Starting in January, the City of Newton began work on its 2015-2017 Strategic Plan. A community survey was conducted in January and February and work has continued with the update of the Comprehensive Plan.
City Administrator Bob Knabel gave a presentation and discussion of the Strategic Plan, focusing on the city’s action plan at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
“It serves as a guide for our progress, where we are going and a work plan for staff. It helps us to gage where we are, especially for the residents who might not have a good understanding of what the direction of the city is,” Knabel said. The Strategic Plan is made up of a series of documents that include the Comprehensive Plan, City Action Plan, Community Investment Plan and Annual Budget.
The Comprehensive Plan, which was adopted in 2012, is in its two-year revisit. The Planning and Zoning Commission is looking at the plan now and will update it with feedback from two community meetings and an online survey. To date, the city is working on 28 items from the Comprehensive Plan, has completed two and will be adding 17 new items.
The mission statement, vision statement, goals, objective and action items are a part of the City Action Plan. The council was satisfied with all the parts of the City Action Plan with the exception of the vision statement.
Currently, the statement reads “Newton Shines Brightly: Newton is a progressive, family friend community, a shining start of Central Iowa and a place to call home.”
Council member Steve Mullan suggested instead of shining star, it could read rising star or becoming the shining star.
“In other words, we’re moving up. We may not be a shining start yet, but we are moving up,” Mullan said.
Mayor Michael Hansen commended the work that has been done.
“It’s great to have data that we can look at,” Hansen said.
Knabel said that they would like to continue to become more data driven in the future and use it in their decision making.
A Strategic Plan meeting is set for the end of September to discuss the goals and objectives the council has already set. Any updates or changes will be discussed after reviewing the Community Survey and the Comprehensive Plan.
Contact Staff Writer Jamee A. Pierson at (641) 792-3121 ext. 6534 or jpierson@newtondailynews.com.