City leaders discuss ideas at strategic planning session
RANDOLPH — Randolph City Council members and other concerned citizens met Jan. 16 with economic development professionals to advance the city’s strategic planning process.
This session is phase one of the strategic planning process.
Randolph’s economic development coordinator Janelle Biernbaum directed discussion of the more than a dozen individuals gathered. Another meeting will be scheduled by Biernbaum in a few weeks.
Economic development professionals on hand included Lowell Schroeder, Andrea Larson, Lyndsy James and Abbi Lindgren. Individuals suggested the group look at a Brownfield’s Webinar for redevelopment ideas, among other suggestions.
The entire group discussed issues and arrived at four main goals for the city.
They included:
• work on the floodplain to eliminate it or reduce it significantly
• retain and attract new businesses
• secure development grants
• establish or develop an industrial park.
“This session gives us an opportunity to conduct a planning session, review goals, discuss results from a January 2020 survey monkey inquiry and look at the memorandum from June 2017,’’ Biernbaum said. “The floodplain is something that really hampers our expansion.’’
The group reviewed the “Next Steps Memorandum for Randolph,’ including ‘’sustainable strategies for small cities and rural areas building blocks technical assistance’’ from June 2, 2017. They also looked at notes from a 2016 strategic planning session.
The EPA workshop began with a bus tour of Randolph with the first workshop event on April 27, 2017 at the auditorium.
The EPA booklet contains more than 12 pages including photos of the community. It was assembled through the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA).
The memo documents the key outcomes of the technical assistance for Randolph with the Sustainable Strategies for Small Cities and Rural Areas tool, and identifies key community issues.
The three stages of technical assistance included efforts to assess, convene and take next steps.
Challenges have been assessed as floodplain constraints, limited housing choices, vacant and under utilized commercial buildings, lack of essential services for young families, lack of community gathering spaces and the perception of city boundaries.
Other issues addressed included a robust planning framework, local businesses, investment in young families, identity pride and branding, the demand for housing for older residents.
Three goals emerged including launching and fostering a downtown business association, increasing housing supply and choices, attracting and retaining young families.
The USACE floodplain abatement project has been a major opportunity for Randolph.
“Our best chances of start-ups for business are local people,’’ Mayor George Bradley said. “Although now retired, I retired from teaching and started a cabinet and furniture business here in Randolph.’’
Agreeing about the local connection, Mark Korth, a local farmer and the husband of a small downtown business operator, pointed out an idea to help business owners retire and replace the people within the business with individuals interested in taking over.
“I feel we should put emphasis on existing groups rather than add another group that people have to attend meetings for,’’ Korth said. “We need to work with what we do have. Do we have a prospective investor that would be interested in putting up a building or investing in a start-up business? We all have priorities in mind, but what are the must haves. We need to speak to those business owners in our town and say what do you foresee as a problem that could possibly cause you to close? What can we do for you? How do we keep these businesses from moving away? We can’t afford to lose the businesses that we have.’’
Some discussion was entertained within the 2020 meeting group about a mission statement for Randolph, although the consensus seemed to result in individuals expressing this was not a priority.
