Strategic Planning
The Town of Espanola has begun the preparation of a Strategic Plan to chart its course for the term of Council and beyond.
In September of 2022, the Town of Espanola issued a request for proposals (RFP) for services related to the development of a new strategic plan.
On December 13, 2022, staff reported to Council Recommendation for New Strategic Plan RFP (escribemeetings.com) recommending that Council award the RFP for Consulting Services-Strategic Plan 2023-2027, to David King and Bill Winegard. Subsequently, Council passed Resolution 22-195 approving the recommendation.
Both David and Bill are experienced strategic planning consultants who have worked for the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Housing; as Chief Administrative Officers with northern municipalities, and with twenty other municipalities to help them develop strategic plans. They are no strangers to Espanola.
Their work will bring them to Espanola at least four times between February and June 2023 and the plan is to be adopted by Council no later than June of 2023.
The community’s participation in the strategic planning process will be key to providing the Town’s services , values and vision with a long term outlook to guide Council’s decision making.
Vision and Mission
The Strategic Plan will start with a brief long-term vision: what sort of a community is Espanola aiming to be in 20 or 30 years? It will also summarize the mission of the municipal corporation: what is the role of the municipal corporation in helping to achieve the long-term community vision. Espanola last prepared a Strategic Plan in 2013. While many things have changed since then, the long-term vision of residents and businesses is not likely to have changed much.
Taking Stock
The Strategic Plan will outline the current and foreseeable circumstances of both the community and the Town, noting the advantages (circumstances that may help the community toward its vision and/or the Town in its mission) and the challenges (circumstances that may hinder the community to realize its vision and/or the Town to meet its mission). Not surprisingly, financial issues are a common limiting factor, while infrastructure conditions and the local economy are common challenges.
Four-Year Objectives
Against this background of foreseeable advantages and challenges, the plan will
- set out a number of objectives for the next four years of municipal decisions and activities
- apply a framework for setting priorities among all the possible objectives
- define the measures by which the Town will monitor - and report to the public about - the extent to which objectives are being achieved
Action Plan/Specific Initiatives
In order to achieve its objectives, the Town of Espanola will spell out specific initiatives (or continuation of ongoing initiatives) that will yield definite progress over the next year or two toward each objective. The action plan will assign responsibilities (typically to a senior member of Municipal staff) for completing each initiative, estimate resource requirements, and identify other conditions that need to be met for the initiative to be successful.
Monitoring and Reporting
Finally, the plan will commit the Town to incorporating the plan's objectives into municipal decisions, budgets, and activities; to monitoring regularly how much progress is being made; and to reporting to Council and the public.
It’s Common Sense
It’s only common sense for municipalities to plan. Once it is decided on what the Town wants to achieve, and take account of the resources available to work with, there is a better than average chance of achieving those objectives.
The Sky Is Not The Limit
Available funds and time will keep our feet firmly on the ground, but when the Town of Espanola and the community move forward in the same direction, progress is inevitable!
The public expects leadership from their governments. Gone are the days when citizens expect their governments just to react to crises. Through their governments, people want to influence the future of their community.
Municipalities operate many businesses and interact constantly with local residents and businesses. Routine activities abound… meetings, road maintenance, sewage treatment, building inspections. Over their term, the Town of Espanola Council will make hundreds of decisions both large and small, but leaders also keep their eye on the forest through the daily trees. A strategic plan serves as a touchstone for Council and staff, so that their good intentions won’t be washed away by the day-to-day details.
There is never enough money to do everything that everyone would like. It isn’t easy to say yes to some things and no to others, to do more of some things and less of others, but unless priorities are set, everyone is disappointed. Strategic planning will define the balance between a realistic assessment of possibility and the continued promise of opportunity.
Things move fast. Economic opportunity may be no more than a chance stop by a business owner passing on the highway. If you know what you are trying to do, you have a better chance of being ready when opportunities or threats emerge. Or to quote baseball’s famous Yogi Berra: “if you don’t know where you’re going, you might end up somewhere else”.
Council Benefits
For Council, a good strategic planning process plants every member’s feet on firm and common ground; it helps Council to build consensus and to take wise and long-lasting initiatives.
Municipal Staff Benefits
For staff, it conveys what is most important; it challenges them to take “good” initiative, to re-think “business as usual,” and to report on progress toward defined objectives. The plan puts staff "on the same page" as Council and reminds them of the big picture when they do their annual budgets and workplans.
The Community Benefits
For the community, the strategic plan process is another opportunity to be heard and help Council to steer the ship of Town government. The strategic plan also declares what Council is trying to achieve, and invites residents, businesses, and community organizations to get on board and to help get things done! It makes transparent not only what services and assets are desirable, but also the factors that get in the way.
Finally, it helps citizens to hold their Council and staff accountable. Have they been effective at doing what they set out to do?
Three Categories of Discussion
Experience suggest that the hopes and concerns all parties - Council, staff, and the community - and therefore the objectives of a strategic plan, tend to fall into three broad categories.
The broadest category relates to Community Programs and Projects which respond to public expectations and concerns. In other words, it's the world outside "the Town Hall". Objectives in this category commonly include roads/traffic/mobility, business development and jobs, environmental and heritage conservation, public health, and fitness, and so on.
Another category relates to the Nature and Style of Local Government. Objectives in this category may touch on customer service, intergovernmental relationships, communication with the public, perhaps Council and staff behaviour. In other words, Town Hall and how it works.
Finally, a municipality's strategic plan must discuss Financial Stewardship... matters like taxes and fees, debt and reserves, asset management planning. This is the ever-present balancing act between what the community wants done, on the one hand, and how much and how the community wants to pay, on the other hand.
In fact, the idea is not new. With a great deal of input from its residents and businesses, the Town of Espanola itself produced a strategic plan in 2013. In addition, the Town has since taken stock of its situation and developed action plans for many individual service areas, such as library, parks and recreation, downtown improvement, road’s needs, and overall management of municipal assets including waterworks, sewer works, roads, buildings, and equipment.
Many other municipalities, both large and small, have completed strategic plans. Councils see the process as a valuable way to develop consensus among themselves, to create a sense of purpose and teamwork with staff, to communicate better with the community, and to enlist the help of community organizations.
Of course, most businesses - whether large or small - develop business strategies and business plans in very similar fashion, so they know where they are trying to go, how they plan to get there, and how to communicate it.
Households plan too. They decide what’s most important to them (or simply what they have to get done) and then they aim their time and money in those directions, even if it means reducing or postponing some other things they might like. When they get good things done, they can take pride and celebrate. For municipalities like the Town of Espanola it’s much the same.
- On March 6th, a public survey was launched asking for your input on potential Town priorities for the 2023-2027 term. A digital survey was launched with the link posted to Municipal social media and website homepage. Paper copies were also made available with the option to return to the Public Library, the Municipal Office, and the Recreation Complex. Both surveys were made available for a 3-week period, closing on March 27th at 4:30 pm. We are pleased to announce that over 540 submissions were received!
- The Town’s strategic plan consultants have met with community groups, or their representatives, including service clubs, Town committees, business associations, local social and health agencies, volunteer groups, and others. These sessions were well attended, and we thank everyone for their contributions.
- The consultants will hold an “Open House,” scheduled for the end of April, where any resident will be welcome to come and pass along their ideas and their priorities for the next 4 years. Watch for those details!
- A draft of the strategic plan, scheduled for May, will be available on the Town’s website and feedback will be welcome.