LEWISTON — A renewed citywide strategic plan shouldn’t sit on a shelf, one city councilor said Tuesday.
Councilors gave high marks to the latest version of a strategic plan that had been set aside soon after the first draft was released.
City Councilor Mark Cayer said that shouldn’t happen again.
“The most important sentence in this document says that it is a living document and that it will be continually revised and updated,” Cayer said. “It seems to be the trend, to create plans and then put them on the shelf to let them gather dust. But a lot of work has gone into this plan and it would be wrong to let that happen.”
City staffers are hoping councilors and the Planning Board will read and make comments on the latest draft. It’s due before the council for a final vote on Nov. 9.
The 2009 draft plan is available online at the city’s website. A version of the 2010 plan was included on the council’s packet for Tuesday’s meeting, also on the city’s website.
City staff hosted a series of meetings with community members beginning in December 2008 to identify problems and strengths in the city. Staff wrote a draft of the plan and released it to the public and the City Council in March 2009.
The draft was never completed. Councilors fired City Administrator Jim Bennett in July and the plan was put aside until June 2010.
Councilors in June let staff pick up the old plan to begin updating it. Library Director Rick Speer said the new draft preserves much of the old one.
“We’ve tried to adopt that original document to include the council’s own input from their retreat in January, community input we’ve received since the 2009 draft was released and changes the city has gone through since,” Speer said.
The plan identified challenges citizens and city officials will have to deal with and some unique opportunities. It included goals in seven areas: innovative service delivery, neighborhood identity, safety, riverfront development, economic growth, sustainability, and civic engagement and collaboration.
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