Planning for the future seems to be the campaign slogan my opponent has adopted. So, I thought it would be a good idea for me to share how I continuously plan for the future.

My campaign slogan when I first ran for Mayor and continuing through today is: “it doesn’t take sight to run a community, it takes a vision”. Obviously, the first part of my slogan is simply reassuring voters that my blindness is not a factor in being Mayor. However, the most important word in my slogan is “vision”. Having a vision for Sheboygan Falls and continuously updating my vision is a concise way of saying I am consistently planning for the future.

Here are some steps and processes I put into place that were not being done before I was Mayor.

At the beginning of every year, I meet with each Alderperson individually. I ask them what we are doing right, where do we need to improve, and I ask them for general feedback. These are great conversations, which help identify priorities for the upcoming year and beyond.

Starting in my first year as Mayor, I scheduled monthly department head meetings. The city department heads and I spend an hour or two each month discussing what is happening in their area of responsibility. We also discuss upcoming projects to make sure we are all on the same page. This helps with not only planning for the future, but also helps build a team bond. You may be surprised this common-sense approach wasn’t being done before I was Mayor. I can tell you it has helped solve many problems, fostered better communication amongst city departments, keeps everyone on the same page, and helps consistently plan for the future.

The Plan Commission: Early on in my term as Mayor, our city engineer Rick LeMahieu told me that our Plan Commission was sometimes called the “No Plan Commission”. Here are the steps I have taken to make sure that is not the case today.

Prior to me being Mayor, we only required apartment buildings to provide for a certain amount of open space. This resulted in apartment buildings with blacktop parking lots making up the open space, which is not very attractive. I immediately changed open space to green space. The green space requirement was a place holder until shortly thereafter we adopted a landscape ordinance. Today, apartment and commercial projects must meet our landscape ordinance, no more large buildings surrounded by only blacktop parking lots.

I also found that often projects were being approved by the Plan Commission and either the fire department or public works felt they were not being kept updated with the building project details. My solution was simple. I appointed a representative from the fire department and a representative from public works to the Plan Commission. This makes our planning more thorough, approved building projects better, and improved communication.

You may have notice that Sheboygan Falls has a number of roads that do not make through connections. The first chance I had to change this approach of the past is on 6th Street. I worked with both developers to make sure that 6th Street was designed to connect. This was done before their developments were approved. We are just entering into an agreement that will make this planning and design work a reality with a completed 6th Street this year.

The final area of planning I will mention is the monthly economic development meetings that Shad Tenpas and I have with the economic development team from Chamber-Main Street. This is a great group. We discuss Sheboygan Falls development ideas and constantly challenge each other in a professional manner to make Sheboygan Falls better. I will share our most recent agenda in another post.

As you will see in my Guiding Principles post, I believe in setting goals, having a vision, and constantly planning for the future.