The Ranier City Council invited residents and stakeholders to take part in a community vision planning forum on Tuesday. The process begins an effort to develop a community plan that will guide future planning.
The meeting was officiated by staff from the Arrowhead Regional Development Commission of Duluth.
ARDC is a planning and development organization that assists northeast Minnesota communities including Koochiching County. The public forum will help develop a future community plan by building leadership to set goals and objectives that coincide with its vision.
Stakeholders included city residents and residents near Ranier. Many of the resident outside city limits are Ranier water customers and were concerned about costs and upgrades.
Participants broke into groups to discuss city assets, concerns and what they felt was their vision for the future of Ranier.
Andrew Hubley, ARDC director of regional planning, and Ben VanTassel, planner, came from the Duluth office to assist the Ranier City Council and residents in creating a public forum and will compile a follow-up report.
Hubley said the meeting was information gathering in the areas of identifying assets, needs and problems. He emphasized that discussions focused on input and not on decision making. A second public meeting will be held along with two other sessions with the city council.
“It was a very informative discussion and comments will be taken back to ARDC and put together into a draft plan to be resubmitted for review,” said Ranier Mayor Ed Oerichbauer.
The ARDC project is necessary, he added, as the city council is a part time elected body of officials that sometimes require the consultation of professionals such as these planners.
Oerichbauer said he was pleased that the meeting was able to provide for input from various residents and the surrounding community about city services, growth and development, transportation, economics, recreation, and intergovernmental relationships.
Kim Nuthak, city clerk, said the meeting was a starting point to look at the next 100 years. The group presented input on change and concern for the future, she said.
“Some of the assets noted were of keeping with a small town feel and the small town atmosphere,” she said, noting that individual issues were also brought up at the meeting.
“Some of the worry centered on losing the ‘Ranier feel’ and discussion like that,” she added. “So a major asset was of having a small town and keeping that way.”
Nuthak said some residents were unaware that the city council is already working on some of the expressed concerns, from the water lines to the railroad congestion and noise.
Feedback produced by each group was gathered by ARDC staff, who will organize the information and present expert background input for each item at the next meeting.
Some people expressed concern that residents were given short notice for the meeting. However, Nuthak said flyers were sent out immediately upon receiving them and a week prior to the Tuesday meeting. She said notice was printed in the newspaper, mailed to every home using the city water service and posted in Ranier public areas.
“The meeting went well and better than what I had anticipated,” she added. “ARDC did a wonderful job of getting information and hearing from everybody.”
