The rough draft of the Strategic Planning document for Grant City came together at Wednesday night's meeting. Emphasis was on more things for the community to do. Facilitator Arnie Kreek of the Northwest Missouri Regional Council of Governments will put together another draft based on comments and input at Wednesday night's meeting to present to the Grant City Council at their regular meeting on November 19th.
All five teams turned in suggested areas of focus at the meeting. One area of focus was municipal services. Wastewater upgrades were identified as a need for the community, possibly in conjunction with USDA and other funding sources. The second area of focus was the streets. The plan includes researching grants to include curbing and drainage and generating more revenues for street improvements. Currently, part of the city sales tax goes towards street improvements, but that is not enough. Law enforcement was another area of focus. The goal is to get more law enforcement coverage for the city and possibly neighborhood watch groups as well.
For physical appearance and aesthetic value, the goal for the city is to codify city ordinances so that they will pass muster in court and so that they are enforceable and in compliance with state law. The second goal will be to continue to work with the regional improvement board, which will meet again in the first part of December. The third was to keep and expand the "Worth More" initiative, possibly by assisting elderly people with cleanup and putting up lights. Finally, the fourth goal was to pursue demolition grants to tear down abandoned buildings. Also on the agenda were recognizing people who do clean up their homes, focusing on junk cars, and promoting general cleanup.
For education and cultural arts, one goal was to give people access to more educational and learning opportunities, advertise them, and identify potential funding sources. The second goal is more access to cultural arts by maintaining the cultural arts committee, doing more promotions, and identifying funding sources. The third was to find more venue space for cultural events, get cost estimates, and identify funding sources.
For community and business development, goals were to update the business directory regularly, do more business promotions such as Small Business Saturday, and expand the current city cleanup initiatives. A third goal is to assist new businesses in getting started, while the fourth is to find a new location for Mission Possible.
For parks and youth recreation, goals were putting together events for the recently-completed nature trail, putting together more activities such as an Easter Egg Hunt, a scavenger hunt, coed softball, volleyball tournaments, and golf tournaments. The ultimate goal is to build a youth recreation center at some point.
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