Strategic Plan for the Borough of Old Forge

1. Strategic Plan for the Borough of Old Forge Created by Devon Brown

2. Strategic Plan key goals: • Public Safety • Business Development • Parks/Recreation/Arts • Clean and healthy borough • Progressive government • Introduction: • I would like the current borough council to review, modify if necessary, and approved this strategic plan, which is set out to improve the borough of Old Forge. This plan consist of where the borough currently is with the key goals provided above and where the borough should be in the next four years. The plan can only become possible with the help of the community members, business owners, and future stakeholders with in this wonderful borough.

3. Public Safety: • Police department: Maintain a good rapport between our current police officers, future ones to come, and the resident of the borough. • Objective • Have officers drive through the different wards of Old Forge for a certain part of each shift. • Have the department introduce community policing with in the borough. • Bring our accreditation back to our police department. This will allow for our community to become safe while having the proper and adequate training. • Decrease the number of grievances filled with in the police department.

4. Planned initiatives: • Host meet and greets with the new police chief and the borough council throughout the entire borough. • Provide new protocols in crime areas. • Continue and increase a bike patrol officer during the summer months. • Reapply with the chief’s of police association for the department’s accreditation. This borough was the only borough in Lackawanna County to obtain their accreditation. It is a requirement for the safety of our residents, that our officers be trained accurately and properly. • Monthly cabinet meetings with the chief, staff, borough manager, and solicitor to make sure a SOP is put in place and followed.

5. Fire Department/ EMS: Help our emergency responders arrive to calls safely and efficiently. • Improve the response time of the EMS, not only for Old Forge, but for the Triboro area. • Quarterly allotment payment to the fire department. • Try to reconstruct or fix an cosmetic problems at the Main Street firehouse. • Host a public safety night for the residents of the Old Forge.

6. Planned Initiatives: • The EMS response time is suggested to be 9 minutes or less according to National Fire Protection Association(NFPA). These standards will help the department, and the borough look better. If we can boost up our standards there is recognition that can be gained. • This quarterly payment will help the fire department with their expenses. • Repairing any issue that are currently in existents will be better for the safety of our emergency responders. Additionally this will help with our firefighter response time. • Holding a public safety night for the public to meet our local responders will improve the community as a whole.

7. Business Development: Support a growing and developing business culture with in Old Forge. • Objectives: • Support local small business owners that are located in the borough. • Encourage new business owners locally and non locally to open businesses in Old Forge. • Redevelop the main street. • Seek assistant from Scranton Chamber of Commerce and Scranton Board of Realtors for new residents and business opportunity.

8. Planned Initiatives: • Contact current business owners and seek information on how the borough can bring more clients into Old Forge. Help not only stimulate new business, but current business which is the corner stone of our community. Contact North East Economic Development Company (CDC) to seek grants, low interest loans, and much more. • Assist people who would like to start a business that don’t live in the borough. • Create a development authority to start redeveloping the main street corridor. • Partner up with the Scranton Chamber of Commerce and Scranton Board of Realtors. This will help Old Forge attract new home owners and educate business owners in Old Forge.

9. Community outreach: Enhance the relaying of community information through social media, involvement in the community, and courses which the borough administrator, council, or other entities could sponsor. • Objectives: • Create a Facebook page and update our website. • Increase participation at council meetings through social media, borough all calls, and ads in the newspaper. • Have the borough sponsor educational courses for the elderly, middle aged, and youth generations. • Hold community events.

10. Planned initiatives: • Create a Facebook page that people who are on the social media site would be able to like. This page would be monitored by council, it will consist of information about the borough and activities that will be happening in Old Forge. Example when recycling will be picked up, hours of operation for the borough, and much more. • Set up a contract with a phone service provider to alert the public of major events that would be voted on at council meeting. Such as the hiring of a chief, DPW employee, and so forth. Also advertise in the local papers for these hiring's. • Have community courses sponsored by the borough. Computer courses for the elderly, babysitting training for the youth, and family budgeting for the middle aged. • Host events such as a Christmas tree lighting during the Christmas season, breakfast with the Easter bunny, and a Halloween party for children.

11. Parks/Recreation/Arts: Improve and create areas in the borough where residents could go and practice cultural and recreational activities. • Objectives: • Encourage recreational actives such as yoga to be practiced at the local parks. • Continue and improve the amount of children whom attend the summer camp program. • Apply for available grants when necessary for park equipment. • Rent out the tennis and basketball courts on certain days for youth clinics.

12. Planned initiatives: • Seek out a exercise instructor and allow permission to have exercise courses at the local parks. • Increase the number of youth whom take part in the summer camp by increasing the information about the camp. Have speakers from different associations and or agencies speak to and teach the kids about certain topics. • Continue searching for federal, state, and local aid to obtain new equipment for the parks. • Rent out the tennis and basketball courts to clinics that people from other communities could also use on certain days only.

13. Clean and healthy borough: Provide a beautiful small town atmosphere without the numerous amounts of trash laying around the borough. • Objectives: • increase the number of borough clean ups to four per year. • Set up trash cans in public place such as our parks and throughout the downtown. • Over see that these trash cans are emptied and cleaned. • Inform more people about our recycling program and encourage them to continue to recycle.

14. Planned Initiatives: • Currently the borough host a clean up through out areas of Old Forge that contain high amounts of trash. To keep Old Forge beautiful there is a need to increase these clean ups to four times a year. One time for every season of the year would be an adequate amount. • Look for grants or purchase trash cans out right that could be placed on the main street and in our parks. • Ask the DPW employees to empty and clean these trash cans. • Expand the information about the recycling program and encourage more residents to take part in the program.

15. Progressive government: Continue providing an efficient government system, but also improve the effectiveness through out the different departments of the borough. • Objectives: • Hold a department head meeting with all of the departments with in the borough. • Create email addresses for the council. • Set up a phone mail system. • If this strategic plan is approved show on a yearly basis how the borough has made improvements.

16. Planned Initiatives: • By holding a department head meeting the council make review or setup a SOP for all departments. This will allow for everyone in the borough to be on the same page. • Email addresses are essential in today’s day and age with technology being in high demand. Having email addresses will allow for the council to be more available to the residents. • Establishing a phone mail system for the residents to have a tip line. Such as 311 which any resident could dial to leave a tip if garbage is picked up, or roads aren’t plowed. • If this plan is adopted under the borough, it will show the community members efficiency all around Old Forge. On a basis of how the borough is a progressive form of government.