Focus 2015 Vision Plan workshop Monday

The City of St Augustine announced to Historic City News local reporters that the public will be invited to speak at Monday morning’s workshop; the second held in furtherance of Commissioner Roxanne Horvath’s agenda to revisit the current city-wide vision statement and documents compiled in 1995.

Unlike the outset of the city’s multi-million dollar 450th Commemoration project; the first people being brought in to speak will be those who led the last community-wide visioning project nearly twenty years ago.

The three speakers offering historical perspectives from 1995, are Greg Baker, mayor at the time of the visioning project; Joe Gordy, who served as chairman of the project; and Dr. William Abare, who was a member of the project’s steering committee.

The agenda also includes brief presentations by Rhey Palmer, president of the St. Augustine Neighborhood Council, and Len Weeks, president of the Historic St. Augustine Area Council as a way of offering general input from residents and merchants.

At the initial Focus 2015 Vision Plan workshop, Horvath told Historic City News reporters and announced at the outset that there would be “no public comment”; but, at the insistence of Vice-Mayor Nancy Sikes-Kline, when the meeting concluded about twenty-five minutes early, the remainder of the time was offered to anyone in the audience who wished to speak. Time has specifically been reserved at Monday’s workshop for public comments.

A large portion of the workshop is likely to center around the actual format of the program — such as if it will include topical committees, or town hall meetings. Horvath has suggested that the city may to hire a “professional facilitator” before plans go much further. There will be further discussion Monday of whether or not a professional will be utilized to facilitate the program, according to Paul Williamson, Public Affairs Director.

If you plan to attend, the Focus 2015 Vision Plan workshop will be held Monday, November 4th, beginning at 9:30 a.m. in the Alcazar Room of the City Hall Building located at 75 King Street in St Augustine. Those wishing to receive updates regarding the visioning program may send an email requesting such information to vision@citystaug.com. Additional information, including the complete text of the 1995 St. Augustine Vision Planning Project and subsequent status reports in 1996 and 1998, are available at www.visionstaug.com.