A new Strategic Plan, adopted during a regular meeting May 14, will guide Rocky View County (RVC) council’s governance and help focus administration’s operations for the next 15 to 20 years.
“I would like to congratulate all of council, as well as administration,” Reeve Greg Boehlke said. “This was a long and arduous road – nine strong personalities that came up with a very good strategic plan.”
The 2019 Strategic Plan, according to Acting Executive Director of Community Development Services Richard Barss, sets a long-term vision for the municipality. The plan does not have a fixed end date – it will remain in place as a high-level strategy document until council decides it needs to be revisited.
Grant Kaiser, executive director of Community and Business, said this is RVC’s second Strategic Plan – the first, which covered four years, expired in 2018. While the plan is not a requirement, he added, it sets the overall direction of RVC and is intended to support good governance from council.
The Strategic Plan is different from the County Plan, according to Kaiser. The County Plan is RVC’s Municipal Development Plan, which deals with long-term land use and is required of every municipality in the province.
The Strategic Plan – which is available on the County’s website – includes both a vision and mission statement for council, and highlights three core values to guide council’s behaviour and decision-making: integrity, leadership and accountability. Accompanying those, the document provides strategic themes that will further guide RVC in achieving its goals of service excellence, financial health and responsible growth. The plan also outlines several strategic objectives and hoped-for results.
Council has been developing the plan for the past year, according to Barss, using a variety of input to craft the document. Stakeholder workshops with residents and partners were conducted to gain feedback, and councillors relied on their own expertise as representatives of the County’s districts. An environmental scan was also undertaken to determine political, economic, social and technological factors that may affect RVC in the future.
The adoption of the strategic plan was unanimously supported by council, with Coun. Kevin Hanson noting he was pleased to see a plan with a strategy extending beyond four years.
“This was a challenging task for eight fairly new councillors to work through, and we took our time,” he said. “I think this is a great piece of work that we can all be proud of, and I’m looking forward to it providing the overall vision and direction for the County for the next little while that goes beyond just this council.”
With the Strategic Plan in place, Kaiser said, RVC administration will now craft a corporate business plan to put council’s strategy into action. Barss added administration has already begun implementing some aspects of the plan, allowing staff to make decisions when faced with competing priorities.
Kaiser noted the corporate business plan will develop broad key performance indicators for the entire County as administration works toward council’s vision.
“The end goal is to ensure the County operates as effectively and efficiently as possible in meeting the current and future needs of residents,” he said.
