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 The cost of the plan will be $5,000. The funding for this project
will come from a windfall refund from Illinois American Water that
the city received earlier this year.
When this topic came up several months ago, city administrator
Sue McLaughlin encouraged the council to consider hiring an outside
source and having a planning retreat.
McLaughlin introduced the topic in June, saying that the subject
had come to the forefront based on a few things. "There had been
quite a bit of discussion, whether it was at budget time or with
sewer billing or other occasions, about the future operation of city
departments," she said.
She said this had led to discussions between herself and Mayor
Keith Snyder about the city having a strategic plan that would set
goals for the future.
McLaughlin said then that a strategic plan would help the city
identify issues, set goals and actions for staff, and give the
aldermen an idea of the direction of the community and where they
want it to go. She added that as aldermen this would be one of the
best things they could do: to talk about setting policy for staff
and following the actions of the policy.
She said the actual work session for the aldermen would be
probably a day and a half. She suggested it could begin on a Friday
afternoon and evening and go into an all-day event on Saturday.
The final product would include developing a community vision
with core values; outline specific measurable goals and a clear
timeline and action plan, with a clear way of communicating those
goals and outcomes; identify a plan for implementation and
follow-up; provide city departments and elected officials with a
hard copy; and also create a digital version to be shared with the
community.
She qualified the term "retreat," saying it didn't have to be
something expensive. The meetings could be in town and at an
inexpensive location such as the park district. The idea, though,
was to get the council out of the formal setting of the council
chambers and into a more relaxed environment where they could
interact.
At that time, one of the primary objections to the idea came from
Bruce Carmitchel, who was not opposed so much to the planning as the
cost. He wondered why the city couldn't do this on its own under the
leadership of the city administrator.
McLaughlin said then that one of the worst things the city could
do was to have her lead the planning. She explained that it would
not be good to have the administrator who is supposed to enforce the
plan be the one to write it.
The topic came up again in October, when McLaughlin told the
council she had received quotes from three firms who would come to
Lincoln, conduct the retreat and write the plan. At that time she
recommended Northern Illinois University.
During discussion, Carmitchel asked why a second firm on the
quote list, a less expensive firm, was not being recommended.
McLaughlin said she didn't have her notes in front of her, but she
seemed to recall there was a difference in the way the firm quoted
travel expense, and in the long run, they were not the least
expensive.
After that discussion, the item was to be placed on the next
voting session agenda. However, that didn't happen.
At last Tuesday night's committee of the whole meeting,
McLaughlin explained why it had been removed. She said she had
offered an incorrect explanation of why the other, less expensive
firm was not being recommended. She said that when she went back to
the quotes and her examination of them, the firm in question didn't
seem to be the right fit for the city.
She said first their referrals were old; they hadn't provided
examples of any work done in the last two years. In addition, she
said their proposal called for approximately 700 hours of time
invested by both themselves and the city. She told the council she
felt like it would not be to their benefit to invest that much time
in the project.
She once again said her recommendation was to go with NIU.
[to top of second column] |
Along that same line, Mayor Keith Snyder shared a quiz with the
council that he had taken at the Illinois Municipal League
Conference in Chicago at the end of September. He said that at the
conference, he, Kathy Horn and Jeff Hoinacki had attended a workshop
on strategic planning.
The speaker for the event had asked the attendees to evaluate the
need for a strategic plan for their cities by taking a 10-question
quiz.
Snyder passed out the quiz and asked the council to take it. Each
question was a statement about the city. The council members were to
mark whether or not they agreed with the statements.
If they agreed fully, they were to score the question with one
point. If they weren't certain if they agreed, they were to score
the question with two points, and if they disagreed with the
statement, they were to score it with three points.
Snyder said the tally of the scores would tell them whether or
not they need and are ready to create a strategic plan. The lower
the score on the quiz, the less the plan was needed. The higher the
score, the more it was needed.
The aldermen then took the quiz, answering the following 10
questions.
1. The organization has a clear vision of what it wants to
achieve and there is consensus around this vision.
2. Value issues are often discussed in the organization and
there is agreement on the values base of the organization.
3. The current mission statement of the organization
reflects clearly what the organization does, for whom, and
why it is important.
4. The organization regularly reflects on its strengths and
weaknesses and on the opportunities and threats in the
environment.
5. The organization has clear goals and objectives for what
it wants to achieve, and these goals are Strategic,
Measurable, Agreed upon, Realistic, & Time bound (SMART).
6. The organization finds it easy to prioritize, making a
distinction between what it must do, what it should do, and
what it would like to do.
7. The organization has clear indicators by which it
measures the impact of its work.
8. The way in which the organization is structured
internally makes sense in terms of efficiency and
effectiveness.
9. The work done by the organization fits together
coherently -- the different areas of work fit well with one
another.
10. The external and internal contexts in which the
organization operates are relatively stable, and there have
been no major changes in the past year.
When the aldermen were finished, Snyder asked them to share their
scores. Melody Anderson scored the quiz highest with a 28,
indicating she believes there is a great need for developing a
strategic plan. City treasurer Chuck Conzo scored the test with a
15, indicating he felt a plan was not needed at this time. Others
who shared their scores aloud were David Wilmert with a score of 24,
Kathy Horn with a score of 22 and Jonie Tibbs with a score of 18.
Snyder also took the quiz and scored it at 27.
The request was made to put hiring NIU back on the agenda for the
Monday voting session. Carmitchel requested that it not be included
in the consent agenda, and said he would like to be able to discuss
it and voice his objections prior to the vote.
The item is on the agenda for tonight to be voted upon. However,
the council has the right to table any motion they feel they are not
fully prepared to vote upon.
[By NILA SMITH] |
