SACO — Do you know what you’d like the city to be in 2025? Bridge:2025, a new visioning project, wants to know your thoughts.

Bridge:2025 is a recently launched effort, driven by the city council and run by city staff with the collaboration of a steering committee comprised of representatives from different city departments and local residents.

The committee is looking for input on what people want the city to look like in the future.

“If we don’t stop and ask questions, we’ll get there by default,” said Stephanie Weaver, personnel officer for the City of Saco.

A series of topic-specific focus groups are being held, and a community-wide meeting will be held on Dec. 6 at a yet-to-be-determined location.

Meetings are run by outside professional facilitators Pam Plumb and Craig Freshely, which gives them an objective approach, said Weaver.

More information on the project, as well as a survey, can be found at www.sacobridge2025.org. Questions are “open-ended,” with space for written answers, said Weaver.

The facilitators will take input from meetings and survey responses, consolidate it, look for common themes and present a report to the city council in February, said Weaver.

The focus groups began Monday ”“ one centered around business interests and another around schools.

Carla Lafortune, who is the wife of school board Chairman Kevin Lafortune and the mother of two children in the local school system, attended the recent school focus group.

“I think it went very smoothly. People have some great ideas,” she said.

Lafortune said people at the meeting discussed education, as well as other topics, including traffic patterns and the need to grow the commercial base to stabilize taxes.

“My hope is that we’re really able to get the word out,” she said. “I don’t think anything gets traction until we get the community at large.”

Weaver said past visioning efforts have been focused on the city council’s ideas, the community’s ideas or the city staff’s ideas, and the current visioning project is collecting ideas from all three areas.

Weaver said there have been recent changes in the city, including a new mayor and the city withdrawing from the regional school unit.

“Any moment of great change is also a moment of great opportunity,” said Weaver.

She said other communities are doing similar projects, and those who do are making gains.

“If you don’t have a road map, you can’t get somewhere,” she said.

— Staff Writer Liz Gotthelf can be contacted at 282-1535, ext. 325 or egotthelf@journaltribune.com.