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032601 CC WS Min . . . CITY OF SHOREWOOD CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2001 5755 COUNTRY CLUB ROAD COUNCIL CHAMBERS 8:00 P.M. or immediately following Regular meeting MINUTES 1. CONVENE CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MEETING Mayor Love called the meeting to order at 9:40 P.M. A. Roll Call Present: Mayor Love; Council Members Garfunkel, Lizee and Turgeon; City Administrator Dawson; Director Nielsen; and Planning Commissioner Woodruff Absent: Council Member Zerby B. Review Agenda Lizee moved, Garfunkel seconded, approving the agenda as presented. Motion passed 4/0. 2. DICUSSION ON COMMUNITY VISIONING Administrator Dawson introduced Bruce Chamberlain, Vice-President of the Hoisington Koegler Group Inc., to explain how his firm plans to maintain and enhance the quality of life in Shorewood via a unique visioning process designed for the community. Chamberlain explained that HKGI's role in the visioning process is to facilitate the process, and provide the planning and design expertise needed to come to decisions surrounding the issues at hand. He maintained that the visioning process provides Shore wood with a way to tell its unique story and suggest possible futures. Chamberlain went on to explain that this process also aids in bridging the divides. All communities experience differences of opinion - especially when envisioning the community's future. Finally, the visioning process finds shared passions that a community can rally around. Chamberlain proposed a two-stage work program. The first is the "scoping stage", during which background information is gathered pertinent to the project and they determine how the visioning process will interact with the public. The "community visioning stage" will follow on the heels of and be defined by the scoping stage. Chamberlain introduced two consulting groups to expand the community outreach expertise. The first was the Lawless Institute, a market and user research firm specializing in relationships between people, place, and culture. The other was MMC Associates, a communications firm that specializes in the development of communication plans and products. Representatives of all three firms shared that HKGI will lead the process, facilitate all meetings and collect background information over the next one to two months. The Lawless Institute will then develop a community involvement strategy that could include various community surveys, public workshops and so on. MMC Associates will prepare a communication strategy that could make use of an array of communication tools including newsletters, press releases, on-line communication, etc. . . . ..).' "CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2001 Page 2 of 3 A. QUESTION AND ANSWER PHASE Peggy Lawless, of the Lawless Institute asked what the City Council would like to learn from community members regarding this process. Mayor Love shared that the questions he has heard most often over the past 8-10 years has been the question of livability and what do our residents see as a common identity. Lizee inquired whether this common identity involves or where it is in relation to the other South Lakes Communities. Mayor Love added that it may be useful to gain the views from other stakeholders in the community, such as chambers of commerce, American Legion, etc., when we ask how we all fit together. Lawless then asked how involved out community members are. Mayor Love pointed out that there is more cooperation today between the various South Lake Communities than ever before. Cooperative efforts are just now being explored in respect to joint public works, police and fire, etc. In the past, barriers seemed to have existed between the cities but this seems to be changing. Woodruff stated that much of the difficulties arise from the erratic nature of our boundaries. She maintained that our community is very diverse, not only by boundary, but also the different services provided to our residents from different directions. Lizee added that there is a generational diversity as well. Lizee expressed her interest in learning what the attitudes will be from a broad spectrum of people and was curious why other communities were not joining Shorewood in its visioning efforts. Mayor Love encouraged the Council to focus on Shorewood's visioning process and was hopeful other communities would follow suit. Turgeon cautioned that our residents are hesitant to get involved unless there is a hot issue up for debate. She questioned how we could communicate the process to them to encourage their involvement and relay to the public that they truly have a stake in the outcome. Lawless inquired whether people would respond to personal invitations to get involved in the visioning process. She asked if a random sampling of residents could be assembled and proposed different ideas. Dawson felt confident that people would respond to such an invitation. Generally, he maintained, that people do like the one-on-one opportunity to participate in a study. Debbie Meister, of MMC Associates, asked where people mostly get their information on local issues. Lizee answered that although the "grapevine" works best, there are publications like the ShorewoodlExcelsior Sun Sailor, the Laker and Lakeshore Weekly News which have good readership. Woodruff maintained that one cannot isolate Shore wood by its borders and that there is crossover. Mayor Love suggested the answer may be giving voice to all residents, whether a Shorewood resident or not. Garfunkel felt that the communication aspect was not the problem. He asserted that the City is very good at getting information out, on the other hand, getting the response necessary is another matter. Mayor Love stated that even if we find out people like the City just the way it is, the question remains, how do we keep it that way. Lawless asked if there was demographic information available, what the turnover is in the community .. . . . t.' .. CITY COUNCIL WORK SESSION MINUTES MONDAY, MARCH 26, 2001 Page 3 of3 and whom it might be best to communicate through, be it seniors or youths. Lizee suggested using the schools to get the information out to parents and families. She noted, the seniors were also another active audience who get things done in the community. Lawless then asked one final question of the Council. She inquired what is said when people ask where do you live. Many Council members replied that they say Shorewood, while others pointed out their reply is often Shorewood, west of Excelsior by Lake Minnetonka. Chamberlain recognized that there seems to be a strong need for the people in the community to identify with something in order to get involved and, in order, to tie them all together. Mayor Love agreed that, although he is beginning to see it, he'd like to see more of a willingness of people to come together. In conclusion, Chamberlain pointed out that while this will be a challenging process to get our "arms around", he is beginning to get a picture of what's going on. The next step will be to have a tour of the Community via the Senior Center bus in the next several weeks. 3. ADJOURN Lizee moved, Garfunkel seconded, adjourning the City Council Work Session of March 26, 2001, at 10:46 P.M. Motion passed 4/0. RESPECTFULLY SUBMITTED. Kristi Anderson Recording Secretary a Woody Love, Mayor