Council voted to adopt the Merrickville-Wolford Strategic Plan 2017-2025 last Monday.
The plan is the result of the hard work of the Strategic Planning Committee, which is made up of council members and dedicated members of the public. “I think they’ve done an amazing job,” Mayor David Nash said at the meeting.

Through much public consultation, the committee outlined four priorities on which council will base its decisions going forward. The priorities are: promoting healthy living; building a progressive, growing economy; protecting heritage, rural and natural environments; and ensuring efficient, effective services and civic engagement.

“[The Strategic Plan] will provide a template to guide staff and Council in the decision-making process through 2017 and beyond,” writes Mayor Nash in a letter to the public. “It is another tool which, when combined with our updated Economic Development Plan and Asset Management Plan, will help guide your council in setting budget priorities.”

Now that the strategic plan has been officially adopted by council, the real work begins. Performance monitoring has been identified as integral to the success of the Strategic Plan, and both micro and macro performance indicators of progress have been identified. Keeping in line with council’s commitment to transparency, performance reporting will also be extremely important. The Municipality has committed to publishing a work plan, providing a tool on the municipal website to show live progress, providing a quarterly progress update, and publishing an annual Report Card on activities completed and in progress.

The Municipality will officially present the plan to the public on February 28, at the Merrickville Community Centre from 6pm-9pm. The meeting will give council a chance to present the information in the plan to the various municipal advisory committees at one time, so they can figure out what part they can play in its implementation going forward. A full slideshow detailing the final Strategic Plan can be found on the Municipality’s website www.merrickville-wolford.ca.

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