Agendas and Minutes

City Council (View All)

Study Session

Agenda
Monday, May 18, 2009

MINUTES FOR CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION
Monday, May 18, 2009
Siskiyou Room, 51 Winburn Way

Mayor Stromberg called the meeting to order at 5:33 p.m.

Councilor Jackson, Navickas, Voisin, Silbiger and Lemhouse were present. Councilor Chapman was absent.

1. Look Ahead Review
City Administrator Martha Bennett answered questions on the Council Look Ahead.

2. Does the City Council want to schedule the 2009 City Council Goals for adoption? Does the Council want to refine the next steps for discussing the provisional Vision and Values Statements developed at the Council Goal Setting Retreat?
City Administrator Martha Bennett provided an overview of the Vision and Values Statements and the Goals. She recommended the Council submit their changes post meeting and launch a public outreach project on the proposed Values and Vision statements the night they adopt the goals.

Proposed Values Statement

  • Good Government
  • Natural Environment
  • Responsible Land Use
  • Free Expression
  • Diversity
  • Economy

Ms. Bennett defined creating community wealth as an economy that draws from its own assets.

  • Independence
  • Education
  • Personal Well Being
  • Sense of Community

Adding "…value a sense of family…" to the proposed statement was suggested.

Proposed Vision Statement
Ms. Bennett explained public outreach could entail the Council meeting with their Commissions, inviting others to use the survey tool on the website or the Mayor's blog to test the Values and Vision statements. The Values Statement would orient the City and employees to the organization whereas the Vision statement would be a working document to guide major efforts prior to launching them.

Proposed Goal Statements

Economy Goals

  • Develop and implement a comprehensive economic development strategy for the purpose of:
         *     Diversifying the economic base of the community.
         *     Supporting creation and growth of businesses that use and provide local    and regional products.
         *     Increasing the number of family-wage jobs in the community.
  • Address key land use and development issues that effect Ashland's employment and commercial businesses:
         *    Complete Croman Mill Master Plan and develop an implementing strategy for funding and infrastructure for Croman.
         *     Amend land use and building codes and processes to increase the clarity,  responsiveness and certainty of the development process.
         *     Address critical planning issues other key commercial areas of Ashland, including the Railroad Property/District, Ashland Street and Downtown.

Ms. Bennett and the Council discussed the possibility of adopting three Economy Goals:

  • Develop and implement a comprehensive Economic Development Strategy.
  • Complete the Croman Mill Master Plan and Implementation Strategy.
  • Amend land use and building codes and drop critical planning areas.

The Council further discussed changes to the land use code, there was concern that streamlining the process might be catering to developer's issues. Ms. Bennett noted issues with the pre-application review process and that it should have rules that contain clarity, responsiveness and certainty.

Environment Goals

  • Develop an integrated land use and transportation plan to increase the viability of transit, bicycles, walking and other alternative modes of transportation; reduce per capita automobile vehicle miles traveled; provide safe walking and bicycling routes to home, work, shopping and schools; implement environmentally responsible design standards and minimize new automobile-related infrastructure.
  • Adopt an integrated Water Master Plan that addresses long-term water supply including climate change issues, system security and redundancy, watershed healthy, conservation and reuse and stream health.
  • Implement specific capital projects and operational programs to ensure that City facilities and operations are a model of efficient use of water, energy, land and other key resources.
  • Adopt land use codes, building codes, and fee structures that creates strong incentives for new development that is energy, water and land efficient and supports a multi-modal transportation system.
  • Develop a strategy to use conservation and local renewable sources to meet Tier 2 power demands by 2014.

Social Equity

  • Complete the development of affordable housing on the Clay Street property.
  • Conduct a comprehensive study of Ashland's homeless.

Organization

  • Develop plan for fiscal stability, manage costs, prioritize services and insure key revenue streams for the City and Parks & Recreation.
  • Address issues on the stability of the organization including employee recruitment and retention; succession planning; and effective and increased use of citizen volunteers.

Public Facilities

  • Develop a plan to replace Fire Station #2.

Staff scaled back the project to replace the Fire Station. It will be slightly bigger and will not encroach on neighboring property. Staff will also bring three alternatives to the Council for adoption to be eligible to receive stimulus money.

  • Develop and implement a strategy to support the financial viability of the Ashland Fiber Network.

Partnerships

  • Foster strong collaboration of the local community, Cit, State and Federal leaders in efforts to improve the health of the Ashland watershed through reducing fire hazards and restoring forest health.
  • Restore rail service to and through Ashland.

The Council will forward comments and edits to Ms. Bennett by June 10, 2009 for the June 16, 2009 meeting.

Meeting was adjourned at 7:54 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,
Dana Smith
Assistant to the City Recorder

 

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