Boardman trustees to map strategy

By Denise Dick

By DENISE DICK

denise_dick@vindy.com

BOARDMAN

Township officials intend to map out a plan for the future during a day-and-a-half retreat this week.

“We’re going to all sit down and talk about what it’s going to take to take Boardman to the next plateau,” said Trustee Thomas Costello.

The sessions begin at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Holiday Inn, South Avenue, running until about 8:30 p.m. It will continue the following morning at the hotel and run through the day.

Such retreats used to be a regular occurrence among township officials, conducted every other year, but the practice was abandoned in recent years. The last such gathering was in 2005.

Administrator Jason Loree said the second day of the retreat includes discussions among the three trustees on the Boardman Plan, a framework of goals and objectives developed and updated by the panel.

“The Boardman Plan is a living document,” Costello said. “Hopefully, the Boardman Plan will outlive the current board. Whoever is sitting in those seats can take the information and go forward with it.”

Loree said each of the four department heads is slated to give a presentation during the retreat regarding the state of their respective departments.

“They’ll talk about where they’re at and where they’re going,” he said.

Costello said those presentations will allow all attendees to learn about departments other than their own.

“We want everyone to have the same information,” he said.

Representatives from each of the township’s employee unions also have been invited to participate. William Leicht, fiscal officer, will review the financial state of the township.

Carlton Sears, director of the Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County, will facilitate a segment on the Harwood Index that documents the five stages of community life.

Those stages are: the waiting place, impasse, catalytic, growth and sustain and renew.

In the waiting place, people sense that things aren’t working well in their community, but they’re unable to define the problem, according to the index.

Impasse is when a community hits rock bottom, and catalytic is when small steps toward change begin.

The growth stage is when people begin to see signs of forward movement, and sustain and renew refers to a stage when a community is ready to take on problems.