Council presses for more updates on city priorities

Palm Coast Observer
News

Palm Coast City Council members during an Aug. 28 council workshop pressed City Manager Jim Landon to provide more regular feedback on the implementation of the city’s strategic action priorities, a series of measures the council has decided to focus on.

Palm Coast's strategic action priorities:

Evaluate opportunities to work with citizens along FloridaPark Drive to improve landscaping along the roadway
Engage an external consultant to identify options through a traffic engineering study to address traffic issues on Florida Park Drive
Create a stakeholders group to create a new vision for Town Center through a strategic approach
Create a dedicated funding mechanism to support events and programs in pursuit of innovation in Town Center. Utilize stakeholders to create funding program framework
Evaluate thefeasibility of requiring new construction to incorporate a committed fiber port through building code regulations
Evaluate opportunities to improve public facing “public records” search capabilities
Improve communications infrastructure(phone/internetservice) at City Hall and other City facilities to ensure continuum of services
Evaluate existing software product(s)’maintenance costs and technological advancement needs to ensure that long-term financial investment is acceptable or justifies an alternative product
Evaluate Town Center and other locations withinthe southern part of the City with the potential to incorporate a future premier multi-purpose recreation center that all generations are served
Request Florida Power & Light to provide a presentation to City Council to discuss the feasibility of underground utility retrofits and mounting of equipment on utility poles
Develop a robust citizen engagement platform and ensure that cost-benefit analysis includes ongoing maintenance of the platform

Landon sends the council updates quarterly, but Mayor Milissa Holland didn’t find those updates sufficient.

“I just really do feel strongly that we do need to see not just a quarterly sending of it, Jim, but a dialogue,” she said.

Councilman Nick Klufas agreed.

Holland had also been displeased with the vagueness of the dates listed for those projects in a city staff presentation, which listed fiscal years rather than exact dates.

“We need a timeline ... where I’m bringing it back to council by this date,” she said. “This is a very specific goal that I need to know when you’re bringing it back to the council for adoption. … I just need more than ‘FY2019’ and ‘FY20.’”

“OK, that’s good feedback; that’s what we need,” Landon said. He also clarified that the dates listed in the report Holland was frustrated with were end dates, and city staff has more detailed timelines for implementation.