Mayor Andy Lang said Monday’s five-hour strategic planning meeting was eventful. Lang, Council members, City Manager Randy Wetmore, City Attorney Dean Ramsey and city department heads met at Bridgeport Conference Center, putting their heads together to create future goals for the City of Bridgeport.

 

Wetmore, who has served as city manager since September, led most of the discussion, Lang said.

 

“He had gathered data of where the city was 10 years ago, as well as today,” Lang said. “That included property values, population, the amount of active business licenses, the city budget, water meter usage and other data.”

 

For example, Lang said, the city today has 10 more miles of city streets to maintain than it did a decade ago.

 

“We went from 55 miles to 65 miles of city streets,” he said.

 

The plan, Lang said, was to compare where the city was 10 years ago, presently and project 10 years into the future.

 

Prior meetings between Lang and Council members, as well as department heads, had previously taken place. Monday was the first night all the information and individuals were brought to the same table.

 

“We talked about police and the police facility, the fire department and facilities, taxes and revenue and the amount of employees it takes to bring these services to the community,” Lang said. “We talked about emergency services, parks, public works, the utility board and alternate water supplies; a topic which has been brought up a number of times.”

 

The meeting also included talk about potential improvements to Hinkle & Deegan Lakes Park, school safety and sidewalks and street lights and code enforcement of residential neighborhoods.

 

The 2017 and 2018 strategic planning notes were reviewed and notes were made on items that still needed attention.

 

Wetmore asked everyone in attendance to come up with five to six bullet points on each category discussed and said he would communicate with each Council member and department head which projects were attainable within the next year or two – or further into the future.

Notes covering all topics will be disbursed probably sometime next week.

 

“It was a good meeting,” Lang said. “We talked about a lot of things and for being here only four months, Mr. Wetmore did a great job.”

 

Lang said members of the community can follow progression of items discussed by tracking coverage of future City Council meetings.

 

“Look for some pretty hefty stuff in the work sessions over the next four or five months,” he said.