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Council ranks priorities for city

Members: Economic development tops list

At a recent City Council meeting, Manager Ken Decker conducted an exercise to identify the issues that council regards as most important, using cards on a table — each representing a potential priority — and poker chips distributed to members in numbers that were in inverse relation to their value.

To provide humorous background, Councilman Bruce Kelley called up the “Chicken Dance” on his tablet, so milling members seemed to be at a wedding reception, although it’s uncertain whether they’ll remain married to the results, which showed economic development to be most important, followed at a distance by avoiding tax increases, reducing blight and revitalizing downtown — all of which were within a point of one another.

Those top four priorities are key, because if council can make headway on those, the other issues will take care of themselves, as there will be sufficient money to take care of them, Councilman Dave Butterbaugh said Friday after the results were tallied.

Economic development, the top priority, is tantamount to growing the tax base, Butterbaugh said.

Creating and retaining jobs, ones that provide wages high enough to raise a family on, coupled with good benefits, including retirement, were concerns for Councilman Jesse Ickes.

The exercise should help Decker understand council’s “strategic vision,” which is necessary for him, because he was hired to execute it, said Councilman Joe Carper.

All the potential priorities on the list actually have merit, even those which received little or no support, Carper said.

After downtown revitalization came improved road maintenance; followed by market compensation for employees and occupational licensing reform in a tie; then debt reduction, improved sidewalks in residential areas, better pedestrian accommodations and full pension funding in a tie; police retention and strategic marketing and branding in a tie; followed by street trees; then stormwater management and increased social media presence in a tie, then commercial vehicle parking and public safety building improvements — tied with no points.

The lesser priorities may not have generated much support simply because council members were given a limited number of chips, Carper said.

“I hope we can get through to (work on) everything,” Carper said.

One of the middling issues, debt reduction, is especially important to him, said Ickes, a financial adviser.

“It’s food for discussion,” said Decker. “A good starting point.”

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