When newly elected City Council members are sworn into office in January 2022, it will mark the first year since 1996 that Colleen Briscoe will not serve as either Mayor or a City Council member. After 26 years of service, she decided not to run for re-election.
Colleen is not only among a select few who have personally witnessed New Albany’s transformation as a community since the early 1990s, she also has great insight as an elected community leader during parts of the last four decades. She sat down with me recently to share some observations.
Do you have any stories that you think might surprise people from those early days?
Robb Shirey
Colleen Briscoe
Second, I distinctly remember when I sat down for a personal sales pitch about New Albany. It occurred in a modular unit on the site of what is now the New Albany Country Club (which hadn’t been built yet), and I listened to the vision of what New Albany was going to be like. They talked about how Jack Nicklaus had signed on to build the golf course, and my initial reaction was, sure, you might be using the Nicklaus name, but he’s not really going to be that involved. Then, all of a sudden, the door opens and in walks Jack Nicklaus to have a meeting about the golf course in another area of the modular unit.
What drew you to New Albany originally?
We had two small children at the time, and we were living in a home built in the 1920s. My husband wanted a new home and I wanted my children to be a part of a great school district. It was a big leap, but the schools had hired Ralph Johnson and I had great faith that good things were going to happen here.
What do you think New Albany’s three top accomplishments have been since you began serving?
I always talk about the three Ps that New Albany is so good at – planning, prioritizing and partnering – and, for me, it starts with planning. It’s funny, last week I just reviewed our first strategic plan from 1998, and we got so much right, including the creation of the Rocky Fork Blacklick Accord with Columbus and Plain Township and the need for a town center, public open spaces and leisure trails, one school campus, and traffic and transportation planning. That planning, along with setting priorities and creating great partnerships both in and out of the community, made fantastic projects possible, like our library, the McCoy Center, the Heit Center, Market Square, Rose Run Park and the Hinson Amphitheater. It’s rare when the outcome is even greater than the original vision but I think that has happened here in New Albany.
Besides those three Ps, two other things have been vital to our success as a community – our New Albany International Business Park and hiring the right city staff to oversee the implementation of our vision. Our business park has been the catalyst for revenue generation for our city and our schools, something that greatly benefits every resident, and our city staff has overseen so many different projects that make New Albany such a special place.
You’ve been a part of not only tremendous growth, but tremendous change, during your time as Mayor and City Council member. What has serving New Albany meant to you personally?
Colleen Briscoe (back right) with New Albany City Council members
First, it’s been an honor to be elected and serve all of this time. I don’t take that trust of the people, or my obligation to them, lightly. Early on, there was a lot to navigate. My mantra back then was, “Change is hard,” and there was a lot of change. There was a lot of anxiety in the community about how to move forward, and there were certainly differences along the way. In those early days, I tried to be as transparent and straight forward as possible. I can honestly say that even with those differences, people in leadership positions here have always worked for what was best for the community. We let that guide us, and the product of those efforts is so evident today.
What kept you wanting to continue to serve?
There was always so much left to do. I love the business of running a city and I enjoyed learning a lot along the way. I also love the process of working with staff and other members of City Council, and I consistently felt like we were heading in the right direction. There is still much left to be done, but there always will be, and I just felt like this was the right time for someone else to be part of the process of moving our community forward.
How fulfilled have you been seeing things like Rose Run Park, the buildout of Market & Main, the McCoy Center, the Heit Center and the Hinson Amphitheater?
As I mentioned, these projects all started with good planning and our commitment as a community to create a true town center more than two decades ago. So it’s been fantastic to see them become a reality.
New Albany is a very entrepreneurial community, and we’ve been blessed to have people involved who have been aspirational in their visioning and in projects that would help the community move forward. It really does take a village to run one, and there are so many who care greatly about what happens here. The New Albany Company, the New Albany Community Foundation, our school partners, our parks partners, Plain Township leaders, and our regional and state leadership – they’ve all played a role. And, I must add a special recognition to our individual residents who have stepped up to fill a void, either financially or through their own passions or both, to improve our quality of life.
New Albany is a fantastic community that I’ve been blessed to serve, and I’m not going anywhere. I love this place and will continue to call it home.
