The minutes of the Strategic Planning Meeting held at the Multimodal Transportation Center, 11 Uptown Circle, Normal, IL on Friday, March 6, 2015.

Mayor Snyder called the meeting to order at 5:36 p.m.

City Clerk Mrs. Gehlbach called the roll. Present for the Friday night meeting were Alderman Bauer, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Mourning, Alderman Neitzel and Alderman Parrott. Two Aldermen were absent; Alderman Cooper and Alderman Tibbs. Also present were Mayor Keith Snyder, City Administrator Clay Johnson, City Clerk Susan Gehlbach, Deputy Police Chief Paul Adams and Fire Chief Mark Miller. Mrs. Katie Davison of the Center for Governmental Studies (CGS) at Northwestern Illinois University served as moderator for the Strategic Planning Meeting.

City Administrator Clay Johnson began the night with a quote from Edwin Stanton, the Secretary of War serving under President Abraham Lincoln. “There can be no greater madness than for a man (or woman) to encounter what I do for anything less than motives that overleap time and look forward to eternity”.

Mayor Snyder introduced Mrs. Davison and then asked those in attendance to introduce themselves and discuss why they are a part of City government. After the introductions, Mrs. Davison used a quote “A goal without a plan is just a wish” and said she would be assisting the group through the Strategic Planning to create a unified vision and mission.

Mrs. Davison presented the community survey results in a power point presentation, which included demographic analysis and comparisons from the current census data.

Mayor Keith Snyder presented some additional demographic data.

After Mayor Snyder’s presentation, Mrs. Davison announced that 755 survey responses were submitted to the City’s website in January and February. She was pleased with this number of responses and that not everyone had responded to all questions on the survey.  

Mayor Snyder reminded those in attendance that no tax dollars were being spent on the Strategic Planning. He brought up that the City was reimbursed from Illinois American Water for overpaying on City charges. A portion of this refunded money was used for the consultant from Northwestern University for their services along with a donation to the Oasis Senior Center for their building fund.

Before the meeting ended on Friday night, City Officials were given four questions to answer for Saturday’s session: “Who are the City’s stakeholders?”, “If you were to leave Lincoln and not return for 10 years, what would you like to have changed? What would you like to stay the same?” What makes you proud of Lincoln?” and “What concerns you most about the future of Lincoln?”.

Alderman Neitzel moved to adjourn the meeting and Alderman Horn seconded it. There were six ayes; Alderman Bauer, Alderman Hoinacki, Alderman Horn, Alderman Mourning, Alderman Neitzel and Alderman Parrott and two absent Alderman Cooper and Alderman Tibbs.

The Strategic Planning Meeting was adjourned at 7:41 p.m.

Respectfully Submitted By:

Susan K. Gehlbach, City Clerk