2/9/2021 Council Workshop Recap
This is one of those weeks where I am counting down the minutes to the weekend! How about you?
Last week I did not post a blog because my recap was relatively short. If you want to check it out, you can read it on my Facebook page by clicking here.
This week we had a Council workshop. Here is where you can view the City’s synopsis of the meeting, which provides a concise and unbiased account of the topics we discussed. The meeting minutes can be viewed here, and if you want to watch the meeting, you can do so here.
Correspondence and Council Comments
The following topics were discussed: a desire to revisit the ordinance regarding snow shoveling because of residents who don’t keep up with shoveling their sidewalks, a public perception that crime in Hudson is rising, an update from the Economic Growth Board, and an update on the At-Large Forum that was held this week (more on that below).
Discussion Items
Downtown Development Community Survey Proposals
Brief Description: The purpose of this discussion is to review the City’s Request for Proposal format, and the submitted proposals the City received for the community survey.
My take: After a meeting on October 13, 2020 where the desire to do a survey to get citizen input was stated, a subcommittee of Council members Foster, Sutton, and Schlademan was formed to create an RFP to select a survey consultant.
The RFP was sent out to 11 companies, and only 2 responded. Some of the comments from other council members centered around the desire to have more respondents so we have more than just two companies to choose from. While I actually thought that the recommended consultant’s proposal was very thorough and was overall happy with it, I agree that having more options to consider would benefit the process.
Another comment was made, and echoed by a couple of other members, that the RFP and other pertinent information about this survey should have been circulated to all of Council for approval prior to sending out the RFP. A concern was shared that this information should have been discussed in an open meeting so that the public was aware of the details. Additionally, concern over survey bias was discussed in-depth. I share all of these concerns and reiterated them at some point throughout the discussion.
Here are some other points that I made:
Since joining Council, I have become increasingly more uncomfortable with this process (of formulating an RFP to conduct a community survey). I have been stunned and disappointed to learn things about the survey for the first time on social media from my colleagues, knowing all of Council had not yet been briefed on it, or agreed to certain things. It has felt like the more questions I asked, the more questions I ended up having. All of the concerns I am about to list were either born out of the way the process has been conducted thus far, or are concerns about the process moving forward, and are rooted in a desire to do this right.
I am excited at the prospect of gaining more insight into what the people of Hudson want to see happen with the Phase 2 area. However, this has been a topic the community has discussed for quite some time. As a result, we already have a lot of data that I do not want to ignore. I would like staff to prepare a report that encompasses all the feedback from over the past few years, including public comment, emails to Council members, and the feedback from the citizen-focused sessions following the May 2019 vote. I then want us to examine if there are any significant trends or learnings that could help Council move forward in conjunction with the results from this survey.
That being said, I believe Council is too reliant on surveys. Each of us were elected because the public believes we represent their best interests. We were elected to make decisions and exercise discretion. If we continue down this path of needing a survey in order to ever move forward on any project, we risk turning into government by referendum.
One Council member said that this survey would allow us to learn more about why the May 2019 vote went the way it did. I stated that, unless we are able to tailor the survey to only those who voted, this survey will not give us those answers. This survey will only tell us what those who respond want.
I am still not clear what the intended purpose of this survey is. At least four different Council members had varying opinions on the purpose, which is concerning. Why are we barreling ahead to pay for an expensive survey with taxpayer money without even having a clear idea of what we want to get out of it? I believe we need to narrow our focus.
Additionally, this survey feels very aspirational, and seems to ignore the realities of downtown development. I fear we may be backing ourselves into a corner if we do not effectively communicate those realities (traffic, density, financial obligations, etc.).
I want to know how (or, if) we will reconcile this survey with the Comprehensive Plan.
I suggest you watch this portion of the workshop if this topic is of particular interest to you.
City Council Review and Discussion of the General Fund 2020 Year-End Excess Surplus
Brief Description: At the request of Council, this is a discussion about the best use of the General Fund’s excess surplus at the end of fiscal year 2020.
My take: A group which goes by “Shop Local Shop Hudson” (comprised of people from the Chamber, the city, the Merchants, and Destination Hudson) spoke about the desire to implement a digital marketing campaign to support the businesses in Hudson. Their initial request is for $20k to accomplish this. They will come back to Council with a business plan that will outline how this money will be spent. I look forward to evaluating this more after we get the business plan, but my initial reaction is that this campaign could be very beneficial to our businesses. Two of the big reasons I support this idea are because it will also benefit businesses outside of the downtown area, and digital marketing gives you a lot of bang for your buck. And frankly, we need to do more to support our local businesses.
Councilman Foster suggested we spend the remainder of the surplus on a new project (grade separation at Hines Hill) or on pulling some infrastructure projects forward. I think that there are still a lot of unknowns this year, and we should see how the economy is in the coming months before we decide what to do with the surplus. And, if we feel comfortable spending some or all of the surplus, I would prefer a more fiscally responsible approach such as paying for infrastructure projects already planned for 2021 (as outlined in the 5-Year Plan) in cash rather than taking on new debt. Council decided to wait and revisit this topic in the future.
At-Large Forum
During Council Comments I updated everyone that myself and at-Large Council Members Wooldredge and DeSaussure held forum this week. If you were unable to attend but are interested in what we talked about, you can watch here.
Have questions? Want to share with me your thoughts on any of the agenda items or issues listed above? As always, I would love to have a conversation! Email me directly at nkowalski@hudson.oh.us.
