By JONATHAN SNYDER
A new marketing plan for the city seeks to advertise quality of life improvements, different attractions and upgrades to systems around the city while putting up new signs welcoming people to Bluffton for 2024 and beyond.
Each member of the Bluffton Common Council had ideas for city-wide improvements. First on their docket — “Welcome to Bluffton” signs.
The city previously had wooden welcome signs, but they fell into disrepair and were removed. After a conversation between the council earlier this year, council member Chandler Gerber took it upon himself to seek out possible options for new signs.
“We had a couple of council members that chimed in that they would like to see some options for the signs,” said Bluffton Mayor John Whicker. “That kicked off the rebranding, and the thought of, ‘Let’s take a holistic viewpoint of people coming into town and making them feel welcome.’” Whicker and the council are looking to make Bluffton a community that is future focused and beneficial to everyone.
“The heart behind it is making Bluffton attractive to families and attractive to people across the board, whether you are 18 fresh out of high school or 60 and looking to retire,” said Gerber.
As described by Whicker, the plans opened a larger conversation — how can the city attract people?
A marketing plan is in the works, with hopes to advertise the city’s schools, housing and technology upgrades. Gerber wants to market the upgrades in hopes of attracting developers and bringing jobs and housing for families. However, the project is still in its infancy.
Additionally, the city has recognized a need to upgrade its services to accommodate the digital age. Council member Scott Mentzer has contacted developers about a city app that could help residents navigate the city calendar, as well as modernize utility and e-billing processes.
With so many benefits being advertised, the need to consolidate these ideas into one vision for the city was presented by Gerber, which was supported by all members of Bluffton’s City Council.
“As I’ve worked with other council members and the mayor … we’ve all got things that we are working on,” said Gerber. “All these things are in motion, but we are trying to bring them all together under a coordinated campaign that we can launch at the same time to the public and say ‘Here’s all the features,’” said Gerber.
Gerber hopes that the new marketing focus will give Bluffton a vision for the future, which in turn will attract new residents and businesses who buy into that vision.
“From elementary school to nursing home care and everything in between, we’ve got great features. But we just want people to know,” said Gerber.
Gerber sees immense growth potential for Bluffton and he’s hoping that new procedures and technological improvements can attract the right people to develop the city.
“If we can streamline procedures and development standards, that’s going to incentivize developers to come do business in Bluffton. When they do that … that attracts people to move here, as the people move here that attracts large name attractions to move here,” said Gerber. “I’m not saying we will become the next Fort Wayne, but I also don’t think that 30 years from now we should be at 10,000 people.”
Another goal of this plan is to make the city more transparent with its residents, and ask for their cooperation in the marketing process. All board meetings will soon be required to be streaming online, and Gerber has expressed a desire to make this happen sooner rather than later.
Gerber advised there are plans to hold focus groups and anonymously survey people for their opinion about these efforts and what should be involved. The desire for community feedback is a sentiment which Whicker reflects.
“We want the community to be involved in the decision on what the final product is,” said Whicker. “I would imagine that there would be some way that people would be able to interact electronically and by written methods while talking to chamber members.”
“I wish we could have 100 people at every city council meeting,” said Gerber. “But people are busy, so the next best thing is to bring it to them and they can watch from the comfort of their bedroom.”
Gerber believes the city should be able to implement some of these improvements at a relatively low cost. While sign design, website overhaul and marketing will require some spending, Gerber assured that the city can handle it.
“We’re not living off of reserves,” said Gerber. “The city has significant reserves on deposit that we are making significant interest off of monthly. There are options to do this in a way that is fiscally responsible, and is advantageous to all the constituents around Bluffton,” said Gerber.
Gerber also expressed thanks for the people who paved the way for this new project and to honor the city’s past, he wants to see Bluffton become more competitive compared to other cities and townships. Gerber believes growth is something that the city should be constantly striving for.
“People vote with their feet, if people aren’t happy they’re going to leave,” said Gerber. “Let’s make it (the city) such a positive experience, that they don’t want to leave. I want people to move here after they graduate college and make it so they can land somewhere, they can plug their kids into activities, they can get involved in a faith community and they can get a high paying job after college.”
All the common council members emails are available on the city’s website for suggestions about what the public would like to see from the marketing plan. There will also be a survey in the future about what the community wants as well.
jonathan@news-banner.com
