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Aspiring to make Minot an even better city

The Minot City Council is tasked with a wide range of responsibilities, from making decisions on budget issues to addressing all facets of city ordinances to overseeing the day-to-day business of City.

But one of the Council’s most important duties is crafting a vision for the future of our community. This year, Council members have made a concerted effort to not just talk about a vision, but begin the process of creating tangible and real-world applications for that vision.

From that process comes Magic City Aspirations. Through this collaborative project, Council members are working to build a better relationship with the employees of the City and the residents of our community.

Magic City Aspirations consists of four categories that will serve as guidelines for Council members as we work together to make Minot the best community it can be. Those categories are:

Dynamic and prosperous

Resilient and prepared

Safe and welcoming

Excellent and connected

Council members met in downtown Minot this summer during a weekend retreat to address a variety of topics related to Minot’s present and its future. As part of the process, Council members were asked questions in several key areas, including:

How would you describe our city now?

What are some things you like about our city?

What do we want our city to look like in 10 years?

Now, those are obviously broad topics, and every Council member shared their thoughts on how the City can address those issues moving forward. But it was comforting to realize that every single person at the weekend retreat had similar visions of what we want Minot to be moving forward. There may be multi-faceted opinions on how to achieve the newly created goals, but there was solid agreement in choosing a direction. It was encouraging and empowering to be part of creating a collective vision for our community.

Now, the more difficult task lies ahead of us: Using those core principles as a guide to making decisions as a City Council. These four descriptors – dynamic and prosperous, resilient and prepared, safe and welcoming, excellent and connected – cannot exist simply as words on paper. Rather, they must be incorporated into everything we do as members of the City Council.

Taken separately or as a whole, these aspirations provide members of the Council with a roadmap as we navigate through our decision-making in the present. Whether we’re discussing revising a zoning ordinance, working through changes in employee benefits, or creating the next year’s budget, these aspirations will be at the forefront of our process. Our decisions should be relatable to one or more of these principles. If not, should we be making that decision?

Perhaps more importantly, the aspirations give us the opportunity to look ahead as we work collectively and collaboratively to create an even better community for future generations of Minot residents. The aspirations are lofty, and they certainly put pressure on Council members to hold themselves accountable. If a potential decision can’t be tied to any of our aspirations, then we should step back and rethink our process. Our decisions must reflect the elements and values of these aspirations; if not, they truly are just words on paper.

We are acutely aware that our work is done in the public eye, and we welcome the fair and reasonable scrutiny of community members. We’re proud of the work done to create the Magic City Aspirations. Now, it’s our duty to use the powerful tool we created.

You can find videos discussing all of the Magic City Aspirations on the City of Minot’s YouTube channel, or on the City’s social media platforms. I urge you to spend a few minutes watching the videos, and share your feedback with us through a phone call, an email, or a quick chat after a Council meeting. We’re excited about the Magic City Aspirations, and we would love to hear your thoughts.

Sincerely, City Hall

You can find more about what’s happening at the City of Minot at minotnd.org, or find us on Facebook and Twitter. We’d also encourage you to sign up for our monthly electronic newsletter on our website.

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