Introduction The City of Rock Hill’s Strategic Plan is more than a document, it is a reflection of who we want to be as a community. Referred to daily by staff at all levels within the organization, and at the heart of the work of each day, this strategic plan provides concrete goals our city government must work towards. Ultimately, this is really about our future—creating a Rock Hill for all our residents. This strategic plan also is a promise to our stakeholders—we are committed to live up to our motto of being ‘Always On’ in our pursuit of making Rock Hill the best place to live, work, and visit.
Serving • Engaging • Growing
Contents
City Council
Serving our Community
John Gettys
Neighborhoods
6
Mayor
Customer Service
8
Derrick Lindsay
Core Services
9
Ward 1
Engaging Residents
Kathy Pender
Public Trust
12
Ward 2
Community Building
14
Kevin Sutton
Partnerships
15
Ward 3
Growing Rock Hill
John A. Black III
Knowledge Park
18
Ward 4
Local Economy
20
Nikita Jackson
Connectivity
21
Ward 5
22
Jim Reno
Follow our Progress
Ward 6
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Citizen Involvement The City’s strategic plan process is centered around understanding the thoughts, background, and perceptions of our stakeholders. Only by addressing the needs and wants of the community can we move forward. The City uses a variety of methods and tools to gain insight—descriptions below are the major ways in which we gather this data.
Community Meetings Whether at regularly scheduled Council meetings, neighborhood gatherings, or specially held discussions—the City gets great insight through regular engagement with community members.
Focus Groups Typically utilized for specific projects—and every three years for visioning exercises— focus groups allow us to dig deep into the reasons and thoughts behind resident sentiment.
The National Citizen Survey Externally administered survey, every three years, that gauges Rock Hill residents on ten central facets of livability. This survey is a random sampling of households across the City that covers all City services, community building, and topics concerning the future of our community.
Business Survey Every three years, all business license holders are asked to give feedback on the City’s provision of services, challenges, and the overall direction of Rock Hill.
Employee Survey Internally administered survey, every three years, that gauges Rock Hill employee views on aspects of the City as an organization.
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Serving our Community The heart of our community is the residents who live, work and play here. “Serving our Community” highlights our dedication to local efforts—safe neighborhoods, local recreational opportunities, reliable utility infrastructure, and customer service. People choose to live in Rock Hill because of what our community offers residents— welcoming neighborhoods, stable employment, and a community rallied around a common purpose— cultivating the best community in America. Percent respondents rate as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’
What makes Rock Hill, Rock Hill? The people. The events. The sense of community. It is us, supporting each other and finding that we have more in common than we have different. Serving our Community is not just the City’s commitment to providing public services, it is the City’s promise to keep true to itself. The City of Rock Hill strives to continue providing core services with great customer service, while finding opportunities for improving the livelihood of its residents.
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Serving Goals 1. Foster thriving neighborhoods throughout the City and a safe, familyfriendly community
2. Ensure exceptional customer service and proactive communication through courteous, responsive, and knowledgeable employees
3. Provide important core services and invest in infrastructure needs to become more reliable and predictive 5
Neighborhoods are the heart of our community— the place where we choose to live. Here in Rock Hill, we know for neighborhoods to thrive, they need to be clean and safe. They have to be places where people can be outside and recreate. Our neighborhoods have to be comfortable. This goal seeks to promote the well-being of our neighborhoods—supported through City programs and services that enhance the quality of life we have at home.
Reduce the crime rate and support community efforts to improve resident safety
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Respond timely to all Priority One public safety calls
Below the UNC School of Government benchmark average of 5.3 minutes
Reduce citywide property crime
By at least 2% annually (based on five year average)
Reduce citywide violent crime
By at least 1% annually (based on five year average)
Contain residential fires to the room of origin
By at least 75%
Increase the percentage of residents who feel very or somewhat safe
By more than 57% satisfaction
Improve the overall well-being of neighborhoods Maintain a voluntary compliance rate citywide
Of at least 85%
Increase rental vacancy rates
By at least 1% annually
Increase homeownership rates
By at least 2% annually
Expand the Resource Education and Development Initiative (REDI) into at least one additional By 6/30/2023 neighborhood and establish baseline data
Increase the percentage of residents who are satisfied with code enforcement
Above 25% satisfaction
Provide additional park + recreational opportunities for residents Deploy the REC in a Box program throughout the community
At least 100 times per year
Increase recreation center participation
By at least 10% annually
Maintain or increase the percentage of residents who are satisfied with City parks and playgrounds
Above 86% satisfaction
The goal of fostering thriving neighborhoods also includes a number of monthly measures. Highlights include the following:
Increasing the number of homes with working smoke detectors; see at least 75% of homes with at least one smoke detector.
