From the city of Monrovia:
The City of Monrovia is pleased to announce the launch of Plan Monrovia, a strategic planning process that engages and solicits community feedback to build a roadmap for Monrovia for the next five years. Using a new comprehensive community engagement website, developed by MindMixer, citizens can engage, communicate and collaborate with city leaders and other residents on future planning for the city.
Plan Monrovia is about understanding and voicing the highest priorities for the community and developing City services that meet those needs.
Along the way, the Plan Monrovia website will be used as an online tool to generate new ideas and feedback from citizens to help the city prioritize projects. The goal is to obtain widespread input because as the city moves forward, leaders want to know what is important to every citizen in Monrovia.
Feedback from the engagement website will be used by the city manager and other planners in order to create a roadmap for Monrovia’s programs and services for the next five years.
While Monrovia’s budget is structurally balanced, since 2008, the City has seen a 17% reduction in staffing positions, a $2 million cut of expenditures to some of the city’s key programs. Sales tax revenues have been down 25% and property taxes remain flat. This means that the city must prioritize the programs and services it provides and take a new look at what Monrovia could be doing.
“We are looking to the community to help answer the question, ‘What are the most important things the City should focus on over the next five years,’” said City Manager Laurie Lile. “Like most cities in California, our resources are more limited now, which means we may not be able to provide all of the services we used to or perhaps not in the exact same way. The purpose of this process is to engage our residents, businesses, students, and all Monrovians in discussion about how City resources should be allocated to the community.”
Plan Monrovia gives contributors a chance to share new ideas, second others’ ideas, expand upon existing ideas and give feedback on initiatives, working with the city on a variety of topics online anytime, anywhere.
The discussion will start with topics like these, and branch off from there based on contributor input:
• What are your priorities for Monrovia?
• For every $1,000 of city funds, how would you divvy up the money?
Plan Monrovia measures and tracks participation, identifying the most interested citizens and most compelling topics. MindMixer’s tools make it easy for administrations to communicate back with citizens, and they deliver measurable results and invaluable insights for the city.
“Monrovia is committed to making this process transparent and interactive. We are listening and hope to hear your thoughts and ideas,” says Mayor Mary Ann Lutz. “We hope everyone in our community gets involved in this process. All of the ideas and community voices expressed go into how the City Council makes decisions about programs and services in our upcoming 2013-2015 budget. I encourage all Monrovians to sign on to PlanMonrovia.org.”
Nick Bowden, CEO of MindMixer, says, “Our tools go beyond just technology. Our mission is to build community contributors. Ideas, voices and perspectives are shared to facilitate deeper and better conversations that yield actionable insights and a stronger community.”
As part of its service, MindMixer consults and collaborates with clients to identify issues that are critical to stakeholders in order to update topics and content for their websites.
Apart from the PlanMonrovia.org, the City of Monrovia is offering a myriad of high and low tech ways for Monrovians to get involved and discuss what they value about Monrovia:
“What are the most important things the City should focus on over the next five years?”
- Go Online: www.PlanMonrovia.org
- Email us: PlanMonrovia@ci.monrovia.ca.us
- Call us: (626) 932-5555 x1402
- Text in your answers to (626) 219-0845 (text messaging rates apply)
Community Workshops:
- December 11, 2012, Tuesday, 7-9pm, Monrovia Community Center, 119 W Palm Ave, Monrovia, CA
- January 12, 2013, Saturday, 9-11am, Calvary Chapel Monrovia, 123 W Pomona Ave, Monrovia, CA
