In June, council voted to approved a 13-member community visioning committee to develop and lead outreach methods to gather feedback from residents on a variety of topics in the community. The basic premise of the visioning process is to understand holistically the thoughts and feelings of the Worthington community, and to determine who we want to be as a community in the next 20 years.
The committee is comprised of all Worthington residents from different backgrounds and from different parts of town. Council combed through 54 resident applications and interviewed 10. Council, as a whole, approved six residents from this pool to serve on the committee. The other seven residents were appointed by individual council members – one resident per council member.
In the meantime, council has narrowed the field of visioning consultants from 10 to two, and will select a consultant in July so the process can begin. The entire process has been labor intensive for council and we spent additional hours and meetings developing a well-thought-out procedures to ensure an open and fair visioning process.
Council’s goal is to step back from the process once the visioning committee meets with the consultant. The committee will work with the consultant to determine the best methods and outreach strategies to ensure all Worthington residents have an opportunity to participate in some way. The consultant will likely be used for their technical expertise and will keep the committee on a reasonable timeline. During the process, council will have little involvement but will receive regular updates about the progress.
I am confident the outreach will be comprehensive and inclusive of all residents who wish to share their thoughts.
The committee appointees include:
Laura Abu-Absi, E New England Ave
Kathyrn Burris, Boyd Dr
Paul Cynkar, Wethersfield Pl
Cynthia Findlay, Berend St
Matthew Lees, Masefield St
Jon Melchi, Halligan Ave
Linda Mercadante, Colonial Ave
Jack Miner, Samada Ave
Austin Mitchell, Granville Sq
Don Mottley, St. Julien St
Joe Sherman, McBurney Pl
Beth Sommer, Candace Pl
Graham Wood, Morning St