PORT TOWNSEND — If you live in Port Townsend, City Council members want to talk to you on Thursday night — and they also want you to talk back.
The council is inviting the community to a town meeting at 6 p.m. on Thursday at the Fort Worden Commons building to help define the most important issues facing the city.
The goal of the meeting, named “Maintaining our Small Town Character,” is to allow the community to speak directly to City Council members and tell them what they are doing well, what they need to improve and what needs to be done to ensure that Port Townsend’s character isn’t lost.
“We would like to have a true community conversation,” Mayor Michelle Sandoval said.
“People usually only get a chance to come to us in crisis mode or when they have something to protest.
“Now we have a chance for them to come to us in non-crisis mode.”
The meeting is the first of three planned to make a mid-cycle assessment of the city’s comprehensive plan, which was originally adopted in 1996.
The comprehensive plan was created as a 20-year plan for the city.
It included four major areas of focus: character, funding, jobs and housing, and population.
“If I were a teacher, I would give us an A-plus on some of our goals,” said City Planning Director Rick Sepler.
“I would also wonder if we were passing on some of them.
“But it doesn’t matter what I think — it matters what the city thinks.”
