ROCHELLE —  City of Rochelle elected officials and staff participated in a strategic planning update workshop on Wednesday afternoon with Northern Illinois University Center for Governmental Studies representatives.

The city is currently in the process of updating its strategic plan from 2018. NIU has conducted focus groups and interviews with city council members, and on Wednesday, staff and the council got together to give input on the next strategic plan. NIU will compile everything and submit a full plan, which will be presented to the city council sometime in the next couple of months. 

The eventual strategic plan will guide the city in its future decision-making process. 

The city’s five strategic priority areas from 2018 included economic & business development, financial management & stability, community inclusivity & engagement, infrastructure effectiveness and improvement, and core service delivery. 

NIU conducted five focus groups to help update the plan in August 2021. Each group had 8-12 participants and they included two groups of residents, one group from the business community, one with intergovernmental partners and one composed of front-line staff. 

Focus group participants were asked to describe the city to a stranger, what it could be in the future, what its strengths and weaknesses are, what top priorities should be and one item they’d like to change about the city. 

NIU CGS Assistant Director Mel Henriksen and Research Associate Alli Hoebing conducted the Wednesday workshop and said four aggregate themes were identified from the focus groups: growth & development, housing development & options, collaboration & communication and sense of community. 

Interviews done with council members yielded themes and ideas including addressing workforce issues, increasing/diversifying the city’s tax base, budget sustainability, affordable, quality housing and One Rochelle, which is a future vision of a united community with increased diversity. 

NIU staff met with department heads and conducted a survey of staff that brought back themes of priorities including organizational development, business attraction & development, housing development and inter-departmental communication & collaboration.

Following those portions of the workshop, City Manager Jeff Fiegenschuh made a presentation and discussed the progress of various city goals. 

Staff and officials participated in different group exercises and provided further input towards a future strategic plan update.