DeKalb residents will be able to tell the city what they want changed and how they should do it.

City Manager Mark Stevens said DeKalb will be creating focus groups “to provide additional public input during the (financial) planning process.”

The focus groups will consist of five to seven residents who will meet with their alderman over the next few months, he said.

The focus groups will “provide specific input and feedback on such matters as the major issues in their ward or neighborhood, taxes, city services, capital improvements and overall community needs,” Stevens said.

The groups will work with other community input, such as mailback surveys, neighborhood meetings and sessions with the city board, Stevens said.

“Citizen input obtained during the recently completed Comprehensive Plan and the Community Economic Development Plan processes will also be considered in drafting the financial and capital improvement plan,” he said.

The predominantly student-populated first, sixth and seventh ward are merging together to form a west-side/campus focus group, he said.

The fifth ward has filled their focus group, but the second, third and fourth wards still need volunteers to be in their respective groups, Stevens said.