[1/16/02]Five goals for Vicksburg have been identified by a group of nearly 60 people who spent a day talking about what’s needed in their hometown.

The goals were written by the end of what Mayor Laurence Leyens called the city’s first planning session.

Conducting the event at the Vicksburg Convention Center was a team of representatives of the Mississippi Development Authority, Entergy and the Mississippi Municipal League.

The five goals match others long-discussed in the community:

Developing riverfront and revitalizing and rehabilitating downtown.

Building a convention center hotel.

Making Vicksburg the tourist destination of the South.

Consolidating city and county government.

Providing public transportation and improving highways.

During the day, random groups of 15 people were asked to identify their five top priorities. Then a list was compiled and hung on the wall. Finally, each person participating was asked to take five stickers and place them next to what he or she felt was the most important. The six getting the most votes were then placed on the final list.

While leading the discussion, Steve Kelly of Entergy led the group in identifying community organizations that are already working on goals. That list consisted of such organizations as the Vicksburg-Warren County Chamber of Commerce, Vicksburg Convention and Visitors Bureau and the City of Vicksburg.

As a final act, group members were asked to sign up as members of task forces to meet and do what they can to help see that the goals are accomplished.

The main goal of the meeting, said Linda Foreman from MDA, was to give individuals and organizations an opportunity to become involved in the process of planning for the community’s future.

Leyens reacted to the list as affirming the agenda during his six months in office.

“I’ve gotten confirmation the city is working on the right projects,” Leyens said.

Vicksburg has purchased the Levee Street Depot as a centerpiece of City Front enhancement and is establishing a new round of urban improvements. If those goals are accomplished, he said, the convention center hotel will come.

He also said the meeting was to get more people involved.

“This also helps establish accountability,” the mayor said.

He also noted it was the first meeting he’d had with citizens at which the Vicksburg Police Department was not brought up as a concern.

“You see, progress is being made,” he said.

Sweeping changes put in place at the police department include making officers the state’s highest-paid, naming a new chief and deputy chief, reducing the number of officers and enforcing a management plan.