I think what we need is a functional way to engage new players and make them stay. Towns has always lacked in doing this, which is why mini-games are fundamental. But towns is always what gets players integrated into the community and ultimately what makes them stay, so the question remains as to how we can enhance the towny role in the server and make most gamemodes tie back into the towny experience.
Btw I think "meepcraft is dead/dying/having-a-triple-heart-bypass" is a false premise. No, meepcraft is not dying. Yes, meepcraft is not receiving adequate donations to fund server maintenance and development. I think the latter is the larger issue at hand, and the most important step, as stated by @Deinen , is for fuzzlr to get the server back into favorable light with mojang. Otherwise, most of the plans to increase player retention and cash flow to the server is thwarted.
