Economic development, customer service, and vocational education; Wasilla Mayor lays out her vision during City Council Strategic Meeting

The Wasilla City Council met Nov. 19 to hear from city administration, directors, managers, as they laid out and discussed strategic planning to move Wasilla forward.

Each department from Parks and Recreation to Public Works, to Director of Finance and Library Director were given 15 minutes to present their vision and strategic goals. Each presentation was followed up with an additional 15 minutes allotted for questions and answers from the council.

The meeting lasted over five hours. Given the length and the breadth of the meeting, significant portions of the meeting will be covered over a series of articles, starting with Wasilla Mayor Glenda Ledford’s vision for Wasilla over the next several years.

“The intent is to collectively come together and design some short- and long-term goals designed to help us better determine where we’re going and how we want to get there,” said Deputy Administrator Crystal Nygard as the meeting got started.

“We’re living in some great times because we (Wasilla) are the fastest growing city in the state. But it’s also challenging because we have a finite number of resources, and trying to keep up with that growth is something we have to be strategic about,” said Nygard.

“Our goal today is to share the mayor’s vision and how each of the directors and managers have come together to align with that vision and bring some cohesiveness to the city,” said Nygard.

While Mayor Glenda Ledford was not physically present for the meeting, she attended telephonically. She laid out her vision for Wasilla.

“My vision for the city is to be the center of commerce, connectivity, community, and council,” Mayor Ledford said. “The city’s mission is to provide optimal service levels to the public as cost effective as possible to ensure a stable and thriving economy, promote a healthy community, provide a safe environment and a quality lifestyle, and promote maximum citizen participation in government.”

The mayor wanted to share her vision and values with the staff and community and really bring continuity to the community.

“That requires us to adapt to new practices and really engage in the budget process…and to ensure that the department visions are aligned with city’s (vision).”

Because of connectivity issues, Nygard spoke on Mayor Ledford’s behalf, presenting her vision for Wasilla.

“One of the tools for the strategic plan is encouraging the leaders to collaborate with their departments to create a story for how they’re going to align with the city’s priorities and budget and have a culture of collaboration.”

The mayor had three focuses for the city: The first, to increase the economic development by looking for ways to diversify the economy; modernize the city’s policies, procedures, and practices; and build a healthy community and strong workforce.

The mayor’s second initiative is a city-wide customer service focus. “I don’t think anybody would argue that the customer is very, very important,” said Nygard, who explained that for Mayor Ledford, customer service means implementing more practices that put the residents and community at the focus and a culture organized to have positive interactions with the city.

Nygard also said the mayor is interested in finding ways to make the city more mobile with the ways the communicate and conduct transactions with the residents, and improve the efficiency of the communications channels as the city has landlines, cellphones, teams, chats, but no clear way to streamline and organize all of the different communication channels.

The mayor would also like to enhance the city’s brand and its image.

Mayor Ledford’s third initiative is to connect and work with community and organization leaders to increase the trade and vocational-technical education while using the facilities around the city.

“This is something we continue to hear around the community. Vo-Tech Ed Programs are really a great bridge for us.”

The mayor would also like to encourage use the Menard Center, the library, museum, or other city buildings to become a partner in the Vo-Tech spaces. Additionally, she would also like the city to work with regional and state leaders to create Workforce Development success.

Councilman Stu Graham suggested that along with utilizing city spaces and inquired about utilizing park spaces and finding ways to draw people to the different parks within the city

“We have a lot of great park land throughout the city and I’m sure getting outside would be a great thing to help encourage people in,” Graham commented.

“This is going to take a little bit of thought,” said Mayor Ledford.

Councilman Tim Johnson commented that he is concerned about a perceived communication issue, stating:

“The need here in the city is to ensure that the community as a whole knows what the city is doing and the directions that we’re taking and I think this meeting is the first step and a good effort for better communication but I think we should put a goal in here to better our communication process.” Councilman Johnson further observed that community meetings are taking place and oftentimes there is an air of confusion as to what the state is doing and how state actions affects Wasilla, that often times are meetings that not everyone is aware of whawe’re actually attending and

“I think that a means of communicating to our constituency would be better.”

Councilman Johnson suggested that previous mayors would issue a mayor’s report, which would state such things and that perhaps the departments could put out agenda items to address what they are working on in an ongoing format to better communicate the direction Wasilla is moving in to the residents.

Mayor Ledford does broadcast a “Mayor’s Minute” that airs different local radio stations. “I tell what’s happening,” she said, adding that there are plans to start developing a podcast, though no details were given.

Nygard commented that there are so many different channels and ways the public gets their information, with some people attending council meetings in person, while others may go to Facebook, while others still prefer to call into the Mayor’s office, noting that this creates problems in getting the word out.

“How do we target the right communication channel for the audience and make it short enough that they pay attention, and we need to put some kind of strategy behind that communication,” said Nygard, adding “it’s really finding that balance to be effective.”

“We cannot solve this point of the issue at this particular meeting, but I think better communication should be part of the strategy,” said Councilman Johnson

When pressed for clarification, Councilman Johnson said:

“I think there is a need for communication along multiple lines within the city, from the department (administrators) to the council, from the mayor to the city council, from the mayor and city council to the constituency. I think that we’re missing communication links on multiple levels.” He added that he would like to try and better communication and create a solution so that all parties, from the constituency to the mayor’s office and all places in between, so that no one is caught unaware and ensuring everyone is on the same page. He used a football metaphor when he said that at the beginning of each play, the teams huddle together to create communication and plan the next play.

“Right now I feel that huddles on every level are lacking.”