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News Brief

Aug. 6, 2025 |  By: Gavin McGough

St. Joseph adopts plan for addressing resident concerns

Downtown St. Joseph

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The adoption of that plan, the survey guided action plan at a meeting of the city council late last month was a long time in the making.

It began with an effort led by marketing and research firm ETC consulting out of Olathe, Kansas, to pull a large and representative slice of St. Joe's population and then crunch the results. They were curious about residents' perceptions of city government, says manager Mike Schumacher.

"The survey the city did was focused really on city core services. You know, how are we doing on potholes? How are we doing on abandoned buildings, weeds and trash. It was, you know, a hundred percent city centric survey."

 The city hears from residents all the time about roadway conditions, a neighborhood park in need of a bench, or any number of other local concerns. So the results were not necessarily surprising, Schumacher said, but they will help determine a path forward.

 "You know what the survey provides us is what are we gonna focus on first and second, and third? What do our customers wanna see us with our limited resources? What do they wanna see us really put our back into?"

 What did the residents say across city departments? Communication and transparency need improvement. Many residents feel unsafe in the downtown area, particularly after dark. Some feel unsafe in their neighborhoods due to lacking law enforcement efforts. City buildings and city parks all came out relatively high.

Looking at the results, department heads from the police chief to the director of parks all created specific projects and improvement areas. Before each council meeting, the city will now hold a work session for department heads to discuss the progress in setbacks.

"In those work sessions, they're open to the public by design and they are set up for the directors to come up and say okay and they'll run through those items that they already be working on."

 There has been a recognition among city leadership that some residents, or as Schumacher calls them, customers were losing faith in the city and St. Joseph was losing residents.

 "You know, the population has declined by about 6.4%. I'm here in St. Joe in the last 10 years and that's a problem. It's a good time to reflect on the business model. And you know, one of the things that was just wonderful to see is that there's absolutely no disagreement that the existing model is not working."

 Schumacher says, the intention of the plan is to go back to the basics. What do people need from their city? What do they want, and how can their local government deliver?