Ellsworth City Council schedules monthly strategy workshops; managers and councilors push housing, TIF redesign and placemaking

Charlie, the city manager, laid out a strategic “backlog” and proposed a standing monthly workshop to give the City Council ongoing input and ownership of long‑range priorities, beginning Aug. 4.

The manager told the council he titled his presentation “Ellsworth’s time is now” and said he wants the workshop series to produce a public-facing strategy deck with measurable priorities for one, two and five years.

Why it matters: Councilors and staff said the workshop is intended to move the municipality from episodic, reactive decision-making to a repeatable process that ties the recently adopted comprehensive plan and other studies into actionable projects. Substantive items discussed include housing and housing finance tools, tax increment financing (TIF) redesigns, placemaking investments in the downtown and High Street corridors, capital and infrastructure backlog, and internal operations such as budgeting and project management.

Charlie emphasized recent local growth as a rationale for the push. He cited a 37% population increase “since February” and a roughly $600,000,000 increase in property valuation, and described major near-term projects including a $20,000,000 water‑treatment plant upgrade and several state road projects. He also described internal changes already implemented: use of Caselle budgeting software to build department budgets, a 2.9% inflationary target for budgeting, new finance policies, and workforce workstreams including a new deputy city manager and a parks and recreation director search.

Councilors and staff discussed how to structure the workshops and how to prioritize a long list of projects. Several councilors urged tying decisions to the comprehensive plan and existing studies: the comprehensive plan (approved Nov. 2024), the business attraction plan and the housing needs assessment were all repeatedly cited as sources for priorities and for implementation details such as responsible partners, cost estimates and timelines.

On priorities, councilors identified three recurring outcome areas for near-term emphasis: housing, childcare and transportation. One councilor said housing should include TIF redesigns and ordinance rewrites tied to the courthouse urban growth area and other sites; another urged pairing housing targets with infrastructure and school capacity discussions.

Staff described several specific programs and investments already underway or planned: a parks and recreation director hire (two final candidates), an expanded library capital request funded by a congressional earmark, eight new EV chargers, harbor and marina improvements, courthouse site planning and major culvert repairs on Oak and Water streets. Emergency medical services were upgraded to 24/7 basic life support and, as of spring 2025, expanded toward advanced life support (paramedic level). The manager said internal changes include weekly project management team meetings to track a tiered backlog and to align staff owners to council goals.

Council debate focused on two process questions: how many priorities to pursue at once and how the council and staff share ownership. One councilor said the list must be pared down so staff can finish projects rather than starting many concurrently; another argued for a business‑friendly posture and urged simplifying permitting and incentives. A councilor also noted that the council recently approved higher permit fees and asked staff to reconcile fee policy with the stated interest in streamlining development processes.

The group agreed the standing workshop should serve two purposes: (1) preview material and questions for the next council meeting so members have time to digest information before votes, and (2) provide periodic, higher‑level strategy sessions that review progress against measurable outcomes. The manager and multiple councilors proposed publishing a one‑year “scorecard” of objectives and metrics so the public can see what the council set out to do and whether those items were completed.

Timing and next steps: city staff will prepare a spreadsheet/matrix linking backlog items to comprehensive‑plan goals, responsible partners, rough cost/timeline estimates and recommended council sponsors. The manager said staff will bring the proposed workshop agenda and implementation matrix to the Aug. 4 workshop; staff also flagged an Aug. 14 site visit tied to a federal “Thriving Communities” initiative and proposed a September workshop to review a Village Partnership Initiative briefing.

Quotes

“I put kind of it's a general title here that Ellsworth's time is now,” Charlie, the city manager, said when introducing his strategy deck.

“My vision is to modernize city government, so that we can attack this enormous comp‑plan work and accomplish most of it,” Charlie added later when asked about his five‑year view for the city.

“Become a business‑friendly community, and business is gonna take care of the rest of it,” Councilor Steve said in a longer intervention urging simplicity and private investment as engines of growth.

“Let's tag that for maybe September workshop,” Charlie said when the council asked for a follow‑up on the Village Partnership Initiative and related federal programs.

Ending

Councilors and staff left the meeting with agreed process tasks: staff will turn the backlog into a goal‑aligned spreadsheet, propose an agenda for the Aug. 4 workshop that previews matters likely to reach the council meeting, and bring a Village Partnership/Thriving Communities briefing for a future workshop. Councilors emphasized the need to prioritize a short list of measurable outcomes (housing, childcare, transportation and placemaking were repeatedly cited) and to assign council sponsors to lead engagement with partners on those items.