Springfield Mayor’s Fiscal Stability Task Force
To tackle Springfield’s structural deficit, the Mayor and City Manager partnered with Funk/Levis early in the process. Funk/Levis provided strategic communications and structured facilitation, successfully convening a community technical advisory group to address the long-term financial issues. Our role included assessing stakeholder perspectives, creating an effective meeting process to build trust and engagement, and developing a meeting roadmap to identify consensus recommendations. The Task Force scope included cost reduction, revenue enhancement, economic development and legislative priorities. Funk/Levis continues working with the City to present Task Force recommendations to Council for consideration and to shape strategic communications focused on community engagement and implementation.
“Anne Marie and the Funk/Levis team were instrumental to the success of the Mayor’s Fiscal Stability Task Force. The Task Force was charged with developing recommendations to address a projected general fund deficit while maintaining essential City services. As facilitators of the process, they were adept in relating to multiple stakeholders and creating a process where the group could quickly understand complex material, work through differing ideas and reach consensus on recommendations. Their firm added a vital component of trust that may have not been present otherwise.”
-Nancy Newton, City Manager, City of Springfield
