An update on the city of College Park’s strategic plan during a work session after the City Council meeting Tuesday night revealed that more than half of the plan’s action items are on track.
Assistant City Manager Bill Gardiner presented the update on the plan, which identified six goal areas and an associated 42 action items to complete by the year 2020. The plan was adopted in August 2015 in alignment with the city’s vision, which aims to make the city a “top 20 college town.”
The goal areas are “One College Park” — an initiative to unite neighborhoods — as well as environmental sustainability, high quality development and reinvestment, quality infrastructure, effective leadership and excellent services.
“The council recognized a need to try and bring together some of the seemingly different distinct aspects of College Park,” Gardiner said about the plan.
Gardiner and City Manager Scott Somers generally meet with department heads at least once a month to ensure “everyone’s on track and moving forward,” Somers said.
Of the 42 action items, three have been achieved, eight have not been started, five are considered off track and 27 are considered on track. The city has used software to track the progress of each of the action items, Gardiner said.
The achieved areas include the adoption of a City Operations Sustainability Plan to reduce solid waste and increase recycling, the implementation of the mBike bike-share program and the evaluation of the Hollywood Commercial District for redevelopment.
The off-track items are projects to build a new City Hall, to implement an online payment system for parking permits, to develop a continuous learning program with consistent training for staff and to prepare for staff retirements.
“Off track is probably not the right phrase, but they don’t let you say ‘behind schedule,'” Gardiner said during the meeting. “We’re not as far along as we’d like to be.”
The items that have yet to be started include the development of a community sustainability plan and marketing plan for the city, the creation of a network of trails and sidewalks and the promotion of cooperation between the city’s neighborhoods.
“I think to some extent the civic associations have been doing that on their own, so I’m not exactly sure what that might mean, other than having city events that bring neighborhoods together,” Mayor Patrick Wojahn said.
District 1 Councilwoman Christine Nagle and District 2 Councilman P.J. Brennan proposed a council-sponsored tour of the neighborhoods to introduce residents to different areas of the city.
Some of the on-track projects include developing a plan for community gardens in partnership with residents and organizations and improving public schools.
