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Janesville City Council's top goal: Jobs

JANESVILLE — The Janesville City Council has a goal to create 500 to 1,000 jobs by December 2013.

Job creation surfaced as the top priority when members met at a retreat in June.

Since then, Manager Eric Levitt has worked with staff to determine what staff initiatives fulfill the goals and what new initiatives might be required.

The council is scheduled to discuss its priorities at its meeting Monday night.

"When we did a similar exercise three years ago, we

didn't specify (city) department objectives," Levitt said.

That made it harder for the council to measure whether the goals were being met, he said.

The council's seven priorities and how department objectives might fit in are:

-- Job creation. Initiatives include marketing the city worldwide, recruiting for the Janesville Innovation Center, partnering with other cities in the region and revitalizing the downtown.

-- Allocating staff to accomplish goals and increase efficiency. That would include, for example, the city's switch to automated trash/recycling collection and more frequent updates of property values to keep them closer to fair market value, Levitt said.

-- Maintaining the city's infrastructure with reasonable borrowing. Upcoming challenges include replacing parking lost when the downtown parking plaza over the Rock River is removed, locating a site and beginning construction of a central fire station, building the bus garage and evaluating the roofs of city buildings.

-- Embracing public and private partnerships to improve the city.

-- Establishing and maintaining quality service levels. That includes completing a plan for animal control and evaluating leisure services concession contracts.

-- Reviewing employee benefits and contracts to develop an acceptable level of benefits to fit with fiscal realities, Levitt said.

-- Stabilize neighborhoods that have deteriorated or are at risk of deteriorating. Current programs include home rehabilitation and demolition with federal and city funds and a lead reduction demolition grant program.

ON THE AGENDA

The Janesville City Council will meet at 7 p.m. Monday in City Hall, 18 N. Jackson St.

The council will consider bids to repair deteriorating girders on the downtown parking plaza. Total project cost would be $175,000, including consultant and engineering costs. The project would reopen about 100 closed stalls. Staff have said the repairs would buy the city about four years to plan the best ways to create parking and get grants as part of an overall plan to improve the riverfront. At least two council members at a previous meeting were hesitant to spend that much on a structure that likely would be demolished in four years.