Administrator Seeks Strategic Plan Input

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Created on Friday, 22 December 2023 15:08

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By SHANNON HAUGLAND

Sentinel Staff Writer

“Tell us if we’re on the right path, and if we’re not on the right path redirect us ...,” City Administrator John Leach told the some dozen Sitkans attending a town hall meeting on the Sitka Strategic Plan update on Tuesday.

The meeting was to review progress on the plan since it was adopted by the Assembly in September 2022. Those present were invited to comment by Jan. 5 on three questions on butcher block paper mounted on the wall, and in a survey on the city’s website.

John Leach. (Sentinel Photo)

The 15 people attending the event were a combination of city staff members, local media, the general public and two Assembly members, Chris Ystad and JJ Carlson.

City public and government relations director Melissa Henshaw said Thursday she’s hoping to elicit a strong response to the Strategic Plan Update Survey, posted Current News at cityofsitka.com. The first public survey and outreach that led to the creation of the strategic plan program drew some 700 responses.

“The strategic plan update survey will help guide staff with continuing to shape our community’s future,” Henshaw said. “We hope Sitkans will share any noticed improvements and where to focus, and what our priorities should include in the second year of this five-year roadmap.”

The city has posted three questions for this year’s update:

– Have you noticed any community improvements over the past year? If so, what are they and how have they made Sitka better?

– What challenges or opportunities should CBS (City and Borough of Sitka) focus on in the coming year? 

Do you have any other questions or concerns for CBS to consider? 

– What are your top three priorities for Sitka in the coming year?

A handful of people at the meeting wrote their answers on the butcher paper.

Most of the session was a PowerPoint presentation by the city administrator on progress on goals and actions under the strategic plan. It states that the mission of the city is to “provide public services that support a livable community for all.”

The creation of the strategic plan last year drew on comments from surveys, focus groups, city boards and commissions, community organizations and interviews with groups of community leaders.

The vision statement says “The City and Borough of Sitka is an organization that values everyone and proactively works together to serve the community. We are fiscally sustainable, supporting a diverse economy and well-managed infrastructure. We are innovative in seeking ways to protect and preserve Sitka’s natural environment. We are a respected employer where people enjoy their work and provide valued public services.”

In his presentation Tuesday Leach said, “The strategic plan gives staff defined goals and direction: real action items that we can work on. It drives visions and aligns the organization’s mission and values which brings our vast departments into one direction.”

The listed goals are:

Quality of life: preserve the quality of life and affordability for all Sitkans.

Communication: improve communications and strengthen relationships within the community and organization.

Sustainable: align resources and financial and economic policies with CBS’ goals for a sustainable community.

Infrastructure: plan and invest in sustainable infrastructure for future generations; and

Service: CBS is recognized as being a great place to work and excellent service provider to the community.

Leach said the city is at a point where feedback is needed. “After this we’ll reach out to boards and commissions,” and hold a workshop with the Assembly, he said.. The updated plan will be presented for adoption by the Assembly in February, at the start of the annual budget process.

“When we find out what the community wants, and how that gets incorporated into the Assembly’s adoption of that plan, we as staff take that into our budget planning,” he said.

Staff members making budget requests need to say how it fits into a goal and action item under the strategic plan.

Leach reviewed the various projects under each of the goals and actions, including initiatives and capital projects.

The “Quality of Life” projects included support for nonprofits on childcare group and food security, the city housing study that will start in 2024 and the city tourism task force.

“We started some community engagement about the Lincoln Street around the Lincoln street closures,” he said. “If you haven’t had survey fatigue yet, you’ll probably hear more about Lincoln street closures and whether or not we want to keep doing them and at what level.”

In the communications goal, the actions relate to increasing engagements, improving relationships with underrepresented groups and working more closely with nonprofits.

“Quite often do we hear that we didn’t get the message out well enough,” he said. “We really need to learn what the correct way to get information out there.”

The goal of “sustainable” relates to aligning resources and economic policies with the city and borough’s goals for a sustainable community. He highlighted the “Open Finance” tool on the city website.

“You can pick the department, you can pick the year, and as long as we have the information it’ll tell you what was the budget, what they have spent ... you can build your own charts out of it.” Another tool is “Balancing Act,” which allows citizens to adjust the budget as an exercise, to weigh the pros and cons of spending decisions.

“There’s a ‘submit’ button and it sends your recommended budget, it sends it to us and the Assembly to look at for review,” Leach said. A “taxpayer’s receipt” feature allows citizens to see how the estimated taxes they pay are divided among city expenses.

The most extensive section was “Infrastructure,” which is planning and investing in sustainable infrastructure for future generations. He highlighted recent work on the boat haulout at Gary Paxton Industrial Park. 

“A haulout operation has never penciled out financially but it’s a service investment that the community wants,” Leach said. “We still have to find a way to make it healthy and keep it alive, and keep that service available.” The last haulout available to the general public in Sitka closed two years ago.

In comments related to infrastructure, Leach talked about a new community process for public input on spending income from the Commercial Passenger Vessel tax. The city has done a study for a cost allocation on expenses to the city related to cruise ship tourism, and the projects eligible for funding with the passenger tax income.

“But there could be a surplus left there,” Leach said. The Assembly can ask each year for public proposals on spending CPV funds, within the allowed use of the funds under law.

Leach reported the city has qualified for an incentive program to take advantage of clean energy initiatives under the Department of Energy, for up to $2 million.

“As those come in we’ll be able to kind of flatten out the rate increases to maybe stay below that level of inflation while still addressing our capital needs there,” he said.

He listed other grants the city is applying for and has received, including a $1 million grant from the Denali Commission for a Travelift for the haulout, a Safe Streets technical assistance grant, a high-load dock project at Crescent Harbor, and rehabilitation of Green Lake hydro plant. 

He listed a few other projects, and said, “The big news is the public works department has nearly a fully staffed engineering division to help manage the many capital projects under way right now.” Among projects under way are planning for the airport terminal expansion, Marine Service Center seawall, Sea Walk Phase II, and the new seaplane base.

In the Service goal, Leach talked about upgrades to the early voting system, so results from early voting are available on election day, and new snow and ice removal policy, with a list of prioritized places, such as routes to schools and work.

On the goal of improving CBS as a “great place to work,” Leach said the city has initiated a program to improve safety in the workplace, provide incentives to employees to help recruit for hard-to-fill positions, and a new portal where employees can share news and information, among other projects.

Residents can fill out the survey online or on paper, with copies available at the Sitka Public Library. Those with questions about the survey can call Henshaw at 907-747-1824.

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