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Ashland, Oregon HOME Valley & State Sports Nation & World Opinion/Editorial Classifieds Business Columnists Local Issues Obituaries Weather Archive Revels Etcetera Backpage Hot Topics Most Viewed Forum Photo Galleries Video Readers Polls O-Zone Online Games Movie Preview Special Sections Real Estate Guide Menu Guide Shakespeare Subscribe Contact Us Rate Card Place an Ad May 26, 2006 City will launch community visioning By Vickie Aldous Ashland Daily Tidings Many cuts in the budget were recommended by the city’s budget committee Thursday, including a decision to deny Ashland Police Department’s request for three additional officers. As a result, downtown patrols may suffer, according to Deputy Chief Rick Walsh. Despite the cuts the committee voted to raise property taxes. Orville Hector | Daily Tidings When it comes to planning for the future, community members will be asked to look beyond the downtown and at Ashland as a whole. On Wednesday night, the Ashland Citizens’ Budget Committee approved $100,000 to help fund a Community Visioning Plan. The move came less than a week after Mayor John Morrison cast the tie-breaking vote in an Ashland City Council decision not to fund a Downtown Plan in the coming fiscal year, which begins in July. Morrison, who has long sought approval of a community visioning plan, said Ashland is at a crossroads and needs to figure out a direction for its future. “This is really important,” Morrison said after the budget committee meeting. “We’re not immediately going forward with the Downtown Plan. This visioning plan will help us. The vote the other night was not to kill it (the Downtown Plan), but not to have it this budget cycle. The community needs to get together behind a common vision.” The budget committee is made up of residents, the mayor and the city council. Resident budget committee member Dee Anne Everson said the City of Medford went through a community visioning process that had high participation rates and helped the city set priorities. But Lynn Thompson, also a resident member of the budget committee, said she considered the community visioning process to be a luxury item and feared only the people who are constantly complaining about the current state of affairs would participate. A push for more public art , like this sculpture on the corner of Lithia Way and Pioneer Street, received a recommendation for $10,000 from the Ashland Citizens’ Budget Committee on Thursday. Orville Hector | Daily Tidings “To add $100,000 for a community visioning process isn’t warranted,” she said. Morrison said the city will need to hire a consultant to help with the visioning process. Issues covered should include the relationship between the downtown and the rest of Ashland, community values, the proper way to expand if that is warranted, schools and education and economic growth, he said. The citizens’ budget committee approved other items to aid in planning. While the Ashland Community Development Department is still in flux and doesn’t have a director, the committee approved $34,000 for the department to hire an additional planner in January 2007, mid-way through the fiscal year. Interim Community Development Department Director Bill Molnar said the department might have more stability by that time and could consider bringing another person on board. Morrison said that now that new City Administrator Martha Bennett has been hired and has begun work, he and city staff will turn their full attention to hiring a new community development director. Bennett began work on Monday, replacing Gino Grimaldi, who became city manager for Springfield. “The search for the community development director is on the fast track,” Morrison said, estimating the new person would be in place in six to seven months. The mayor appoints department heads with city council confirmation. Money for a community development director was already included in the budget. In other additions, the budget committee allocated $2,000 to provide materials and meeting space rentals for public forums for a new economic development committee. The committee will gather public input and craft an economic development plan. The budget committee earmarked $10,000 for the Ashland Public Arts Commission to get professional help in making a Public Arts Master Plan. “That’s fantastic!” said Ashland Public Arts Commission Chair Melissa Markell upon hearing word of the budget committee’s approval. The plan will serve as the guiding document for public arts projects. With a plan in place, the city council might be more willing to allocate public funding for public art. Private and foundation donors also would be more willing to give for arts projects, Markell said. The city council must still give final approval for the budget in June. Staff writer Vickie Aldous can be reached at 479-8199 or [email protected]. . Leave a Comment: --> Copyright © 2006 Ashland Daily Tidings and Ottaway Newspapers. All Rights Reserved.