A Community Forum took place Monday, June 30, at 6 p.m. at Park Place to gather information from residents for use by the Pentwater Village Council in formulating a new Strategic Plan. Council President Mary Marshall and Village Manager Rachel Witherspoon have gone to great lengths to solicit community input for the council’s use. An online form has captured responses from 90 residents thus far and will continue to collect responses until July 10.
Chet Janik, a consultant with the Michigan Leadership Institute, has personally contacted 40 persons suggested by Marshall and Witherspoon. In addition, he met with 20 community leaders invited by Marshall to a luncheon on Monday for their input, and he met with 15 residents at the forum Monday night. Results from all of these efforts will be collated and printed for distribution in September.
The input being sought is in the commonly used format of a SWOT analysis. This format asks participants to share their thoughts on the Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats in their community. At the forum on Monday night, each of four small discussion groups shared several ideas in each category, which were written on posters. Then all the participants had the opportunity to place stickers behind the ideas they considered most important. After considering the conversations, participants were invited to share goals for the council to include in their strategic plan. Janik stressed the importance of choosing a limited number of goals, perhaps four, to be able to achieve them. He also said the goals needed to be specific, measurable and attainable.
The mantra “iron sharpens iron,” which underscores the value of sharing ideas to broaden viewpoints and to reach consensus, was on display at the forum. Goals that were expressed included a range of possibilities from deer management and village beautification to long-term solutions for channel management, more year-round businesses and a decrease in rentals.
Any residents who have not yet participated are encouraged to do so online by July 10, using the link https://www.surveymonkey.com/r....