Hosting at least one interview skill session in each of the recreation centers annually.
Instituting at least two stormwater mitigation techniques in neighborhoods annually.
Auditing the residential sanitation program including routes, process, billing, etc. by 6/30/2022.
Completing at least one neighborhood park improvement project annually.
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Goal: Ensure exceptional customer service and proactive communication through courteous, responsive, and knowledgeable employees One of the most important core values of the City of Rock Hill is providing exceptional customer service. In everything employees do, the expectation is to do so with a focus on being safe, courteous, responsive, knowledgeable, and efficient. This goal seeks to uphold these tenets for the benefit of the City’s customers.
Continue to enhance the customer service experience Increase paperless billing customers
By at least 5% annually
Attain call wait times
Below 90 seconds
Maintain a safe work environment for employees
Through tracking and establishing a baseline of the Total Case Incident Rate (TCIR)
Increase the percentage of residents whose overall impression of City employees was positive
Above 71% satisfaction
Enhance current communication methods to provide various information to all of the City’s audiences Maintain electronic newsletter engagement Above 60%
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Increase social media engagement on the City’s Facebook
Above 2% median engagement
Increase the percentage of residents who rate public information services positively
Above 59% satisfaction
Goal: Provide important core services and invest in infrastructure needs to become more reliable and predictive The City of Rock Hill has been a full-service city for over 100 years, providing high quality electric, water, sewer, and stormwater services. As the regional provider for water and sewer services, the City of Rock Hill has a responsibility to keep ahead of continued growth by proactively managing growth while maintaining the existing system. This goal seeks to track large, multi-year projects and provide these vital services in a customer focused manner.
Strengthen the reliability of our utility infrastructure Complete the construction of the next electric substation
By 6/30/2024
Complete the construction of the 6th elevated water storage tank
By 6/30/2024
Complete the next phase of the wastewater plant upgrades (clarifier and headworks)
By 6/30/2024
Maintain regulatory compliance for water/sewer
100% compliance
Promote efficient, predictable services and measures that will enhance core services Maintain a system average interruption duration index (SAIDI)
Of less than 145.87 minutes
Reduce non-metered loss of water
By at least 0.5% annually
Complete customer driven utility related work orders in a timely manner
75% completed within 7 business days
Complete pothole work orders in a timely manner
100% completed within 2 business days
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Engaging Residents The success of our community is closely intertwined with our ability to engage residents in the future of Rock Hill. “Engaging” highlights our civic responsibility to involve all relevant stakeholders through outreach efforts, placemaking, and partnerships. The City is committed to excel in efforts Percent respondents rate as ‘excellent’ or ‘good’ supporting inclusivity, creating a positive sense of place, and connecting the community around inviting public spaces. Focuses for engaging also include efforts such as workforce housing development, sports tourism facilities and events, athletic programming, greenspace, art, and special population programming.
Engaging our Community articulates the City’s responsibility to enhance public trust, encourage civic pride, and build cross-community partnerships that enhance the quality of life for all Rock Hill’s residents. The first strategic goal, Serving our Community, is largely dependent upon the City’s ability to effectively engage with residents and understanding how they see our community.
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Engaging Goals 4. Enhance public trust and encourage civic pride
5. Foster community
building, placemaking, and inclusive efforts
6. Facilitate
partnerships that encourage a wide range of cultural, community, and educational activities for all ages 11
Goal: Enhance public trust and encourage civic pride The City recognizes that effective engagement is closely tied to the public’s confidence in regulatory compliance, fiscal sustainability, and overcoming the challenges of today. This goal also seeks to find greater opportunities to facilitate additional workforce/affordable housing units.
Enhance transparency and participatory activities
Maintain compliance with all regulatory requirements
Maintain 100% compliance annually
Maintain active participation on City Council appointed boards and commissions
Average less than 45 days per vacancy
Promote fiscal sustainability efforts
Maintain or increase bond ratings
Achieve credit ratings of at least: - A2 (Utility Fund) - Aa3 (General Fund) - A1 (Hospitality Tax)
Compare costs per capita related to the UNC School of Government’s benchmark average
Annually for: - Police services cost per capita - Fire services cost per capita - Building services cost per capita
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Facilitate efforts to support workforce/affordable housing throughout the community
Begin construction of the Osceola workforce housing project
By 6/30/2024
Decrease the percentage of renters who are cost burdened
Below 50%
Village at Osceola is a 33 unit, mixed-income development being spearheaded by the Housing Development Corporation of Rock Hill located off of McDow Drive.
