Consultants launch Ishpeming strategic-plan process; council and consultants align on priorities

Ishpeming — Consultants working with the City of Ishpeming kicked off a multi-month strategic-planning process and guided council through interactive idea-generation exercises based on earlier research and survey results.

Christopher (consultant) summarized the information-gathering phase and said the team used existing city plans and a community survey to identify common focus areas. "So we have a 3 phase process.... The first phase was information gathering and research. Night really ends that phase," the consultant told council.

Brad Newman, who introduced himself as an Extension representative covering Marquette County, said the team collected community input and that top topics in the community survey included trails and transportation, community development and quality of life. "I'm Brad Newman. I'm with extension here in Marquette County," he said. Will Cronin, a community development educator, and other team members led the council through breakout and brainstorming activities to generate concrete action items for the next 3–5 years.

Council and consultants discussed downtown revitalization, housing readiness for developers, maintaining historic structures and youth retention. Consultants will synthesize the ideas from tonight’s workshop and the scheduled public open-house feedback to produce draft priorities and action steps for council review.

What’s next: Consultants will collect the breakout results, incorporate public-open-house feedback scheduled for the following day, and return with a draft strategic-plan framework and recommended actions for council consideration.