Fayetteville

leaders set their sights on priorities for the

year 2000 during their annual retreat recently.

"Our

goals have been refined a bit over the years, so

they stayed consistent this year," said

Mayor Mike Wheat, who presided over the annual

brainstorming session as one of his last official

acts as he prepares to step down from the mayor's

chair in January.

"It

was fairly low-key with lots of information

gathered," Wheat said.

The

city's five goals remain:

1.

Achieve all goals while striving for the lowest

total cost for public services.

2.

Maintain a managed growth policy that requires

quality development in concert with our economic

development strategy.

3.

Provide for the public safety and welfare by

committing appropriate resources to police, fire,

streets, recreation, water and sewer.

4.

Continue cooperative efforts with other

governments.

5.

Preserve our historic and cultural heritage and

encourage revitalization of downtown through

support of Main Street initiatives.

Under

each goal, the council outlined action items that

it wants the city to work on in 2000.

Under

growth management, for instance, council members

want a written policy governing the city's

attitude toward future annexations.

"There

will be some annexations, for instance down

around the hospital," said Wheat.

"There are some projects that fit into our

new zoning classification for medical office

projects, and that's probably a place where

annexation is appropriate," he said.

But

the city is taking an increasingly more

conservative approach to annexation in general,

he said, and council feels the need to have a

written policy to help guide future decisions.

Council

members also want a "philosophy statement

regarding redevelopment and `infill'

development," he added. City leaders in

recent months have pushed for plans to fill in

downtown areas with residential and

pedestrian-friendly commercial development

designed to insure a community atmosphere well

into the next century.

In

dealing with future federal regulations on storm

water management, the city is considering

development of a storm water utility, Wheat said.

The utility would provide a vehicle for

collection of payments earmarked for the storm

water problem.

Local

government leaders are anticipating new federal

rules that require more active efforts to prevent

pollution of streams and lakes as storm water

washes agricultural chemicals and other

pollutants into the surface water supply.

But

the extent of those new regulations is not yet

known. The federal Environmental Protection

Agency could require relatively minor cleanup

efforts, or expensive projects like collecting

storm water and running it through complete

sewage treatment before releasing it.

"We

need a funding structure for addressing whatever

they decide the regulations are going to

be," said Wheat.

Council

also is shooting for a decision by February on

what to do with solid waste left over from its

sewage treatment plant. The city currently buries

sludge in a landfill and is looking for a better,

less expensive solution, Wheat said.

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