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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2. Goal Setting Session CITY OF SHAKOPEE Memorandum TO: Mayor and City Council FROM: Mark McNeill, City Administrator SUBJECT: January 26th Goal Setting Session DATE: January 26, 2010 Comment: Introduction: The City Council and Department Heads will be meeting to discuss Goals and Objectives on Tuesday, January 26th at 7:00pm. The meeting will be held at the Police Training Room. It will be taped for later broadcast. Background: At the meeting the Council and staff will consider where and what the City of Shakopee has been, where and what it is now, and what the Council wants the City to look like in the future. While the main outcome of the meeting is expected to be to establish two year goals and objectives, we will also look for discussion on the City's long term goal and vision statement, below: . Long Term (25 years-plus) Goals that support the Strategic Vision. These goals are cited as the rationale for the actions that are brought for City Council consideration. Currently, those are: A. Active and Healthy Community B. High Quality of Life C. Great Place for Kids to Grow Up D. Vibrant, resilient, and stable E. Financially Strong . City's Vision Statement. The current statement is: Twenty years from now Shakopee will be known and valued as a unique city ... Where a vital and historic downtown anchors an active riverfront district; and where the Minnesota River serves as a beacon for residents and tourists; ... Where we support high quality, life-long educational opportunities; where employees receive living wages; and where both local businesses and corporate headquarters are welcomed and well-supported; Both the long term goals, and the Vision Statement are products of the eighteen-month long Strategic Visioning Initiative that was adopted in 2005. It is expected that this discussion, and any consensus of the Council it produces, will help to serve as the basis for the discussion of two year goals. Preparation Needed: The Council is asked to prepare for this meeting by doing the following: 1. Complete the sheet with the following sentence: "When I think of Shakopee I think of " 2. Using the colored paper provided, please complete the following: . On the white pieces of paper, write three things that the City of Shako pee currently does "well" (write one comment per piece ofpaper). . On the blue pieces of paper. write three things that Shakopee needs to work on during the next two years. These will form the discussion topics from which we will attempt to reach consensus to establish the 2010-2011 Goals and Objectives. . On the yellow pieces of paper, write down the major three things that the City needs to work towards over the next 20+ years. These will be worked to form the long term strategic goals. As you complete these, be thinking about whether your comments are intended to be for the City government organization, or whether they are overall goals for the community of Shakopee? Finally, Mayor Schmitt received the attached letter from a Shakopee resident with concerns and ideas. He has asked that this be distributed for your consideration at the meeting. Action Required: So as to make the best use of the time available at the workshop, the Councilors are asked to complete the items above in advance, and bring them to the meeting. Following discussion, and assuming a consensus is reached vision, long-term and two year goals, staffwill place those ideas into final form, and bring the items back to a future City Council meeting for formal adoption. rvJ) ~c~~ Mark McNeill MM:cn City Administrator ,.-- Subject: FW: One Shakopee Resident's Thoughts on the Current Direction of the Town and Hopes for the Future Attachments: The local elections.doc ,.",.,.""""~~,_."",,,~,,,,,,,,.m".""''''''''''''_'''"''''''''"'''''''''''''''''''''''''=''''~'''''''''~''",,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,~=.,,..,,~=,.,,.,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,_=,,_,,,,_,',...""m";",,,,,=~="'"''''"".=<",U"""""""'''''''''~''''''''''''''''''''"=<:"u"..,.""",.",,,,,,,,,,",,:,,,."",,,:,,,,,,,,,,,,,:,,,,,,,,,,.,.,,,,,~,,>,,,.:~,.,,.. Sent: Wednesday, November 04,20098:48 AM To: John Schmitt Subject: One Shakopee Resident's Thoughts on the Current Direction of the Town and Hopes for the Future I would respectfully request that you read my attached coinments in their entirety at least once as a favor to a Shakopee resident. I know you may just thorw them away after that which is your right, but I I wanted to send them so that you can get a ,glimpse into an ever growning problem in Shakopee that will only get worse over time--the widening split between the residents who have lived in Shakopee for over 15 years and those that have moved here since that time. At the heart of that problem is the debate between wanting to keep Shakopee as the "old home town" that the more veteran citizens want to see protected versus those that would like to see Shakopee move from a town geared soley to low income, rural minded citizens to a town that also welcomes its newer, more high income citizens. .