Revenue, workforce training, connectivity among topics at Fayetteville City Council workshop

Alderman Mark Kinion, left, speaks during a strategic planning session held Saturday, March 4, 2017, at the Pratt Place Inn and Barn in downtown Fayetteville as his fellow council members Sarah Marsh, Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Sarah Bunch, Adella Gray and Matthew Petty listen and take notes.
Alderman Mark Kinion, left, speaks during a strategic planning session held Saturday, March 4, 2017, at the Pratt Place Inn and Barn in downtown Fayetteville as his fellow council members Sarah Marsh, Mayor Lioneld Jordan, Sarah Bunch, Adella Gray and Matthew Petty listen and take notes.

FAYETTEVILLE -- For the first time in nearly 15 years the City Council held a retreat to draw up an agenda outlining its goals that will last long after its current members leave office.

Six of eight aldermen and Mayor Lioneld Jordan on Saturday took part in the second leg of a two-day strategic planning workshop held at Pratt Place Inn and Barn in downtown Fayetteville. Little Rock-based inVeritas research and consulting group facilitated the meeting. The council approved the arrangement in its budget to allocate $19,000 to inVeritas for the service.

Fayetteville Vision 2020

City Council members reviewed the goals outlined in its 2020 plan and set the foundation for a Vision 2050 plan.

• A diverse, growing local economy.

• Naturally beautiful city.

• Well-maintained city infrastructure and facilities.

• Greater ease of mobility through an effective transportation system.

• A financially sustainable city government providing top-quality, responsive services.

• Quality public school system.

• Reputation as a safe community.

• A fun city in which to live.

• Housing choices for all income levels.

• Dickson Street/downtown area developed as a cultural entertainment district.

• A revitalized south Fayetteville.

• Home of a nationally recognized university with educational and research excellence.

Source: inVeritas

The group revised many of the principles and goals outlined in the city's Vision 2020 plan, which was codified in 2003 and updated in 2008. The council last held a retreat to develop that plan.

Saturday's meeting led to strategies to tackle far-reaching issues the council members prioritized through a survey conducted beforehand.

The council agreed no matter how diverse the local economy becomes or how much it grows the city will always need workforce training in construction. The closing of Fayetteville High School's west campus effectively shut the door on providing young people in the city a technical education, council members said.

Alderman Justin Tennant cautioned the issue has two parts in not only providing educational opportunities but also ensuring places for those people to work exist in Fayetteville.

"If I am a person who becomes skilled I have to move out of Fayetteville in some cases to work, which then means I move my family out of Fayetteville, which doesn't really help Fayetteville from an economic standpoint after the fact," he said. "We train people but then there's nowhere for them to go in the city."

The council agreed the city should establish regular, possibly quarterly, meetings with the Fayetteville School Board. Tennant said he could think of taking part in one such meeting since being elected in 2010. Alderman Matthew Petty said every neighborhood needs a school.

"Eight a.m. rush hour -- how much of that is due to school traffic?" he said. "When people who live east of College have to go to Owl Creek, something is wrong. Something is missing in the conversation about infrastructural decisions with the School District."

Maximizing the potential of property taxes, rather than raising them, and thinking long-term about how to pay for projects would lessen the dependence on sales tax as a primary revenue source, council members said.

Planning for development can be done on a year-by-year basis, but funding upkeep of infrastructure like roads and water and sewer pipes has to be thought of in terms of decades out, Alderwoman Sarah Bunch said.

"You need to be planning before it actually hits the fan," she said.

Establishing corridors adjacent to a potential transit system, whether it's a light rail system, bus routes or for cars, will greatly increase east-west connectivity, council members said. Tennant suggested putting together a 35-year plan with potential areas for development hubs.

"I'm afraid if you don't do something like that nobody's going to know where any of those things are going to be," he said.

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Petty added the city should look at what land it would need to buy to increase east-west connectivity before another potential bond issue. A soon-to-be-released Transportation Master Plan should provide that data, he said.

The consultants will consolidate the input from the session and submit a report to form the basis for a Vision 2050 plan, inVeritas CEO Ruth Whitney said.

Jordan took part in the 2003 retreat and remarked on how similar many of the council's goals were then compared to now, adding he wanted to see the council hold another session sooner than later.

"I hope we don't wait 10 or 12 years for another one," he said.

NW News on 03/05/2017

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