City Council says OK to visioning process

In a forum held May 8, Columbians overwhelmingly said they want to embark on “visioning,” or long-term community-driven planning. The City Council concurred Monday, giving its formal thumbs-up to the process and beginning a search for visioning consultants.

The approval came after a public hearing — one that featured no public comment.

“I wouldn’t have believed that no one would get up to speak,” said John Clark, former mayoral candidate. “I was writing down what I was going to say and the gavel fell before I could get out of my chair.”

In an interview after the hearing, Clark said he was encouraged about the process but fears that it might be too City Council-driven.

“To put a one-year timeline on this — who knows how long it will take?” Clark said. “That’s just idiocy. You don’t do citizen participation that way.”

That timeline, along with a general timeline of the other visioning tasks, was tentatively submitted to the council Monday by Assistant City Manager Paula Hertwig Hopkins. According to the timeline, the actual visioning should begin in September and a final plan could be presented to the council by next July.

Hertwig Hopkins said the city will hire consultants to help with two aspects of visioning: the actual logistics of the process and the development of baseline information for the city. She said that the search will be “a whole new process,” and that anyone could apply, including ACP Visioning and Planning, which facilitated the city’s initial visioning forum.

The city might hire two separate consultants or only one to help out, she said. The consultants would be chosen by Aug. 11.

Calling the council a “900-pound gorilla throwing its weight around,” Clark said putting a deadline on the process makes people feel as if the city is visioning simply to “get something the council can approve” and not actually listen to citizen input.

“You should set the (meetings) up and design it in such a way where people don’t want to leave,” Clark said. “It’s not an easy thing to do.”

Hertwig Hopkins also said a “vision public outreach program” will be given the tasks of preparing press releases, coming up with a slogan for the process and developing other marketing materials. She said the group should complete its work toward the middle of August.

A vision fair is scheduled for Oct. 9. Hertwig Hopkins said she couldn’t provide many specifics about the fair, but it would mainly be used to recruit volunteers.

“It’ll be some sort of event where we look for the volunteers,” she said. “People can come, learn about the process and sign up.”

A number of neighborhood rallies are also scheduled for that week, but Hertwig Hopkins said she didn’t know yet how many rallies there will be or where they’ll be held.

Vision topic groups — where much of the vision will come from — could begin by mid-October. Hertwig Hopkins said the city picked that time because that’s when most families are setting their calendar for the next year and because doing it later would overlap with the holiday season.

In other business Monday night the council approved bills and resolutions:

• Endorsing the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement. The agreement closely mirrors the environmental standards set by the Kyoto protocols, including restrictions on greenhouse gas emissions.
• Establishing a program to replace inefficient air conditioning units for low-income senior citizens, the disabled and families with children through an agreement with Central Missouri Community Action. The total cost for the program, however, is not to exceed $12,900.
• Submitting an application to the state for funds through the newly created Downtown Revitalization Economic Assistance for Missouri program. The resolutions also approved an allocation of $175,000 for the city to pursue downtown revitalization projects.
• Allocating $4 million for improvements at 12 intersections throughout the city to improve pedestrian access. The money comes from a $25 million federal grant the city received last year as part of an initiative to improve nonmotorized and pedestrian transportation throughout Columbia.