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On February 12th, City Council, with members of the public and City of Gilroy executive staff, gathered for our Strategic Planning Session. Over a five-hour period the Council publicly discussed and prioritized ideas that we feel will best meet the needs of our community over the next two plus years. Each member of council, as well as members of the public, was given an opportunity to speak and share their ideas. The video of that meeting can be found on the City’s YouTube channel.
The conversation was productive, respectful, and well-rounded. Some of the many important topics discussed were the un-housed, public safety, customer and business service, unfunded liabilities, code enforcement, city aesthetics, economic development and more.
A topic that found a lot of common ground at the planning session was economic development. A popular method for cities to provide additional services for its community members, above and beyond the basics, is by generating sales tax revenue by stimulating economic activity. This can often be achieved by implementing an aggressive economic development program.
For the next three months there will be additional workshops and meetings, all open to the public, where council will hear from members of the community and staff to further define the best way to assign tax dollars in our city. Throughout this process the City Administrator and the executive staff will continue to provide budget estimates associated with the prioritized ideas that council eventually hopes to carry out. Council and staff will be tasked with balancing the wants and needs of the community with a limited amount of money. Our goal is to have a final list of priorities and corresponding budget ready for approval by Monday, June 2nd.
The public can play a role in this process by contacting and/or writing to all Council Members. Contact information for each Council Member can be found on the Council page of the City website. Additionally, you can voice your opinions during the City Council meetings during the public comment section of each council meeting. To discuss your priorities, in person, come chat with me at Coffee-with-the-Mayor on March 1st at 9:30 AM in Council Chambers. For those who can’t make it, a video of this meeting, and all future ones, will be posted to the City of Gilroy YouTube channel. Hope to see you there!
Sincerely,
Mayor Greg Bozzo
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