Visioning Project Wins Good Governance Award

During its 93^rd annual conference at the end of September, the League of Oregon Cities presented the 2018 Helen and Alan Berg Good Governance award to the City of Milwaukie in recognition of its “All Aboard” community visioning project. Created in 1998, the Good Governance award honors city programs that connect citizens within a community. In 2010, it was renamed in honor of the late Mr. and Mrs. Berg, former mayors of Corvallis and presidents of the League of Oregon Cities.

About the “Milwaukie All Aboard” Community Visioning Project
In July 2016, the city began the process to develop a new community vision in advance of an update to its
comprehensive plan. Entitled “Milwaukie All Aboard,” this project resulted in the creation of a new
vision statement that defines the “ideal Milwaukie” for the year 2040 and includes an action plan of items
to help the city achieve that vision. This vision has been enthusiastically embraced by the Milwaukie
community, by city department heads, and the Milwaukie City Council, which adopted it on September 5,
2017. Working with a consulting team, the city developed a diverse, robust public engagement process
that sought to include a wide variety of stakeholders within the community, and which could be replicated
throughout the state.

The city’s public outreach efforts included:

• 15 fairs and events in the summer of 2016;
• 20 stakeholder interviews in the fall of 2016;
• 30 “Community Conversations” in 2016-17, with more than 500 participants;
• 4 online surveys, with more than 500 responses;
• 7 Vision Advisory Committee meetings; and
• Active engagement through its website and on social media.

Overall, this approach has resulted in a vision statement and action plan that is the product of feedback
from more than 1,000 participants with a wide variety of backgrounds. The importance of topics such as
housing affordability, environmental stewardship, and small business development have been affirmed by
residents and groups across different neighborhoods, ethnicities, age groups and income levels.

About the League of Oregon Cities (LOC)
Founded in 1925, the LOC is a voluntary association representing all 241 of Oregon’s incorporated cities.
The LOC helps city governments serve citizens by providing legislative services, policy setting,
intergovernmental relations, conferences and training, technical assistance and publications.