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Do you live in Eureka and have thoughts on the city’s goals and priorities? Or perhaps you have a vision for a project that would benefit Eureka residents? Do you have opinions? Comments? Concerns?

You’ll have a chance to share your thoughts with Mayor Kim Bergel, members of the Eureka City Council and city staff during two upcoming workshops focused on setting and implementing the city’s goals for the next few years.

The city develops a Strategic Visioning Plan every two or three years to assist the city in addressing future challenges and to give the public an opportunity to provide feedback on the city’s priorities, said City Manager Miles Slattery.

“Basically, we’ll be exploring what the community sees as priorities for the next two to five years,” Slattery told the Outpost. “We’re working with Berké Brown, one of the consultants who worked with us on the city’s diversity, equity and inclusion work. He will be leading the strategic visioning process. … We’re hoping to get as much participation as possible.”

The workshops will begin with a public comment period, which will be followed by a brainstorming and breakout group session. During the city’s last strategic visioning session, this process involved lots of sticky notes on a whiteboard, Slattery said.

“We basically developed a laundry list of goals and priorities and then looked at different factors to determine whether there was adequate funding or if there’s enough staffing to do whatever is being proposed,” he said. “If there’s enough staffing and if there’s adequate funding and the resources to do it, then that stays on the board.”

Once the visioning process is complete, city staff will synthesize the information and create initiatives to meet the community’s goals.

The workshops will take place at 9 a.m. on Friday and Saturday at Humboldt Bay Fire’s training center at 3030 L Street in Eureka. Public comment will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Friday and 9:30 a.m. on Saturday. And yes, there will be snacks.

More information can be found here.