~~"~""""""""""""""","""""""""(?"",,,,,,,,,<,<o/<,,.,,,.,-,,,_,,,,,,,,,, ~"",-""'''''''''~,"". --=-"""""~""""'~ Please consider the environment before printing this email , q 1/20/2010 , .. . The local elections, including Shakopee's, are done for another year. As always there are high expectations and a lot of hope on behalf of the voters that finally this group of elected officials will turn things around. I was pleased to hear certain local candidates, once of whom was elected to the council, stress the importance of finally breaking down the silos between Shakopee residents who grew up here years ago and want Shakopee to remain the small town that they remember and the people who have moved here in the past 10- 15 years who would love to see Shakopee become a progressive suburb that embraces progress and technology. She stressed the need for the council to finally recognize that these newer residents should have as much, not more, input into the future direction that Shakopee takes. As someone who lives in an area where people joke about breaking away from Shakopee and forming a new town that would remember the people that live south of 169, where people worry about whether fire or police coverage even would be there if we needed it, and as someone who lives by a new park that the locals have named "Park Ugly", (since it has a port-a-pot in place ofrestrooms, areas of "prairie plantings "that we refer to as "weeds", no watering for the new trees that just about died last summer, and no sod but instead mown weeds with no apparent weed control attempts), I support this idea. One area I personally also have hope for is the area of retail shopping. Although we have the basics when it comes to shopping, (including a good basic grocery store, the major chain home stores and a Target store), we have almost nothing in terms of gift stores, nice clothing stores, more upscale movie theaters, upper end grocery stores, 4 start hotels, high end book stores, Minnesota made product stores or upscale restaurants or a nice shopping mall on the order of Burnsville Center or Ridgedale). We have wonderful access to multiple tourist attractions, many of which are right here in town, but there is little to keep tourists in town when they leave Valley Fair or The Landing. Once I heard the city council discussing how they couldn't understand why after concerts in Huber Park people weren't flocking to the downtown. I had to laugh as I thought about the insurance store, tobacco store, florist shop, karate studios, etc, that the down town has to offer people. Not much to draw people there in terms of shopping since it's so service-oriented. There also seems to be little attention paid to zoning. When I have had visiting friends ask where the "good shopping" is or when I was asked by a stranger as she left Valley fair where the "good" restaurants were I had to send them out of town. I now come to my final wish for all Shakopee business people-that they realize the value of curb appeal in drawing people to our town and in their doors. Most of the businesses along Marschall road seem to realize this, but there are several along 101 who should be ashamed of the way they look. Has no one ever heard of spraying a product like Round-Up for getting rid of weeds on sidewalks and drives? Also, when the council does make purchases on behalf of the town they need to consider the value of curb appeal before always going for the cheapest purchase. For example we have a beautiful entry into town from the north over the 101 bridge, but every street light on the bridge is rusted out and has rust that has run down the concrete onto the bridge. Patchwork jobs on the streets are fine when there are pot holes and cracks here and there, but when the street is so laced with patch jobs that a city council member sees a picture taken for a town brochure and comments on being unhappy that the photographers caught the actual 101 street, maybe it's time to consider a more major repair. Overall I can tell you that, realistically, many new residents moved here over the past 15 years mainly because housing was more affordable here than in the suburbs closer in to Minneapolis. Then as more and more newer housing developments came to town the attractiveness of the residential areas started attracting new residents as well. The parks, tourist attractions, walking trails, family style restaurants, fast food places, home stores and discount stores are all here and are necessary and welcomed, but the town still has a reputation among the newer residents not of a "quaint "small town like Northfield, but instead as sort of a B grade town, where if you want to go somewhere nice to eat or shop, you better go elsewhere. It is not uncommon for these newer residents to have a household income of $1 00-$150, 000 or more. We certainly need businesses that cater to our lower income neighbors (which are already here), but what seems to be missing the most are any businesses that are geared to the influx of new residents with higher incomes who can and will go elsewhere to spend their salaries. Also, when you look at other tourist towns, (which Shakopee could easily become with its easy access to so many tourist attractions), they do a much better job of capturing the tourists coming there, giving them so many offerings that they stay and spend their dollars in that town. Why can't the vision for Shakopee's future include addressing both of these facts?