February 9, 2006

By Robert Mihalek

Village Council on Monday officially adopted six goals that make up a Village “workplan” and will influence the actions of the local government during 2006.

The goals were first developed and selected by Council members during a goal-setting meeting on Jan. 30.

During Council’s meeting on Feb. 6, Council members then unanimously approved a resolution adopting the six goals as what the legislation called the “2006 Village Council Annual Workplan.”

Council president Jocelyn Hardman pointed out that a majority of Council supported each goal.

Village Manager Eric Swansen, who initiated and led Council’s goal-setting process, emphasized both last week and on Monday that the goals should not be too detailed in order to give Village staff, Council and the community the leeway to devise strategies to complete the goals. Several Council members made this point during Monday’s meeting as well.

Swansen said the Village will do its best “to define our role” and do its best with the resources available.

The 2006 goal list includes efforts to define the Village’s role in both economic development and enhancing downtown as a place for retail and commercial activity.

The economic goal was changed from what was proposed last week, when a phrase that said the Village would define its role in economic development in order to maintain diversity in Yellow Springs was dropped from the language in the resolution.

Another goal in the workplan says the Village should establish a plan to realize a protected greenbelt around Yellow Springs.

One goal calls for the development of a prioritized capital projects list, while another supports the creation of a strategic plan to “define the vision, values and factors critical to the success of our community.”

Swansen said the strategic plan would “provide a broad overview to help make sure” decisions are consistent with the vision and values of the community.

The workplan also includes a goal to explore a plan to provide high-speed Internet services around the community.

The Internet service goal, which was referred to last week as the wired and wireless goal, involves providing such things as broadband Internet access and digital cable and phone service around the community. The Village, for instance, could provide some of these services or work with another company to take on the task.

Council member Kathryn Chase said while the Internet service goal is “a good idea,” she expressed concern that Internet service providers around the U.S. have sued municipalities that have entered the Internet business. She said that 14 states have made such public endeavors illegal, and a bill submitted in the Ohio House would prohibit local jurisdictions in the state from establishing both government-backed Internet services and public-private partnerships to make their communities wired.

She successfully lobbied Council to change the goal to say that the Village would “explore” the idea of creating a plan for high-speed Internet service around town.

Council member Bruce Rickenbach said regardless of the wording of the goal, it’s worthwhile for the Village to explore the idea. High-speed Internet service is an “infrastructure the community needs,” he said. “Otherwise, we will be a dead zone.”

Swansen argued that the goal was worth pursuing, though he said the Village could decide the legal costs, if real, are too high. He said one option the Village may have is to encourage an outside group to use the Village’s infrastructure to provide high-speed Internet service. “And we don’t have to do much but not stand in their way,” he said.

Council members spent some time discussing whether they should add a housing goal to the workplan. This idea was suggested in a letter to Council from Stan Bernstein, the president of the board of trustees of Yellow Springs, Home, Inc.

Swansen said that housing could be addressed through the economic goal. He said that as part of the process of completing this goal, the Village would identify the community’s strengths and weaknesses, and that housing is a weakness.

The availability of housing influences a community’s ability to attract expanding business, he said. “One thing that will drive economic development is housing,” Swansen said.

He also suggested that Council could define its role in housing through a future goal.

Hardman said that the Village, through the work of Planning Commission, has addressed housing issues in the past, including, she noted, lifting the restrictions on the construction of homes on 50-foot lots and revising the Planned Unit Development ordinance. She also said the economic development “encompasses housing.”

This year, Hardman said, Council is “more focused” on tasks that Swansen can accomplish.

Council member Judith Hempfling said that “on a lot of points” Council is “asking our staff and manager to define our role” for economic development.

Council member Karen Wintrow said that Yellow Springs has seen “some success in housing” with the Glenwood Springs and Thistle Creek developments. She pointed out that Home, Inc., is building homes in the Thistle Creek neighborhood.

“The immediacy of housing needs have diminished” in relation to the six goals on Council’s list, she said.

Rickenbach said that while housing issues are not diminished, they could be addressed in the Village’s strategic plan.

One suggested goal — define the Village’s role in public relations efforts — that was proposed last week received support from two Council members and did not make the workplan.

Two other proposed goals received no votes from Council members and likewise are not included in the workplan: define the Village’s role in making real the Education Village, and create time for open discussions of important policy matters.

Contact: rmihalek@ysnews.com