City council is setting goals, economic and communication

Pacifica Tribune/Jane Northrop, 7/24/12.  "City Council sets goals - economic development and community relations the priorities."

"City Council met last Sunday (7/22) in a facilitated day-long study session -- first to check in with department heads to hear their concerns and goals for the next year and then to set its own goals. In the end, they overwhelmingly supported focusing their efforts into two main priorities -- promoting economic development and reaching out to improve community relations. 

Kind of late, hope you can to fix it

"Before, we had no stated direction. It was impossible to know if we were progressing. It was frustrating. It was also hard for staff. I'm glad this was a success. We came to the conclusion that economic development and community relations were our top priorities. It was extremely productive," Stone* said.  

....  The goals worksheet, being drafted right now, is considered a "working" document with opportunities for revision as necessary. The elements will be evaluated with their costs attached at a later City Council meeting. It will be completely reviewed again in one year."  Read Article, includes department goals.

Note:   * The Sunday, July 22 city council setting goals workshop occurred as a result of  Mayor Pro Tem Len Stone asking. Most city councils do set goals, as do most businesses and many individuals. Goal setting is a way of working toward understood, beneficial results and outcomes in the future.  

Related -  What is local economic development? 

• The World Bank organization, Local Economic development (LED) "encompasses a range of disciplines including physical planning, economics and marketing.  It also incorporates many local government and private sector functions including environmental planning, business development, infrastructure provision, real estate development and finance."  

•  The Useful Community Development organization, "To be precise, the definition of economic development should be a net gain of money flow, called an "economic base", into the community."

•  The SAGE knowledge library/Cleveland State University/Enterprise and Economic Development: "Economic development is about...jobs, income, and community prosperity—is a continuing challenge to modern society. To meet this challenge, economic developers must use imagination and common sense, coupled with the tools of public and private finance, politics, planning, micro- and macroeconomics, engineering, and real estate, (source of quote: Economic development Quarterly)."

Posted by Kathy Meeh