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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-0520 Study Session PACKET CITY COUNCIL STUDY SESSION Thursday, May 20, 1999 at 12:00 p.m. Council Chambers 1. Discussion to scope the process to be used to implement the Strategic Plan Goal of developing a Citizen Involvement Process Plan. 2. Discussion to scope the process used to implement the Strategic Plan Goal of analyzing demand for transit and other alternative modes of transportation. 3 T 0am Council Communication Administrative Services Department Citizen Involvement Process Plan May 20, 1999 Submitted by: Dick Wanderscheid� Approved by: Mike Freeman Title: Study Session discussion to scope the process to be used to implement the Strategic Plan Goal of developing a Citizen Involvement Process Plan. Synopsis: One of the goals of the 1999 Strategic Plan is to work on a process that can be used for future projects that will effectively involve citizens in the decision making process. Attached is a draft proposal that can be used to initiate a discussion with the Mayor and Council on how best to achieve this goal. I Developing an Effective Citizen Involvement Process Background: Ashland citizens care about city initiatives and thus are willing to become involved with issues that are important to them and the city. They also possess a lot of talent and knowledge and their involvement ultimately results in much better projects. The city needs to improve upon and nurture citizen involvement so both the city and the citizens benefit from their involvement. Recent citizen involvement in various city projects has met with mixed results. There is a feeling among staff and some council members that the process needs to be better designed up front so citizens and the city both understand the roles, responsibilities and parameters of a project's influence that citizen involvement entails. Proposed Process: Project Scoping'- It is very important the project be scoped out with the mayor and council initially so that we can be sure that staff is proceeding in the right direction. That is the purpose of this discussion and this study session. Time Frame - May to June 1999. Gathering Data- We feel we should assemble all that we can about previous projects to try and find out what worked and what did not work. Therefore, we would identify major projects done over the last three years and estimate the number of citizens involved and assess the success of the citizen involvement program on each project. This data gathering would also include surveying those participants that we can identify from these projects and get their opinions on the success of the project. Time Frame -July to September 1999 i } Develop Draft Essential Core Elements - Taking the input from this data gathering, staff would then develop the Draft Essential Core Elements which it feels should be included in future projects. Time Frame - October 1999 Council Study Session - The Draft Essential Core Elements would then be presented to the mayor and council during a study session for discussion, revision, addition, refinement, etc. Time Frame - October 1999 Public Hearing - The revised Core Elements would be scheduled for a public hearing for input. Time Frame - November 1999 Draft Report Developed - Based on public input, the Draft Report would be presented to the mayor and city council. Time Frame -November 1999 Report Adoption Time Frame - December 1999 I I } Council Communication Administrative Services Department Analyzing Demand for Transit and Other Alternative Modes of Transportation May 20, 1999 (Study Session) Submitted by: Dick Wandcrsche' Approved by: Mike Freeman Title: Study session discussion to scope the process used to implement the Strategic Plan Goal of analyzing demand for transit and other alterative modes of transportation. Synopsis: One of the goals of the 1999 Strategic Plan is to work on identifying additional city responsibilities which would enhance other forms of transportation. The goal would require developing data which currently is not available. Attached is a draft proposal that can be used to initiate a discussion with the mayor and council on how best to achieve this goal. Background: One of the goals of the City's recent Strategic Plan was to "analyze demand for transit and other alternative modes of transportation". Proposed Process: Staff has developed a process that can be used to discuss this project and move it along. The draft proposal is as follows: Project seeping with the mayor and council -This paper and the study session discussion will begin the seeping of this project. i Time Frame- May 1999 Gathering of existing data -Staff proposed to gather pertinent information from RVTD, RVCOG and ODOT on what data already exists and also examples of the kind of survey instruments that are available to gather this kind of data. This would then be presented to Council to analyze what data is missing and needed. i Time Frame-June to July 1999 Develop a draft survey instrument- In order to get appropriate data we need to define the goal of this project and then link this goal to a means of gathering data that provides us with meaningful actions to pursue. It is staffs understanding we are trying to 1) understand transit demand and then see if demand would justify additional city responsibilities above and beyond what is now done in this area. 2) identify what kinds of additional alternative transportation amenities would be valuable to pursue. These would include sidewalks, bike paths, neighborhood trails and transit facilities and services. Staffs understanding is that auto and parking data would not be a part of this research. The survey should i include an origin/destination study by zip code and also by voter precincts or school districts for Ashland residents that both work and live in Ashland. We envision this to be a direct mail survey, that hopefully could be done in conjunction with SOU students and/or faculty. Time Frame-August to September 1999 Provide for public input on the survey Time Frame -September 1999 I Conduct the survey Time Frame- October to November 1999 i Present results and draft recommendations to the mayor and council Time Frame - December 1999 Public hearing and adoption of recommendations Time Frame-January to February 2000 i i i