Council approves new strategic plan

Enon group worked for a year on update to 1990s document.

The strategic plan that involved about a year’s worth of committee work — including a semester-long study on community living by Ohio State University students — was approved last week by Enon council.

Enon Strategic Plan Chapter 2 sets the path for the next decade and a half of advances in technology, facilities and equipment, streets and sidewalks, police protection, growth and annexation, water services, emergency planning, community living and form of government in the village.

ESP Chapter 2 is intended to guide the village in its bid to attract younger residents while keeping the values that residents hold dear, Committee Chairman and Councilman Jerry Crane said.

The topics of emergency planning, community living and form of government were first introduced to council at their meeting Tuesday before the entire plan was approved by a 5-0 vote. One council member was absent.

Emergency planning: install a back-up power system at the government center; review the county's emergency plan and consider village adoption; define a list of residents who might need extra help during an emergency; determine if other equipment is needed to ensure the integrity of the water supply during an emergency; encourage residents to develop family emergency plans and provide tips and education to do so.

Community living: maintain hometown values; be proactive in attracting companies or businesses and assist them in success; build recreation trails on existing railroad beds; review OSU student-proposed land uses to determine if design guidelines should be implemented; create a motto and logo that encompasses Enon's community values; explore the need for a community gathering place; improve overall appearance; improve communications with residents and other local governing bodies; participate with the Western Clark County Business Coalition; establish a committee to welcome new residents; review other OSU student recommendations.

Form of government: explore the option of establishing a charter committee to define a charter for the village.

If approved at the ballot box, a charter potentially would replace the village administrator with a village manager and establish a financial officer position. The mayor, six councilmen and clerk would still be elected by voters on alternate years.

The village currently operates under a statutory form of government.

“Planning for the future is sometimes a painful experience, but to not plan can be even more painful,” Crane said.

Officials said they hope to publish a copy of the report on the village website.

But, of “all the things that we do, and anything that we change, we’ve gotta keep those hometown values in focus and make sure the next 15 years we don’t do something that disturbs the things that brought us to this community,” Crane said. “That’s why (ESP Chapter 2) was so hard, because you can come up with all kinds of changes, but you don’t really want change for change sake, you want change that really means something.”

The first plan was introduced in 1996 and included sections on economic progress and a ninth topic reviewing recruitment of fire and EMS personnel, according to the report. That ESP committee gave 39 recommendations to complete over 15 years, only six of which remained incomplete in 2012.

Nearly 20 council members, residents and committee members and about 20 OSU students contributed to ESP Chapter 2.

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