Tentative goal priorities for the City of Webster City were discussed last Thursday evening. The City Council along with City Manager Daniel Ortiz-Hernandez, met with the police chief, fire chief, and city department heads to set future goals.

“The goal session is pretty much designed to get all the department heads, city manager, police chief, fire chief together with the city council to go over what we think we should allocate our time and money at in the future,” said Councilman Logan Welch. “We’ve been doing this for several years.”

With the addition of the department heads to the meeting, the council was offered more insight into what the city needs.

“I give a lot of credit to Daniel. This is the first year we had all the department heads in the actual goal setting session,” Welch said. “I think it was a great idea.”

The work session was mediated by Jeff Schott, Institute of Public Affairs Director at the University of Iowa.

“He helps mediate and carry us through the process of addressing concerns, needs, and dialing it into a doable list of goals,” Welch said.

Schott’s background is also in city management, providing the council with a non-biased, educated third party. Schott’s purpose is to help the council stay on task and cover more ground.

“He helps us stay on track, not dig too deep into a topic,” Welch said. “He gives us great insight into other communities around Iowa, things they’ve tried or have had success with.”

According to Welch, some prior goals the council has been working on include addressing the housing needs in Webster City, assessing the wastewater treatment needs, and holding Town Hall meetings. With the ongoing development of the Brewer Creek 5th and 6th Additions, and holding Town Hall meetings, Welch believes progress towards these goals are being made.

Safety measures and concerns at City Hall were addressed during the work session. This would possibly include more security cameras and security measures.

Another topic discussed included starting a communication campaign to inform more residents in Webster City about what is happening with the city and at council meetings.

The work session discussion Thursday evening led the council to a consensus on the following goals for the next year:

• Get a full-time Economic Development Coordinator as a city employee

• Evaluate code/nuisance enforcement procedures

• Start a joint communications initiative to assure every entity is compatible in emergencies

• Develop a marketing plan for the city

• Develop a program to improve security at City Hall

• Develop a communication and outreach strategy/bonding for more street improvement projects

Welch explained the importance of meeting each year to discuss short-term and long-term goals.

“I think it’s a great way to re-evaluate what we’ve done thus far, to look back at previous goals we’ve set, and then adapt to change or add to those goals based on the current climate of Webster City,” Welch said.

These tentative goals have not been officially voted on by the council. The goals will be voted on at Monday evening’s council meeting.

According to Welch, the council has plans to meet again with Schott in the next month to discuss organizational effectiveness and improvement.

There was also talk of the council meeting quarterly for work sessions to stay on task and accountable for the goals they set.