Marysville City officials are planning a second, day-long strategic planning session to address the future priorities of the city.
Last weekend, city leaders met to discuss the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats (SWOT) facing each city department.
At Monday night’s council work session, Human Resources Manager Brian Dostanko said he wanted to “continue to urge council” to review those assessments.
He also told members to “reach out to one another.”
“Whether you like to say it or not, you are team building,” Dostanko told the members.
City Manager Terry Emery said council will use the SWOT exercise as a “building block” to review the city’s list of priorities. The list of nine priorities was created in 2016 and reviewed in 2018. The list includes: community safety; economic development; finances; traffic, road and pedestrian infrastructure; enterprise fund management; parks and recreation; community appearance; quality customer service; and communication and branding.
“That is kind of the order of priority, even though they are all high priority items,” Emery said.
He explained that council members need to review the list and its order.
“Are these still the priorities we have? Is this still accurate? Are they the priorities we have? Or, do we have to adjust these priorities based on new information?” Emery asked.
He added, “Not only do we have to ask, ‘Are our priorities accurate?’ We have to ask, ‘Is the order still accurate?’”
He said that some of the city priorities may change based on the SWOT, some things the city has already accomplished, the changing region, the new council members, new opportunities and a variety of other things.
“I think at the next meeting will be to discuss whether our priorities are still accurate from when we did it in 2016,” Emery said.
Dostanko said there are goals within the priorities. He asked council members to look at those goals.
“If there is a goal that is missing to a priority, say it,” Dostanko said.
He said that as council members consider the assessments and the city priorities, they need to continue to talk.
“Share your thoughts and thinking on this,” he said.
He encouraged members to review the written thoughts and priorities of other members and if someone has different priorities, to discuss the differences.
Dostanko urged patience with the process.
“Building off this plan to create a better plan is a lot easier than creating a new plan,” he told council.
Mayor and Council President Henk Berbee asked council to continue to work on the strategic plan.
“Anything that makes us more successful on this is going to make our organization more successful,” Berbee said.
He said the list of priorities “demands council’s attention.”
The next meeting is scheduled for 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., April 4, in council chambers.
“It’s really a good process,” Emery said. “I think there will be some adjustments after that meeting, not major, but I think there will be some adjustments.”
He said the question that ultimately needs answered is, “How do we adjust that to meet what we are seeing today and what we are seeing in the next five years?”