The city of Elsmere adopted its first ever strategic plan at a special City Council meeting held at the Elsmere Senior Center. Elsmere, a city with 8,500 residents in Kenton County, has been in the process of creating this document for over six months, which involved significant business and public engagement.
The 2016 Elsmere Strategic Plan is the culmination of hard work by the entire community, including citizens, elected officials, and city staff and is specifically tailored for Elsmere. City leaders and residents were assisted in crafting the plan by community development advisors, Tad Long and Bobbie Bryant, of the Kentucky League of Cities.
The strategic plan itself is based on the comments and suggestions of city residents, elected officials, city staff, and business owners from numerous public meetings, many of which had over 100 individuals in attendance. Upon its adoption, it became a guide to direct Elsmere’s financial resources and staff efforts for the next 5 to 10 years.
“I am proud that this plan was formulated based on resident input,” said Mayor Marty Lenhof. “We’re really excited that that Elsmere citizens came out and told us what direction that they want the city to move. What we’ve got now is an excellent roadmap for improvements we can make over the next 5 to 10 years. It really gives us as elected officials a clear idea of what citizens want us to be doing and how they want to see their tax dollars spent.”
In general, the plan focuses on housing redevelopment and beautification in Elsmere, park and greenspace improvements, and strengthening economic development efforts, especially in the retail arena.
Some items from the plan have already been put into action, including the creation of a citywide cleanup that took place in April, increased blight and nuisance enforcement efforts, and refocusing the proposed 2016-2017 budget to achieve plan initiatives.
A limited number of copies of the Elsmere Strategic Plan are available for pick up at the Elsmere City Building, 318 Garvey Ave., or citizens may download a copy from the city’s website, www.cityofelsemere.com.
For more information or for comment, Mayor Marty Lenhof (Lenhof@cityofelsmere.com), or City Administrator Alex Mattingly (Mattingly@cityofelsmere.com).