Transition team meets with mayor-elect to plan long-term goals

The Morning News
Local News for Northwest Arkansas
Jordan Transition Team Holds First Meeting
By Skip Descant
THE MORNING NEWS
FAYETTEVILLE -- Lioneld Jordan's transition team will spend the next month studying four key elements from his campaign to give the new Fayetteville mayor distinct goals and objectives to help guide the city through the first year of his administration.
"We want to try to capture that same momentum and energy here on a city level," Don Marr, transition team leader, told the group at its first meeting Thursday. Marr recalled a campaign that attracted broad cross-sections of interests and people.
"We want to make sure that we have multiple stakeholders at the table," Marr added.
The group identified four subgroups, and the 12 members divided themselves among those areas. Each group will establish its own set of goals, objectives and output.
Economic development is a subgroup with high priority because one of Jordan's campaign promises was to have an economic development strategy in the first 90 days of taking office.
"We're not going to come up with the plan, but we do want to come up with goals, ideas and priorities," said Eva Madison, a lawyer and a member of the transition team.
Another area of study is infrastructure and the environment. Another group will look at Fayetteville's budget concerns by reviewing the 2009 budget and past audit reports. And a lastly, is a subgroup to explore communication. This area explores not only how the mayor can better interact with residents, but to also address internal communication among employees.
"If I'm an employee right now, I'm uncertain," remarked transition team member Cathy Foraker, a manager with AT&T.
"There's a natural nervousness there," said Steve Davis, a transition team member and former finance director for the city of Fayetteville.
A next stage for the transition team is gathering the documents it needs to study the various areas. It will review current projects in place by the city, as well as broad-reaching plans such as City Plan 2025, the 2007 citizen survey and the economic development strategy plan to be presented Monday afternoon by Eva Klein and Associates. The firm was contracted by the city and the University of Arkansas to come up with an economic development strategy for Fayetteville.
And indeed, the heads assembled around the table Thursday for the first organizational meeting was a collection of who's who in areas such as law, corporate management, education and other areas to represent a diverse cross-section of Fayetteville.
"I seem to really have an ability put together people who are smarter than myself," remarked Jordan when the meeting broke. "And I think that's a good thing." 
AT A GLANCE
Transition Team Subgroups
• Economic Development: Eva Madison, Cathy Foraker, Rob Leflar and Mary Beth Brooks
• Infrastructure and Environment: Rob Leflar, Dede Peters, Louise Mann and Ernestine Gibson
• Communication: Michele Halsell, Walt Eilers and Ernestine Gibson
• Budget: Suzanne Clark, Steve Davis and Adam Motherwell
Source: Staff Report