Joplin City Council revisits city action plans

JOPLIN, Mo. –Joplin city council met tonight to revisit their action plans for city-wide improvement.

The council heard from city staff who went over action plans that have been changed after receiving feedback from the last city council meeting back in February.

“The ones that were updated were the ones that had the most discussion previously. So there were some lingering questions or some additional thoughts, so we went through all the meeting video to mark those up and then brought those back for version 2,” said Nick Edwards, Joplin City Manager.

The revised list of action plans includes strategies to improve housing and neighborhoods in Joplin.

Edwards said these plans are based on feedback from the community. And what the community wants right now is for the city to address its declining neighborhood and overall appearance.

“I think the desire for well maintained beautiful attractive community is something applicable of all incomes of all ages all whatever demographic. I think that’s the desire for everyone is to live in a quality place.”

After receiving feedback on these revised plans, the city manager said he feels more confident to move ahead.

“I think it’s helpful for, especially as city manager and city staff to know if we’re on course and we’re meeting the council’s needs, so every time the council spoke up it was an opportunity to sharpen those pencils and make those plans, be more successful and meets the council’s needs.”

Edwards also presented a new action plan, to authorize the creation of a museum and theatre district.

“Had a new action plan to present tonight on behalf of the arts and cultural district. Certainly, there are some things we can help to do to make sure there’s a vibrant area for arts and theatre and museums, so that was an exciting one to present.”

Now, city staff will use feedback from tonight’s meeting to continue building upon these plans to improve the city.

The city council will meet again on May 10th for another work session, where they will finalize their list of action plans. From there, these plans will be brought to the community through public outreach.

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