Subject:
Title
Strategic Plan Work Session #1
Body
BACKGROUND SUMMARY:
On April 29, 2019, the Town Council adopted the Town of Vienna 2019 Strategic Plan: Honing Excellence in an Exceptional Hometown (Attachment 1). The adoption was the culmination of a process that had begun in late 2017, when a consultant was hired to lead the strategic planning process.
The document establishes a vision statement that was intended to last for two decades, but more centrally established a nearer-term time frame for a set of goals, strategies and action steps that were to be undertaken over the following five years - through 2023.
With the new year (2024), Council indicated its desire to review and update the Strategic Plan. To assist in this process, staff has reviewed each action step of the 2019 Strategic Plan and drafted a short progress statement and status assessment, which are provided in Attachment 2.
The Council also agreed that it would be helpful to hire a consultant to facilitate this process, as was done in 2017-2019. The Town has hired James Patteson, Principal of Blue Heron Leadership Group. Mr. Patteson has been consulting with the Town on improvements to the process for businesses to open in Vienna (improving the multi-part process of licensing, obtaining Certificates of Occupancy, etc.), and recently gave a presentation on this topic to the Council. A short biographical description of Mr. Patteson is provided as Attachment 3.
The Strategic Plan occupies a particular medium-term position among the vision and strategy documents that the Town Council has approved in recent years. Such documents include:
Comprehensive Plan - Required by State and with the longest planning horizon.
Strategic Plan - Adopted by Town Council for a 5-year period of strategic actions.
Annual Priorities - Adopted by Town Council for each of the past two years, to be implemented in that calendar year.
Operating and Capital Budgets, which are reviewed and adopted annually.
Special-topic plans (Parks, Economic Development Strategy, Annex property, etc.), which are conducted and adopted as the Town Council sees fit.
The March 7th discussion will reference these other documents, in the context of developing the refreshed Strategic Plan.
OVERVIEW:
On March 7, 2024, the Town Council will engage in the process of creating a refreshed Strategic Plan. Mr. Patteson will facilitate this process through a series of meetings. To prepare for this first meeting, Mr. Patteson has sent out a survey to the Town Council and to Senior Staff. Responses by Town Council (Attachment 4) and staff (Attachment 5) are provided.
The agenda and the framing of the discussion are provided in the presentation document (Attachment 6).
A first step will be to review the Vision statement presented on page 1 of the 2019 Strategic Plan.
The 2019 Strategic Plan also established eight (8) goals for Vienna, which can be found on pages 4 and 5 of the 2019 document. The Town Council will have the opportunity to determine whether those goals should remain, be amended, or be replaced.
Mr. Patteson intends to bring a set of draft goals for the updated strategic plan for Town Council’s review. It will be derived from his one-on-one discussions with Council members, which he intends to have during the week before the March 7th discussion. Mr. Patteson has already sent an email to Council requesting the opportunity to speak to each member by telephone.
SUMMARY/STAFF IMPRESSIONS:
Directors and Deputy Directors will attend the Strategic Plan discussion and look forward to working with the Council on strategic actions that will facilitate achieving the goals that the Town Council establishes.
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommended Action
Staff recommends that the Town Council engage in creating an updated Strategic Plan that will serve as an action document for the next 4-6 years.
NEXT STEPS AND COMPLETION TIME FRAME:
After this discussion, Mr. Patteson and staff will return to the Council in Spring 2024 to confirm the Vision and Goals developed on March 7th.
At this point, staff anticipates that the updated Strategic Plan will be adopted in Fall 2024.