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Goal: Foster community building, placemaking, and inclusive efforts Rock Hill takes great pride in its efforts to build a strong community. Recognizing there is more that unites us than divides us, this goal seeks to promote opportunities for all Rock Hill’s people to be involved—through the benefits of our world-class sport tourism facilities, efforts that nurture a compassionate and inclusive community, and the positive impact that natural, green space has on the well-being of our community.
Continue to excel in sports tourism efforts
Maintain a direct economic impact of sports tourism efforts
Above $70 million annually by FY2024
Increase the hospitality tax revenue generated
By 4% annually
Create a compassionate, inclusive community
Approve the Clinton ConNEXTion Action Plan and develop strategies/baseline metrics for implementation
By 6/30/2022
Increase the percentage of residents who feel connected and engaged with the community
Above 42% satisfaction
Incorporate and support greenspace throughout the City
Maintain a tree canopy across the City
Of at least 45%
Complete the trail connection from Riverwalk to Manchester Meadows
By 6/30/2024
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Goal: Facilitate partnerships that encourage a wide range of cultural, community, and educational activities Partnerships and community are what makes Rock Hill a special place. Residents and visitors alike commend City efforts to sustain long-standing, traditional events and to create new and exciting opportunities for people. This goal seeks to measure how the City keeps people engaged in events, creates learning opportunities, and reaches out to special populations with therapeutic programs.
Provide opportunities for community-wide cultural, artistic, and ongoing educational efforts
Offer or co-sponsor community events or festivals
At least twice per month (on average)
Enhance lifelong learning opportunities for residents
By having at least 60 students complete at least one course annually
Work with the community to expand opportunities for special populations
Deploy at least three new programs at Miracle Park
By 12/31/2022
Increase participation in PRT Therapeutic Recreation programs
By 5% annually
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Growing Rock Hill Working with local businesses, individual entrepreneurs, and local educational institutions, the City sees the future of Rock Hill’s success in balanced growth. “Growing” demonstrates the City’s commitment to providing the right circumstances for people and businesses to succeed. The City is engaged in the development of Knowledge Park— a hub in the heart of Downtown that will be the epicenter of our knowledge based economy. An important component of this economy is to support talent development and an entrepreneurial community for the jobs of tomorrow. Beyond the center city, the City continues to explore options to make Rock Hill the most business-friendly city in the state of South Carolina.
Percent of respondents who indicated satisfaction
Building on the strong foundation in “Serving our Community” and “Engaging Residents”, Growing Rock Hill is about our future and shared prosperity. This means creating new job opportunities for all residents by creating connections that eliminate transportation barriers and creating a vibrant, urban core. Growing Rock Hill is our commitment to the future.
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Growing Goals 7. Make Knowledge Park a vibrant, active, and connected urban destination
8. Promote a strong and diverse local economy to promote business prosperity and business park success
9. Improve connectivity to reliable and sustainable transportation modes 17
Goal: Make Knowledge Park a vibrant, active, and connected urban destination Knowledge Park, the Downtown area of Rock Hill, is a walkable, multifaceted district that is shaping a modern economy. Knowledge Park’s success is largely centered around continued job growth, development, and a sense of place. Rock Hill is poised for significant development in the next three years. We must ensure that Downtown is for everyone through efforts like entrepreneurial programs and the inclusion of workforce housing units.
Provide foundational infrastructure needs to facilitate continued growth in the city’s core
Complete City infrastructure on the University Center site
By 6/30/2024
Maintain a commercial vacancy rate in Knowledge Park
Below 30%
Increase the value of assessed property in the Downtown and Textile Corridor TIF districts
Maintain coverage of at least 1.2x debt service annually
Promote continued new and redeveloped residential efforts in and around the Knowledge Park area
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Implement the workforce housing policy in all new residential developments
By permitting at least 100 new affordable units by 6/30/2024
Attract and support residential construction in Knowledge Park
By permitting at least 500 new market-rate units by 6/30/2024
See voluntary compliance for substandard issues in neighborhoods surrounding Knowledge Park
Averaging less than 30 days
Link Downtown, University Center, and Winthrop University through a variety of connective mediums Increase the Walk score Downtown
Score of 62 “somewhat walkable” or better
Begin construction on a bike/pedestrian route between Winthrop University and Downtown over Dave Lyle Blvd.
