Collingwood’s staff and council hope to spend the early months of 2019 talking strategy with residents.
The Community Based Strategic Plan will get a refresh this year if council approves it. The Strategic Initiatives Committee (SIC) has already voted unanimously in favour of updating the current plan and re-engaging the public in the process.
The Community Based Strategic Plan (CBSP), first adopted in 2015, was put together by consultants at MMM Group based on consultation with council, staff, and the public.
According to the document (available here on the town website), the plan outlines the community’s visions and goals and is used to help guide council in developing priorities and action items through the term.
“There have been, in recent years, some challenges in the manner that Collingwood has managed its financial obligations and communication with town residents,” reads the introduction in the 2015 CBSP. “Cynicism, with respect to the political process, was a repeated observation throughout this process. Collingwood Council has made a commitment to improving the current state of affairs and the CBSP is the first step toward identifying gaps and putting words into action to see that those gaps are filled.”
The plan includes goals set in five areas, which include: accountable local government, public access to a revitalized waterfront, support for economic growth, healthy lifestyle, and culture and the arts.
The vision for Collingwood included in the document states Collingwood’s core strengths are a vibrant downtown, a natural environment, and an extensive waterfront. The vision further suggests leveraging those strengths in a responsible, sustainable and accessible way will allow the town to offer a healthy, affordable and four-season lifestyle to all residents businesses, and visitors.
“This is the overarching piece … the piece that will set the agenda for the next four or five years,” said CAO Fareed Amin at the SIC meeting on Jan. 22. “This is the big picture, the strategic contextual document … perhaps this time we need to be a bit more ambitious.”
Director of Planning Nancy Farrer brought a report to the SIC meeting suggesting the plan was due for a refresh. She said that would include sending out a survey again to members of the public and using other means to engage them in the process of setting new goals for the next four or five years.
“The other aspect would be to meet with the members of this council and see what, in their view, are the projects this council should be undertaking,” said Farrer.
She said part of the reason staff is recommending a refresh is most of the goals set out in the original 2015 plan have been achieved.
In each of the five categories, there are action items with key performance indicators included as a means of measuring the progress on the action items.
One such action item under the heading Culture and the Arts, was the ongoing promotion and recognition of Collingwood’s unique heritage. The key performance indicator was developing a campaign to promote and educate the public on the heritage and history of Collingwood. That item is marked completed with a list of items such as digitizing local history materials at the library this summer, Museum Minute video series on Facebook, the launch of the Look-Up Collingwood discovery walk with the Heritage committee, and new brochures for self-guided tours of Collingwood’s Heritage Walk.
An item included in the Accountable Local Government list calls for frequent, proactive communication with the public. Performance indicators for this item included things like annual town hall meetings, increasing followers on the town’s social media accounts, e-newsletters, and implementing a community engagement strategy.
One action item, under the heading Accountable Local Government, charges council and staff to reaffirm and update the CBSP each term of council.
Amin said staff would like to launch a public survey on the CBSP refresh as soon as possible. He also confirmed there will be more campaigns seeking public feedback, including one for how to spend the proceeds from the sale of Collus to EPCOR.
It has not been decided yet whether the town will hire a consultant to undertake the refresh of the plan or will do it in-house. In 2015, the town paid approximately $50,000 to consultants for their work on developing the CBSP, according to Farrer.
Amin said a third-party consultant is “one of the options” and would depend on the scope and scale of the refresh.
“The other consideration is what I would describe as the so called independence of the review,” said Amin, referring to using a third-party to drive the refresh process. “Staff might be seen as too close to this … so it might be of interest [to hire a third-party].”
The next meeting of council takes place Jan. 28 in the town hall council chambers.
