Visioneering Wichita...creating the future for our regional community.

Four Vision Task Force Sessions
September 28 – October 1, 2004 – Week 4
Combined Notes

Government

Vision

Before 2024 Wichita will:

1. Have effective governance that reflects and responds to the will of its citizenry in the formation of Wichita’s future.
2. Have an effective, efficient, responsive and accountable government representative of the community’s needs and desires.
3. Produce an effective, efficient, responsible government committee to representative of the community’s needs and desires.
4. Believe in itself, have leadership with integrity and vision that creates an environment that initiates solutions for the whole.
5. Have an efficient, transparent, and accessible government that is responsive to all areas of the community.
6. Have governance that reflects and practices integrity, responsibility, and excellence in all aspects regarding our community.

Strategies

1. Create effective communications between elected officials and residents. Use all available resources for grassroots communications including website, internet, print media, electronic media and newsletters. Expect unbiased and objective analysis of the issues to be widely distributed to the public prior to decision making by government bodies. Desire continued input and work towards community cooperation.
2. Encourage diversity in government in age and race to create a more effective government with solutions that advance our visions of the future. Ensure equity in government interactions with minorities. Engage minorities in the decision making process and create a welcoming environment for minorities.
3. Ensure that government is an encourager not a hindrance.
4. Create a planning function for the metro area.
5. Expect government to be effective, efficient, fiscally responsible, accountable, collaborative, responsive, customer friendly and accessible while increasing productivity.
6. Encourage residents and organizations to become more knowledgeable and involved in government as it affects our daily lives. Get more young people involved in government.
7. Need to work with other regional governments and Kansas communities to build trust, collaboration and a sense of community …….always working for the greater good.
8. Develop a South Central Kansas legislative unified agenda driven by community will and issues and promote its implementation by our legislative delegation. Present the unified agenda prior to the legislative session and issue a report card after the session. Have a Wichita and South Central Kansas Day in Topeka where representatives of all organizations visit with their legislators and provide support for the annual unified agenda. The unified agenda will represent what a broad cross section of South Central Kansas organizations support and expect of legislative action. (Issues that divide us will not be included in the unified agenda.) Ensure there is communication through the media and other communication mediums of Kansas legislative activities to Wichita citizens. Recognize the importance of working together and continuous communication with our legislative delegation. Encourage the South Central Kansas legislative delegation to form coalitions within the state to achieve the unified agenda. (The South Central Kansas delegation has 44 of the 145 representatives of the 145 seat Kansas legislature or 27%.)
9. Consider consolidating services across the region that would result in positive cost-benefit and be effective and efficient.
10. Maintain just and honest equitable taxation.
11. Expect all governments and elements of government within our region to endorse Visioneering Wichita and agree to help implement its strategies and meet its Key Benchmarks while being guided by our Core Values in their decision making.
12. Eliminate the good ole boys network that controls decision and deal making.
13. Increase state and federal dollars committed to Wichita.
14. Ensure presentation of annual budgets in a simple, short form that clearly shows all revenue and expenses and a total net cash flow with forward projections for four years.
15. Promote regional collaboration (i.e. REAP and other regional opportunities) and support public/private partnerships.
16. Maintain Sedgwick County Association of Cities monthly Saturday meetings.
17. Encourage government to benchmark each government process against the best practices available in either the public or private sectors.

Private Sector Leadership

Vision

Before 2024 Wichita will:

1. Have active citizen participation in all levels of a public-private partnership in leading the implementation of Visioneering Wichita.
2. Have quality, creative leaders to implement the strategies of Visioneering Wichita.
3. Continue to push, instigate, initiate and foster an environment that encourages risk taking leadership and to reject being average.
4. Create a community where citizens and private sector leaders combine to build Wichita as a competitive city.
5. Have an active participation of private sector leadership with the passion, integrity, responsibility, and excellence to accomplish Visioneering Wichita.
6. A private sector leadership that is results-based, thus committed to create a “Leadership bench” for continuity sake.

Strategies

1. Improve management and labor relations.
2. Strive to eliminate being paralyzed by fear of the future, change or controversy. Lead and take risks tied with a passion for our common vision.
3. Increase the number of women in leadership roles.
4. Nurture, raise up, support, encourage, and follow private sector leaders of all ages and races who lead by moral and ethical example in their personal and professional lives. Develop new community leaders through accessible development programs. Encourage them to become activists and serve on community board and committees. We need to think and do things differently. Employers need to cooperate and support employee activism and volunteerism.
5. Encourage young people to get involved in leadership and be a force in Visioneering Wichita. Expect youth to develop an interest and be involved in the community. Develop youth leaders and put them on community boards. Mentor 18 to 25 years old and encourage the intergenerational transfer of leadership.
6. Encourage our best leaders to take their turn in appointed positions and elected offices. Support these people while in office even when their positions may diverge from our individual agendas.
7. Encourage all of our citizens to take responsibility for communication within the private sector and public sector.
8. Realize that we are not going to agree on everything but need to move forward on what we have in common in order to meet our Key Benchmarks.
9. Ensure a comprehensive communication process for Visioneering Wichita that includes grassroots communications and keeping our residents and organizations involved.
10. Expect the for-profit, not-for-profit, and faith based sectors within our region to endorse Visioneering Wichita and agree to help implement its strategies and meet its Key Benchmarks. Private sector leadership will take responsibility for meeting our Key Benchmarks.
11. Create a one-stop center that provides opportunities for volunteerism and leadership.
12. Create a grant writing training and assistance network that ensures open accessibility and a dramatic increase in number of grant applications and approvals.
13. When new people arrive in community, have program that will engage them and immediately get them involved in the community.
14. Commit to an annual city visit by public-private sectors groups from the region. The purpose would be to determine best practices in other regions and an in depth communication opportunity for those who participate.
15. Encourage the WSU Center for Urban Studies to convene groups on a periodic basis for in depth analysis on specific regional issues that result in clear recommendations for action by the private and public sector.