Council receives Strategic Plan update
By Kathy McCarty
Staff Writer
PRESQUE ISLE — Councilors received an update on the city’s Strategic Plan during their May meeting, with a presentation provided by Calvin Hall, chair of the Strategic Plan Steering Committee, and City Manager Jim Bennett.
Using PowerPoint slides, Bennett said it was necessary for the city to set priorities for the next two to five years, and that’s where the plan comes in.
“You can’t figure out where to go if you don’t have a plan,” said Bennett.
Bennett offered details as to some of the opportunities and challenges the community faces.
“The percent of people who work and live in Presque Isle is about 78 percent — much higher than the U.S. average. This means people aren’t wasting time commuting, which factors into quality of life. Residents are also about five times less likely to be a victim of crime as those living elsewhere in the U.S.,” said Bennett.
On the negative side, Bennett said people from away aren’t familiar with what the city has to offer.
“There’s a lack of area marketing. There’s also a spirit of complacency. People fail to realize the world is a much smaller place,” said Bennett.
“We have the opportunity to become a place where things are happening. There’s also an opposite trend, people have a desire to come back and businesses aren’t limited geographically,” he said.
“The plan is now ready for Council’s adoption. About a year ago councilors endorsed doing a plan that would include SWOT — strengths, weaknesses (internal), opportunities and threats (external),” Bennett said.
Hall talked economics, noting the city should “avoid business that would create a negative view or distract from existing businesses.”
He also discussed better use of city-owned property and the acquisition of possible prime real estate.
“If we relocate the MDOT facility, that’s a very valuable parcel. They want to work with us. We could also develop the Cunningham school lot, due to proximity to downtown and schools,” said Hall.
Hall said the plan called for city officials to maintain a “visitation program” whereby representatives of the city would, from time to time, visit local businesses.
“By city officials maintaining a visiting schedule, it shows we’re business friendly and keeps a line of communication open,” he said.
Hall saw several strengths that will serve to promote the area for years to come, including agriculture and education. He said there was a “need for balance and setting up opportunities for a ‘natural’ trend (with regard to agriculture)” and that “not many communities have the mix of educational opportunities available here.”
Hall recommended a housing inventory be done, to provide an accurate list of what is available. He also said eliminating unsafe housing and promoting safe housing alternatives would make the community more inviting to potential new residents.
Transportation was also discussed, including support of the east-west bypass, encouraging rail growth and promoting use of the airport — not just for flights but as a training site.
Energy and technology was also discussed, from retrofitting buildings and doing energy audits to “staying ahead of the curve” with regard to Internet access.
Hall emphasized the importance of promoting the area’s natural resources and continuing efforts to revitalize the downtown.
“By doing these things, you increase the community’s desirability,” said Hall.
Bennett discussed the need to create a signature event for the city as well as coming up with a more definitive slogan/motto for Presque Isle.
“As you think of ‘hub of Aroostook,’ it doesn’t give a lot of feeling. When you’re thinking motto/slogan, think emotional reaction. We’re looking for emotional reaction, not intellectual,” said Bennett.
“There’s no branding within the city. We need to start creating a branding message internally and make it identifiable with Presque Isle,” said Hall. “We encourage agencies to use Presque Isle as their headquarters — get agencies to consolidate, get everything local — all coming to Presque Isle as the central location.”
Hall said a wise man once told him communities don’t just stay stagnant, either they move forward or backwards.
“There’s always been a sense Presque Isle wants to move forward. We encourage councilors to adopt a plan that takes us in that direction. This is a living document too,” said Hall, noting the plan would be presented to various groups in the coming weeks, to get more public input.
“The sense is the more we get out there and people have dialogue about it, the less likely we’ll have problems. This is a very powerful document. If you don’t spend time up front getting people to understand, you’ll end up with major problems,” said Bennett.
