After adopting a council-manager form of government this spring, the City of Freeport was ready for next steps on the path for reinventing their city. Tonight we got to witness the Mayor and Council adopt their first Strategic Vision and Goals.
They understood how a clear vision for the City's future could engage residents and align partnerships - two key pieces to any community's success. They also new their new City Manager and his team, many of them also new in the transition would benefit from the time to think together and set strategy and from having clear direction from the Mayor and Council - also critical to community success.
The pictorial portion of the booklet is beautiful. The content of the Strategic Vision and Goals is exactly as our group stated. You did an awesome job with our planning session/retreat. I can't speak for others, but only for myself. But, it inspired me and gave me strength to see a more positive vision for our city. Hopefully it will have the same effect on Freeport's public!"
The process included engaging stakeholders in the community and within the City organization. A day-long session with City staff an community leaders identified priorities, ideas, and challenges that informed the Mayor and Council. Individual meetings with the City Manager, Mayor and Council helped build trust in the process and set the stage for a group planning session.
To help the Mayor and Council think and set strategy we used a variety of tools including Results Based Accountability, Collective Impact principles and Simon Sinek's 'Golden Circle'. In the end, the City of Freeport set a vision for 2030 with clear priorities and a Policy and Management Agenda to guide them over the next 4 years along the way.
Alder-person Sally Brashaw had this to say about the process; "The pictorial portion of the booklet is beautiful. The content of the Strategic Vision and Goals is exactly as your group stated. You did an awesome job with our planning session/retreat. I can't speak for others, but only for myself. But, it inspired me and gave me strength to see a more positive vision for our city. Hopefully it will have the same effect on Freeport's public!"
Today Freeport is using the Strategic Vision to build it's comprehensive plan, budgets, and to create new public-private partnerships that will move the community forward.
If your community would benefit from a planning process that fosters a plan for growth, next level can design and coordinate a process to engage residents and set a vision for the future of your community.
Comments