In 2017, the Town Council embarked on the development of a five-year Strategic Plan that ends this year. To be successful, the planning process needs to have input from residents, Council and Staff. To move forward as a community, we need to successfully identify, plan, and prepare for the future opportunities and challenges that await our Town.
The Strategic Planning process has five-steps:
A survey is developed with the help of a facilitator that was shared with residents both online and in hard copy. The survey answers are then used to help Council Identify municipal priorities.
Council analyzes the survey questions determining what residents see as municipal priorities.
Town Council then works with Administration to form a strategy and develop the plan.
The last to steps include Developing and Implementing the plan.
The last plan identified municipal priorities in five areas including Business Development, Infrastructure, Recreation Facilities and Services. Tourism Inventory, and Culture and Heritage. Some priorities were expected such as the need to improve streets and sidewalks. The development of a walking trail was one example of something that was not on councils radar. There were also several other priorities not expected that came out of the community survey.
There are still some remaining priorities to work on but the current five-year plan is coming to an end. It is unclear at this point if Council has reviewed the current plan or what their future planning priorities are. The best way to obtain resident by-in to Councils plans is to include them in the planning process. Successful communities are made stronger when everyone works together.
The current plan can be viewed at https://gulllakesk.ca/strategic-plan/ .
Blake Campbell
Gull Lake Events