For citizens that may wonder what these strategic planning meetings are about, I will give a short summary of what I experienced as a Council-member. First off, the meeting is held in a small meeting room and included the mayor, 6 council members, the Town Manager, Department heads from: Zoning, Public Works, Grants, HR, Police Chief, Accounting, Economic Development, Parks and Recreation, Town Clerk, our new social media contractor and a couple facilitators from the Berkeley Group.
These meetings are intended to discuss current and future projects/ policies and to give the town Manager and Staff some sort of direction for the new year. The meeting was very long 9am to 4:30pm so many things were discussed and the facilitator hopefully captured most of what was discussed.
The meeting was voice recorded but no video or Zoom.
Below are some of my takeaways but is not by any means all-inclusive and no official votes taken:
Infrastructure
· Sidewalk Survey is needed before we can take any action on repairing (right of way issues etc.)
· Central Drainage Area will hopefully get an acceptable bid so work can begin.
· Dwight Ave Extension
· Space need assessment for all town departments in (new Town Center)
· North Beach Restoration still in scoping phase but we are hopeful the project will be approved.
· I asked that we have full visibility and plans for the $10M federal and State ARPA money (we were advised the money should be spent sooner than later)
· Equipment storage need for PW and PD.
· Town Pier and future plans were discussed.
Livability
· Signage (in progress)
· Community Heart and Soul (Council is being asked to endorse yet another Non-Profit so if anyone has concerns, please let Council know)
· Parks and Recreation Master Plan - The study costing $30k was originally presented to Council to have an independent company develop a plan for our parks and the maintenance there of. (We vote for a Parks Master Plan but I was told we really voted for “recreation” to be added to the study scope also). The RFP Request for Proposals seemed clear to me but no one else was concerned about the change. Citizens have told me the combined survey confused them.
Settlement and Grant Money
· Eleanor Park money has been received $387k. Self-Sullivan suggested we spend some of the money on a site plan so the 12 benches her Green Space nonprofit has purchased can be placed around the park. I’m hoping more than special interests will have a say on what happens in that park.
· Westmoreland Sewer treatment plant settlement was $788k and all but litigation costs have to go into the sewer fund. Council will discuss more later.
Economic Development
We discussed ongoing activities such as engagement with local businesses and finding ways to bring in new businesses.
· Lennar Property The Mayor suggested this might be a good time to engage discussions with Lennar property owners again.
· Tourism and healthcare were discussed.
Public Safety
· Turnover for PD continues to be an issue.
· Accreditation - PD continues to pursue accreditation and future needs were discussed i.e., additional resources.
· 911 dispatch agreement was discussed and the high cost of $467k last year and it continues to climb. We discussed if there were any alternatives.
· Rescue is still working towards moving to 700 Colonial Ave.
· Fire - I asked if there were needs we should discuss and was told no.
Town Manager Report
She went over the large list Council asked her to work on last year and below are some highlights.
· citizen questions are being answered (I would like to see public questions answered in public)
· File storage addressed
· Blight on Colonial Ave, more work to be done
· Main Street designation in progress and next phase will take 2 years.
· Short Term rentals (business license now required). I’m hoping much more to come on this issue.
· New Financial Management policies.
· Improved business license process
· New Parking enforcement officer
· Parking plan complete. I believe she meant a study was completed.
· Utility study completed
· Several infrastructure projects under way
Budget and Finance
a very knowledgeable instructor gave a presentation on the economy and the impacts on local government.
· we are currently in a cooling economy
· Very competitive labor market
· The instructor suggested we consider long term financial planning 3-5 yrs. and always estimate revenues low and expenses high.
· Asset management is important. I asked if we had a system to manage/ maintain our equipment/ assets and was told we are currently using various methods but no system. We agreed this might be worth looking into.
Budget Process
I asked for clarification on Councils role in the process and was told the Town Manager is responsible to propose a budget and council should do the following
· Approve any new positions
· Approve any new initiatives
· Ask questions regarding needs but should not get too deep in the weeds (they can if they want too though)
· Hold meeting to discuss perhaps by divisions vs each department.
· In the beginning Council members can meet a couple at a time to discuss budget but much of the process should be discussed in public.
Taxes and Revenues
The topic of taxes came up and all council members seemed to agree they did not want to raise taxes again this year. I did bring up the fact that we could do a better job of collecting the taxes and fees that are already owed to the town. I believe we only collect about 70% of some taxes for example. Also, I do not think we do a very good job of collecting the lodging taxes for short term rentals. We also have one of the lowest tap fees in the area and actually lose money. The town manager asked if we were willing to considering raising the boat tax, and that seemed to be a no go for a majority of Council.
Priorities on my list were:
· short term rentals - some discussion but no major progress.
· Budget - discussed at length.
· Infrastructure - lengthy discussion. I did mention tracking ARPA funds and we were told these funds should be spent sooner than later.
· Zoning and Planning - the new zoning administrator just started so we’ll give him some time to address public concerns.
· Budget controls and accountability - We discussed but much of council seems happy with the current situation (I know Moncure and I would like Audit findings round controls and separation of duties addressed).
· North Beach erosion project is promising since we are in scoping phase.
· Parking 🅿️- I mentioned how I am very concerned about losing the Wilder parking lot and that I do not think the old Rescue Squad location is a good option. When I said a 2-block walk was not a good solution, I was told it was only a block (check maps and tell me how it’s only a one block walk). The mayor mentioned that there may be options not to sell the entire Wilder lot and that Dodson has a little under 2 years to close on phase 4. We should have the Wilder lot for at least one more season.
I’m sure there are items I missed and please keep in mind this was based on memory and notes from an 8-hour meeting. I participated in a strategic planning meeting via Zoom 2 years ago as a citizen so I’m disappointed it was not at lease available on line.
I would like to thank town staff for all their hard work over the past year and all citizens that have stayed engaged.
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