Visioning Committee refines top projects for Mt. Pleasant

MT. PLEASANT - The Mt. Pleasant Visioning Committee hopes to divide and conquer five community improvement projects.

The projects were born out of the state's 2020 Community Vision Program, a collaborative effort between the Iowa Department of Transportation, Iowa State University Extension and Outreach and Trees Forever.

Under the program, members of the community went through a visioning project and identified areas of improvement for the city.

The group presented the project ideas to the community in August to receive feedback and have now identified leaders for five groups, who will each be in charge of a project. The leaders will meet three times a year. The meetings will be facilitated by the Mt. Pleasant Area Chamber Alliance.

The first team, led by City Administrator Brent Schleisman, will focus on improving trail heads and stops at Saunders and Prairie View parks.

Lisa Oetken, director of Main Street, will lead projects related to the downtown area including developing alley art and a new pocket park.

Kristi Perry, executive vice president of the Chamber, and her team will focus on improving signage throughout the city including at entrances and other wayfinding locations.

Another project focused on aesthetic improvements at the North Broadway and Winfield Avenue area will be led by Mike Heaton.

The final project, which will focus on improving the west entrance of the city on Goodyear Road, will be led by Jennifer Moutrie.

The team leads will begin working with team members and deciding how to move forward with the projects including looking into funding. Perry said not all projects will be pursued in the following year, and some may be relegated to a three- to five-year timeline.

The Chamber will help coordinate the three yearly meetings for leaders to check in with each other and 'make sure things are actually going,” Perry said.

The executive vice president said going through the process was 'really encouraging” because no major traffic patterns needed to be corrected.

'We didn't have any big ticket items that needed to be improved. We can now focus efforts on getting grants to do very doable projects - nothing is going to take a vote of the people or require new taxes,” she said.

Perry added the teams are open to community members who may be interested in being part and contributing to the projects. Community members who want to be part of a project team can contact Perry at kristi@mpiowa.org.