City schedules planning conference

The annual planning conference for city officials will see a few changes this year. This conference will be just the facts and no fun at all.

Last year, the conference was held at Fall Creek Falls State Park. This location led some to believe the conference was really a retreat for city officials. Well, not this year.

The decision was made to hold the conference at McMinnville City Hall.

‘I want to save the expense of going out of town and I want to give citizens the opportunity to come and observe,’ said city administrator David Rutherford.

Also out will be the 12-hour unstructured brainstorming sessions every day for three consecutive days. The conference will be broken down into two structured days over two months apart with six hours in each day.

The first session will be held Sept. 29 from 8 a.m. until 2 p.m. During this meeting, information will be given to city officials, from Rutherford and city department heads, with very little discussion regarding that information.

Before the second session, there will be two public meetings where information will be made available for citizens unable to make the conference. Department heads will be present to answer any questions citizens may have.

These two public meetings will give the community time to gather information and talk to their elected officials before the second session. One will be held Oct. 11 from 6:30 to 8 p.m. at the Civic Center and the other Oct. 25 from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at city hall.

During the second session, scheduled for Nov. 3 also from 8 a.m. to 2 p.m., officials will discuss the information they received at the first session and what projects they would like to see in McMinnville’s future. By the first of the year, Rutherford will have a funding plan together and a timeline to accomplish the projects that are identified.

Dividing the sessions up and adding public meetings will help officials make informed decisions, which, according to Rutherford, is difficult, if not impossible, to do without all the pertinent information and facts available.