Good afternoon, everyone. Please see below for this week’s update.
Key Meetings
-On Monday, I had separate meetings with council member Brown and council member Stanley to talk about the assistant city manager position, budget, etc.
-On Tuesday, I met with Dr. Ridder, Dr. Marble, and Rob O’Brian to gain their perspectives on where our community sits today, the current and upcoming challenges our organizations may face, as well as the opportunities we can focus on to grow our community together and with the help of others. It was a fruitful conversation, and we will be looking to have more of them in the future with the idea of bringing the chief appointed and elected officials of each organization together to discuss issues. As that idea develops, I will keep you posted, but it’s a model that Dr. Ridder has seen be successful in other communities where he has served, and I’ve always been an advocate of getting more people together to talk about community issues and projects for the benefit of our city.
-On Wednesday, I attended the monthly Downtown Joplin board meeting in the place of Brian Kelly, who previously served as the staff liaison to that board, but is on temporary reassignment to HR to work on a few projects.
-Later afternoon the Sales Tax Task Force met to review/finalize the informational materials pertaining to the upcoming ballot issue in August, asking voters whether or not to continue the collection of sales tax on titled equipment.
-On Thursday, I met with Councilman Stinnett to talk about the ACM position, budget, etc.
-Earlier today, staff from public works, parks, and planning met with representatives from Downtown Joplin to talk about ways to incorporate more place-making ideas into our future projects. It was a great conversation that only further demonstrated that we all want our city to be the best it can be, while allowing room for different opinions on what that looks like and how to make progress. There are some potential opportunities, if construction bids come in favorably, to incorporate some ideas into the plans for 20th and Main Streets, but also in other areas of town as plans get developed and projects move forward. I believe there are also opportunities to partner with other organizations and private businesses to advance the cause, so that “the city” isn’t always the one to shoulder the burden of meeting everyone’s expectations, and solely at taxpayer expense.
Miscellaneous
-Earlier this week I had a conversation with our finance director on ways to get the council more involved in the budget process this year. One idea Leslie came up with, is to fill the gap between when we provide a copy of the proposed budget to you in August, and when we have the final budget work sessions in September, by having a few mini-sessions to provide information, answer questions, etc. If that is something you are interested in, please let me know and I can look at proposed dates. Likewise, if you have other suggestions, we are willing to explore them too.
-Attached to this week’s update is the most recent report provided by public works.
In the Pipeline
-At our next regular meeting, you can expect an ordinance establishing the position of Firefighter Trainee that I referenced in a previous update.
-You can also expect an ordinance updating the fees for Memorial Hall.
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