Cathedral councilors prepare to brainstorm strategic plan
CATHEDRAL CITY – On Saturday, January 28, as much of the Coachella Valley enjoys sunny 65-degree temperatures, City Council members will be holed up in the Double Tree by Hilton Hotel Golf Resort to design and debate plans a five-year strategic plan.
It is probably one of the most important meetings of the year.
The management team will also be present. This meeting, scheduled to begin at 8:00 a.m., is open to the public, however, it will not be televised.
On June 22, 2022, City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a $95,880 contract with Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc (MIG) to provide facilitation services for the preparation of the five-year strategic plan. MIG is a multi-disciplinary community design and planning firm specializing in strategic planning, community engagement, facilitation and consensus building.
MIG also works with the City Manager’s Office to design meetings and workshops with City Council and City staff to gather important community and organizational information and knowledge for the strategic planning effort.
Under the direction of and in consultation with the City Manager’s Office, MIG will design and facilitate a collaborative and inclusive visioning and goal setting process that will include input from City Council, the City Leadership Team and the community for the development of the five-year strategic plan. Plan.
Strategic planning is a process in which the leaders of the organization define their vision for the future and identify important strategic goals, objectives and initiatives to achieve the desired results. Strategic planning goes beyond the establishment of previous objectives carried out by the City since, in addition to the annual objectives, it also identifies priorities and initiatives in the medium and long term (3 to 5 years) as areas of action. additional interest.
A strategic plan is an essential planning document to help organizations stay focused on the future in addition to responding operationally and tactically to current and past issues and needs.
The Strategic Plan should not be viewed as a static document. It should be reviewed, updated and revised annually to reflect changes in the business climate, evolving customer needs and expectations, challenges and opportunities created by current and emerging technologies, and compliance mandates. new or emerging laws and regulations, according to City Manager Charles McClendon.
Although different from the goal-setting process used in the past, the strategic plan will utilize and incorporate the pipeline goals and work programs identified by the city’s leadership team and city council. Although prepared and presented in the form of a list of tasks and projects, themes reflecting the mission, vision and values of City staff and Council emerge from reviewing this information. Collectively, these themes suggest the following main areas of intervention:
- public safety
- Fiscal stability and sustainability
- Organizational Transparency and Accountability
- Community pride and investment
Prior to the strategic planning workshop with the city council, information was gathered to help inform the direction and content of the strategic planning workshop. This included interviews with City Council, conducting a strategic planning workshop with the leadership team, and conducting a community survey to gauge general residents’ attitudes towards services, programs, concerns and residents’ priorities.
Councilors will also receive an update on City Council goals for 2022.
Image Sources
- City Cathedral: Shutterstock