Town of Kingston Springs to create ‘Economic Development Task Force’

Newly elected Town of Kingston Springs Commissioner Michael Coldwell proposed an idea during the board’s May meeting to create a task force that would address long-term community goals around strategic planning and economic development. 

According to Coldwell, the task force would be temporary and not hold legislative authority but instead take on an advisory role. 

“As we look to the future, I'd like to suggest that we take this opportunity to take stock and better articulate what a long term plan for our community could look like,” Coldwell said during the May 15 meeting. 

“We all live in this community for a reason, presumably because we like it, and I have nothing but respect for the work this board has done over the years to maintain the community integrity of Kingston Springs,” Coldwell said. “This is a new board – 60% of us are new. We're already more than 10% through our term, and really the only time we have had some free forum conversations, throwing out ideas, is during the budget workshop session … but that only results in a finance-based plan, and it's good for one year.”

Coldwell said the nature of the task force would not be to change the identity of the community, but instead better define it. “It's the first step to … help set a compass for the years to come,” he said.

The mission, the commissioner said, is simple. 

First, the task force would assess the town’s current strengths, opportunities and threats. 

“In terms of development, that could likely include economic commercial growth – how do we stimulate out of market spending? How do we attract the right type of businesses for our community? It could also include housing. We have a difficult situation with population growth – not a whole lot of transactions, not a lot of new properties. More people equals more business,” he continued, “It could also include land use and environmental stewardship. How do we partner with the Harpeth and maintain the greenery of our community? Overarching infrastructure, a tourism plan, public safety – we rely on Chief Ivy and Chief Vaughan to keep us safe, but how do they plan to keep us safe if we don't know how many more businesses, more people? So that likely would be part of it, and then also overarching governance and capacity – what's the future of City Hall? What's the future of city staff?”

The second mission of the task force would be to explore options to ensure financial resilience and long-term stability through revenue diversification. According to Coldwell, this aspect of the task force would do a deep dive into the town’s finances, making plans for a possible recession and discussing “a concrete strategy and tactics” for grants and grant writing responsibilities.

“This task force would come back in 90 days [or] 120 days, and provide this board with actionable recommendations,” Coldwell said. “I would envision there would be eight to 10 action items, and then we take it under advisement. The task force would not be duplicating anything that the Planning Commission does. It would not be a rezoning committee of any type. It would hold no legislative authority. It's simply a group focused on gathering input, examining best practices, creating ideas and helping us look ahead.” 

“It could be comprised of board members, city staff, stakeholders in the community, entrepreneurs and general citizenry. The last time this town developed a formal plan … was more than a decade ago. As we are still early in our term as a new commission, this could be an opportunity to do that work again and articulate the compass that we're hoping to set for our community,” Coldwell concluded.

The commission only discussed this potential task force during its May meeting and did not take any action. Its next steps will be to work with City Manager John Lawless to come up with an official name and begin appointing members.