Manassas Council Talks City's Next 15 Years at Retreat

Manassas city council members spent most of the day Thursday thinking of good answers to two very simple questions: “15 years from now, what in Manassas do you want to keep and what do you want to change?”

Concise answers to those questions were the objective on the first day of a two-day city council retreat, led by University of Virginia Professor A. Tyler St. Clair and City Manager John Budesky. City council members had plenty to talk about.  

They quickly settled on a statement of identity for the city in 27 years: “Manassas is known as an affluent family-friendly community with best-in-class schools and strong business development.”

Councilman Mark Wolfe elaborated on what making that statement a reality might entail.

He envisioned an improved quality of life, Wolfe said.  “ ... if in 2027, the average median income in Manassas was equal to that of Prince William County, if we were to achieve that, and had great schools, and we’re family friendly and we’ve done significant work on the housing stock,” he said.

The members then chose five areas to focus on improving:

1. Schools
2. Economic development, including transportation
3. Housing redevelopment
4. Good governance, including quality of government services, fiscal responsibility, reasonable taxes and strong public safety
5. City amenities such as the parks and recreation department, Manassas museums and partnerships with other localities and universities

Council members will spend Friday turning identity statements and areas of focus into a concise vision with specific goals to achieve that vision.

The ultimate goal of the retreat is to come up with a Local Elected Leadership Model, which is a model for governing that came out of the University of Virginia's Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service designed to help city councils get focused and organized behind a singular vision. 

“The largest steps are going to be made if you can find where you have consensus, whatever that is, and then figure out how you want to act on the consensus that you have,” St. Clair said.

Budesky, who spoke before the brainstorming session began, called the next five years of Manassas “the most critical” for its growth as a city.

“I think it’s really critical we move some things on the right paths and make sure folks know they see the vision in their community coming,” Budesky said. “We’re not really seeing where we’re gonna be down the road.”

Budesky urged city council members to consider major decisions their predecessors made as the two-day retreat went on.

After the brainstorming sessions, St. Clair, who often conducts such retreats for local government, said she was impressed by how well the council embraced the concept of the retreat. 

“It was a good, thorough brainstorm,” St. Clair said before the group’s dinner. “The council has a lot of energy.”