Rochelle city officials approved the 2018 Strategic Plan during Monday evening’s council meeting following a short presentation by a team at the NIU Center for Governmental Studies and city manager Jeff Fiegenschuh.
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ROCHELLE — Rochelle city officials approved the 2018 Strategic Plan during Monday evening’s council meeting following a short presentation by a team at the NIU Center for Governmental Studies and city manager Jeff Fiegenschuh.
In the presentation, Dr. Greg Kuhn and Mel Henriksen from NIU explained the process, which began in February that consisted of developing goals and identifying objectives to help implement those goals.
Key strategic priorities were also identified and include: Economic and business development; financial and management stability; community inclusivity and engagement; infrastructure effectiveness and improvement; and core service delivery.
“I’m pleased with the process…everything we do going forward — the next two to five years — when it comes to passing and adopting policies at the city level, they will in some way relate back to these strategic goals that were developed,” Fiegenschuh said. “What I want to emphasize though is that the strategic plan is a fluid document and as staff changes, council changes, and the community’s priorities change, this document might change.”
He explained one of the goals established involve exploring business and development incentives to increase job opportunities that in turn are sustainable while offering a living wage. Other goals identified include: Reduce or re-evaluate the city’s debt; incorporate dynamic planning and evaluation in city-wide planning efforts; addressing community blight; and encourage diversified housing developments with friendly walkways.
Fiegenschuh pointed out several areas of goal progress, including the areas of reducing debt, addressing blight and the downtown redevelopment. He addressed several ways the city staff has progressed with community outreach and inclusivity, which include the “Ask Us Anything” segment on social media, websites available in multiple languages, increased presence at community functions, the bi-monthly newsletter, and the city spotlights with staff members.
“We will be continuing to review and modify our plan…this will not be sitting on the shelf, but making sure as our needs change the plan changes,” Fiegenschuh said. “The community outreach is one of the things we have been most successful at in the last year.”
