Gilbert executive staff and town council members honed in on town priorities during a two-day “strategic retreat” May 22-23, at the Southeast Regional Library.
The priorities were organized around the three pillars of the town’s “City of the Future,” initiative, which Town Manager Patrick Banger described as an effort to keep Gilbert's quality of life sustainable as the municipality reaches build-out and infrastructure ages.
The three pillars are strong economy, prosperous community and exceptional built environment.
To accommodate the effort, the town brought in moderators from Arizona Town Hall, a nonpartisan, nonprofit organization that aims to solve help solve policy issues. The moderators had small groups break out to discuss questions related to each pillar.
A Tuesday wrapup session rounded up what had been identified as those priorities. Some priorities came up under more than one pillar, moderators noted.
Strong economy
Supporting Northwest Corridor development;
Supporting and maintaining water and other infrastructure, which includes broadband investment and redevelopment that attracts business and tourism;
Creating and maintaining a positive community culture to assure future vibrancy, including: attracting and retaining young professionals and high-wage jobs; exploring how to bring people back to Gilbert after college; creating more diverse and affordable housing; embracing a culture of welcoming people to the community;
Supporting consistent and stable leadership, including showing teamwork and working together as council and staff.
Prosperous community
Offering consistent, high-quality services, facilities and amenities;
Civic engagement to understand the community the organization serves so community members can be best served;
Telling the town's story;
Focusing on the needs of the community, which could include, for example, a victims advocacy center, a crime lab and parks development.
Exceptional built environment
Long-term funding, including revenue financing and diversification and a shift to maintenance vs. buildout;
Parks and recreation buildout;
Northwest Corridor redevelopment;
Collaboration and communication;
Staffing;
Water diversification and sustainability;
Maintaining infrastructure to avoid catastrophic failure;
Building out and maintaining the transportation network.
The groups also spent time with each pillar answering questions on how council could provide guidance and support to staff.
The first area identified was council giving clear and concise policy direction as opposed to getting into detailed operations, with each side understanding their role.
“I would interpret that as each kind of being in your lane and understanding those lanes, working together,” said Tara Jackson, president of Arizona Town Hall.
Some other areas identified were taking a pragmatic approach; providing guidance and support to staff; creating a safe space for staff to pilot new things; being open to creative funding opportunities and continued innovation; not having preconceived notions; establishing and communicating priorities; working by consensus when possible; and establishing good two-way communication.
Additionally, council members wanted staff to provide balance to options; educate on function and consequences, lifetime costs and qualitative return on investment, a sort of "Honda versus Cadillac” type analysis; and for staff to know and understand what is off the table.
They also identified the importance of working together cohesively as a council, between council and staff, and when communicating with the public, with council taking ownership of decisions made even if individual members did not vote that way.
However, Jackson praised Gilbert’s professionalism and cohesion.
“We're just very impressed with what you have going on here in Gilbert, and we're not paid to say that,” Jackson said. “But sometimes it's so easy to just focus on what's not going the way that you want and what you think needs improvement and that's wonderful. But I think it's really good to take this time to also be grateful for what you do have and to recognize the value of what you have as seen from some outsiders coming in, observing it, and it's really special.”
Tom Blodgett can be reached by email at tblodgett@iniusa.org or follow him @sp_blodgett on Twitter. We would like to invite our readers to submit their civil comments, pro or con, on this issue. Email AZOpinions@iniusa.org.
Tom Blodgett Senior News Editor | Gilbert @sp_blodgett
Meet Tom Tom Blodgett joined Independent Newsmedia, Inc., USA, in 2022, when the company acquired Community Impact Newspaper's Phoenix-area properties. Raised in Arizona, he has spent more than 35 years in journalism in the state.
Community: He has served as an instructional professional in the Walter Cronkite School of Journalism and Mass Communication since 2005, and is editorial adviser to The State Press, the university's independent student media outlet. He also is director of operations for an 18U girls fastpitch softball team from Gilbert.
Education: Arizona State University with a BS in Journalism.
Random Fact: He lived in Belgium during his freshman year of high school.
Hobbies: Tweeting enthusiastically about ASU softball (season-ticket holder) and grumpily about other local sports (pessimistic fan).
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