LETTERS: Marion's plan: the rest of the story years ago
To the Editor:
I wish to say thanks to those folks that sponsored and assisted with the candidate forum Sunday afternoon. Your hard work is appreciated. And thanks to the candidates for their responses and statements, and for their willingness to step up and serve.
As I walked away from the forum I felt a part of the story isn't being told concerning the city's plan for the future. There was considerable talk about the need for a "professionally-facilitated strategic plan" by one of the forum candidates and I'm happy to report that just such a professionally-facilitated comprehensive plan is approximately 75 percent completed. Comprehensive plans tend to have more details and specific information than strategic plans.
The development of the plan involves the work of the dedicated members of the Marion City Planning and Zoning Commission. The Marion City Council asked the commission to create a new city comprehensive plan as authorized by Kansas Statute 12-747 and the commission has worked for almost a year in preparing the new plan that will guide the city into the future and should have it completed and ready for city council review shortly.
For the record, the professional facilitation of the planning process has been my responsibility. While my position as chairman of the commission certainly does not justify the facilitator role, I believe my credentials do.
I am a licensed behaviorist in Kansas and hold a master's degree in behavior disorders in special education. Prior to moving to Marion in 1999, I left the classroom for several years to work on a $2,500,000 federal systems change project. One of my major responsibilities was the organization of groups across the state and the facilitation of strategic plans to guide each group as they determined their visions of the future by developing appropriate goals and objectives and the strategies to reach them.
The Marion City Planning and Zoning Commission is working to stay on top of the planning issue and would invite you to attend our next work session at 7 p.m. Thursday in the city council chambers.
Roger Schwab
Marion City Planning and
Zoning Commission
chairman
