Council OKs $70,000 study to help plot city’s course

The Port Washington Common Council on Tuesday took another step toward creating a strategic plan for the community, hiring a Minnesota firm to conduct the process.

Mindful that studies often sit on shelves, Mayor Ted Neitzke said, “They’re not going to give us a binder to collect dust on department heads’ desks.”

The study, he said, will not only help create vision for the city for the next three to five years, it will also include action items that officials can be held accountable for.

City Administrator Tony Brown said that follow-through is one of the main reasons a selection committee recommended hiring Duluth-based Northspan Group for the project.

“It’s imperative we have a second phase,” he said, noting there will be quarterly checks to see how things are progressing.

Ald. Jonathan Pleitner, chairman of the Finance and License committee and a member of the selection committee, said this will help the city remain on track.

“We’re creating a culture change,” Pleitner said. “They will stick around with us so we can move more confidently to the future.”

The city sought proposals for the strategic plan from six firms, with representatives of three of the companies interviewed last month.

While the city is moving ahead with a strategic plan for the community, it is also going ahead with a downtown planning process. 

Bob Harris, the city’s director of planning and development, said he issued a request for proposals for firms to conduct this plan on Tuesday. Proposals are due Sept. 28, he said, and he expects the council to consider them shortly after that.

The downtown plan will be wrapped into the strategic plan, Brown added.

The strategic plan will build on the recently completed city survey, which identified areas in which the city is doing well and not so well and offered potential spending priorities, Brown said.

The first phase of the plan runs through the end of the year and includes input from city officials, employees and key community stakeholders, including residents and business representatives.

Businesses have sometimes different concerns, especially since many hire people who come into the city for work but that’s all they do here, Brown said.

Including business representatives can help the city form a better connection with its businesses, he said.

The total cost of the study is expected to be about $70,000, with the first phase of the project costing $42,000 — $7,000 more than budgeted. 

Brown said there is leftover money from other projects that could make up that difference.