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Strategic Planning Committee to hold first meeting Aug. 16
The first meeting of the City of Hastings’ Strategic Planning Committee will be 4 p.m., Wednesday, Aug. 16 in the Landmark Center Conference room at 2727 W. Second St.
Members of that committee, as recommended by Hastings City Council members – two committee members from each city ward – and approved by the Council on Aug. 14, include the following:
Ward 1
Aaron Martinez
Rich Wilton
Ward 2
Jacque Cranson
Caroline Cummins
Ward 3
Phil Boon
Jodi Graves
Ward 4
Faye Friesen
Joe Kindig
This committee will review the 8-page Hastings Community Survey, which will be available to the public in September. The survey will be key to informing the strategic plan. The committee’s purpose is to listen to the aspirations and concerns of residents and work collaboratively to help the City Council understand community priorities.
The strategic planning process is used to prioritize efforts, effectively allocate resources, align shareholders and employees on the organization’s goals, and ensure those goals are backed by data and sound reasoning. The strategic plan will assist city department heads in planning for future fiscal years.
The Strategic Planning Committee will assist in future phases as well: data-gathering, analysis, composition, and a final report.
The Strategic Planning Committee is anticipated to present the strategic plan findings via resolution to the Hastings City Council for final approval in March 2024. As part of the implementation phase, the city administrator will build out the new strategic plan into a new software platform in April and May 2024.
Department heads will finalize potential projects with rough costs that support the strategic plan.
Each of these phases is anticipated to last a couple months, with the strategic plan becoming operational at the start of the 2025 fiscal year, on Oct. 1, 2024.
ETC Institute of Olathe, Kansas will administer the survey as part of the data-gathering phase in the coming months for approximately $25,000 with a continued annual cost of $25,000 as well.
The City of Hastings selected ETC Institute because of the company’s experience in this field. During the past five years ETC Institute has administered surveys for more than 1,000 cities and counties in 49 states.
Published Date: 08/15/2023