The Hood River City Council’s 2021 Work Plan is in place after the plan developed from its early February work session was approved. At its virtual workshop, Council affirmed long-term goals and the most important projects for the organization to undertake in 2021. A new goal to work towards an equitable and inclusive community was added.
City Council goals represent long-term outcomes for the community and the City Council Work Plan is a list of specific and prioritized projects that the City will complete or make progress on this year. Many projects are anticipated to occur over multiple years.
At the end of 2020, the City sought public input for project ideas in online and print surveys and received feedback from 125 community members. “We had double the amount of feedback from the community this year and are grateful to all who contributed ideas,” Mayor Kate McBride said. “It was helpful to understand issues important to the public and what they’d like the City to work on to move some of our goals forward. This input helps guide decisions and actions we want to take.”
Mayor McBride and councilors Mark Zanmiller, Megan Saunders, Erick Haynie, Jessica Metta, Tim Counihan and Gladys Rivera attended the work session virtually, this year all with previous annual work session experience. City Manager Rachael Fuller presented the proposed City Council Work Plan and department heads were present to answer questions or add information. The public was able to listen in live via Zoom, and the recorded session is posted on the meetings page of the City’s website.
“We have an ambitious set of projects this year and we look forward to working with the community to accomplish them. We expect some projects may go into 2022 and beyond since many of these are multi-year projects,” said Mayor McBride.
City staff will build the FY 2021-22 budget based on the direction from the City Council Work Plan.
City Council is expected to formally adopt its 2021 Council Work Plan document at its February 22nd meeting. Soon after, the 2021 Work Plan will be found on the City Council goals page of the City’s website, cityofhoodriver.gov.
Hood River City Council long-range outcomes include:
- An equitable and diverse housing inventory
- An equitable and inclusive community
- Informed and engaged community
- Efficient and safe transportation system for walkers, bikers, transit riders and drivers
- Well-maintained community
- Environmentally sustainable and resilient community
- Adequate parks and open space