By 6/30/2024
Increase the percentage of residents who affirmed they walk or bike instead of driving
Above 45% on community survey
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Goal: Promote a strong and diverse local economy to promote business prosperity and business park success A strong local economy is essential to growth in Rock Hill. The City of Rock Hill focuses on creating business-friendly conditions to support the Rock Hill business climate through competitive rates, reasonable plan review times, and safety inspections.
Encourage a business-friendly environment in Rock Hill that creates new jobs and private investment Provide high quality support to small businesses through the Open for Business program
By receiving at least 81% satisfaction from respondents in the business survey
Support the creation of new jobs across the city
By at least 750 new jobs created/ retained annually
Support private development in the Albright/Saluda Corridor
See at least $1 million annually in new investment
Support opportunities for talent development and workforce readiness
Provide hands-on learning opportunities for high school students through the Works program
See at least 50 students complete the Works annually
See a financial return on investment related to the Venture Mentoring Service
By at least 1.2x expenses
Deliver City services that enhance safety and efficiency for the business community
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Maintain competitive commercial cost to serve rates for all City services
Within 5% of the benchmark cities averages
Complete initial plan reviews for new commercial buildings and civil constructions
By an average of less than 10 business days
Maintain fire safety through commercial inspections
Within 5% of the average of benchmark cities of inspections completed per fire inspector
Goal: Invest in road, sidewalk, and airport infrastructure to provide for connections and future growth Managing and building the infrastructure within Rock Hill is a critical factor in the growth of the community. Strong connectivity, through roads, sidewalks, and other transportation facilities provides a foundation for development and improves mobility choices for Rock Hill residents.
Develop a public transit system to support mobility amongst residents and visitors Achieve an on-time goal for all City bus routes
Of at least 90%
Ensure exceptional customer service with City bus routes
With less than 1 complaint per 50 passenger trips
Maintain a fare-free bus system through external partnerships
See at least 40% of the City’s contribution covered by partners
Invest in road, sidewalk, and airport infrastructure to provide for connections and future growth Begin instrument landing system installation
By 6/30/2024
Achieve a pavement condition index average
Of at least 75% by 6/30/2024
Increase the percentage of residents who rate street repair positively
Above 18% satisfaction
Increase the percentage of residents who rate sidewalk maintenance positively
Above 41% satisfaction
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Our Commitment The City of Rock Hill is committed to accomplishing the goals articulated in this strategic plan. Our promise is to serve residents by creating a safe, family-friendly city with reliable amenities. City employees will continue to uphold our core values of being courteous and responsive. We will also continue to enhance public trust with an emphasis on community building. We also pledge to grow our community through supporting economic development both in Knowledge Park and the broader city. Ultimately, the City of Rock Hill’s slogan of being ‘Always On’ means working hard, with residents and local businesses, on all fronts to make Rock Hill the best community in America.
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Follow our Progress We are committed to providing continuous updates on our progress. Departments provide monthly data on the City’s website, highlighting dozens of output measures. A more comprehensive effort is undertaken biannually when the City publishes mid-year and year-end performance reports that quantify the City’s progress in meeting the tasks listed in this Strategic Plan. These performance reports provide qualitative and quantitative data to easily understand our successes and challenges. Along with these biannual reports, the City publishes a Performance Dashboard that provides graphical representation of our progress. Our Strategic Plan guides the formation of our work programs, budgets, and capital plans. With such far reaching implications, the City has made a commitment to transparency using a variety of mediums. A financial dashboard provides monthly revenue and expenditure data comparing budgeted and actual figures. Financial information is further described in the City’s monthly financial reports. Additionally, the City provides benchmarking comparisons with a number of other municipalities through the Ranking Rock Hill site. The City strives to be competitive in every service we provide, from public safety to credit ratings. Visit: www.cityofrockhill.com/transparency for more information.
City Support The accomplishment of City Council’s goals is largely completed through the hard work and dedication of City staff. The organization’s includes:
David Vehaun City Manager
Jimmy Bagley Deputy City Manager
Steven Gibson Deputy City Manager and over 900 committed employees in fourteen departments
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www.cityofrockhill.com/transparency
City of Rock Hill 155 Johnston St. PO Box 11706 Rock Hill, SC 29731 www.cityofrockhill.com