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Abolishing the city's Strategic Planning and Partnerships Commission is again on the council's agenda tonight.
Last month, the council's Public Safety Committee held a long discussion and heard from multiple city residents on the proposed local law that would abolish the city's Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission. The local law was tabled by the committee until they could get more information, and is up for discussion again tonight.
Multiple members from the public spoke out at the last committee meeting, requesting that rather than abolish the commission the city tries to bring it back and use it to meet current needs. The Strategic Planning and Partnership Commission has not met since 2020, and at last month's work session Mayor Kim Ecklund said even before that point there were difficulties getting members of the commission to attend meetings when they were scheduled.
It was noted at the work session that what was needed for strategic planning purposes back when the commission was first established and in use does not necessarily apply to today, and that the commission itself was a non-decisive board and took up a lot of time and energy. With the elimination of the commission, the city plans to take another look at that angle and see what needs to change to meet the current city needs.
Also returning to the council discussion tonight is a discussion about the Department of Development's proposed shopping cart ordinance, looking to help with public safety concerns that have come up with abandoned shopping carts in the city. The proposed ordinance is intended to establish a framework for addressing the removal, abandonment, recovery, storage, and enforcement of these items.
The council's work session begins at 7:30 p.m. in the police training room on the fourth floor of city hall. Council committees meet before the work session. The Housing Committee meets at 6:30 p.m. in the police training room with the Finance Committee at 7 p.m. in the mayor's fourth floor conference room, the Public Safety Committee in the police training room at 7 p.m. and the Public Works Committee in the Development Department conference room at 7 p.m.