Distraction-free getaway planned by city officials
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The conference, to be held at Fall Creek Falls State Park, will allow aldermen to exchange new ideas, think about potential upcoming budget issues and rehash old ideas, McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport said.
“Both days will pretty much be full days,” said Davenport, noting the sessions will include an overnight stay and will likely begin with a presentation by the University of Tennessee’s Municipal Technical Advisory Service.
“We did one last year on city codes and constitutional law, and then we’ll probably spend two hours looking at problems we’ve got in the city, and two or three hours looking at things we’d like to do in the city, and two or three hours trying to put the two together – where the problems are, what we’d like to do, and what we’re going to do to resolve it.”
Davenport said it’s a tool he used last year and in his former term as mayor and was utilized at times under the previous mayoral administration.
He noted it is not decided whether department heads will be invited, but if so, city officials would be looking to them for a brief presentation of the issues affecting each department.
Additionally, city officials may try to attempt a “functional plan roughly outlined as to what we’re going to do this coming budget year and the next five years.”
Davenport said more details as far as scheduling would be forthcoming and noted it is sometimes difficult for officials to plan for the long term or brainstorm on various possibilities. In recent years, other governments have utilized planning conferences, he added, and noted the media would be invited.