Yesterday, City Council adopted a 4 year Strategic Plan for the City of Chestermere.

“As a Council, we have some very specific goals that we want to achieve during this term in office that were informed by our discussions with residents last fall,” says Mayor Marshall Chalmers. “This Strategic Plan clearly lays out the road map for how we hope to accomplish our goals and shape Chestermere into the community residents want.”

The plan begins by expressing Council’s overall desire for Chestermere in an updated vision, mission, and value statements. The vision of the City now describes future Chestermere as ‘a sustainable lakeside recreational community that is safe and family oriented.’ In order to achieve that aspiration, Council has set out a mission for Administration to ‘create an amazing place to call home through innovation and community collaboration.’ Council has also outlined new corporate values of being Accountable, Connected, Transparent, Inclusive, Viable, and Ethical. These ACTIVE values will inform the way in which goals are achieved.

Following the general statements of intent, the plan proceeds to outline 13 overall goals for the City. These goals include being a responsive local government, providing a sense of stability to City utilities, ensuring responsible City spending to mitigate tax increases, increasing the non-residential tax base, and developing the recreation potential of Chestermere.

“We created our goals based on the five pillars of sustainability: governance, economy, environment, social and culture. In doing so, we are ensuring that we have a comprehensive plan that contributes to a complete community,” says Mayor Chalmers.

The 13 goals are supported by 42 specific strategies that map the work Council would like to see achieved. Council has also set specific timelines and lead roles for each item to ensure its success.

Work on creating the plan began in December 2017 with a two day workshop with Council and Senior Administration for the City. A draft was reviewed in January and finalized for the February 20 Council Meeting.

“Council has put a great deal of hard work and thought into their Strategic Plan,” says Pat Vincent, the City’s Interim CAO. “The document lays out a clear plan for Administration and we look forward to working to achieve the goals set out by our elected officials.”

Now that the plan has been adopted, Council intends to review the 2018 budget. This review will determine if there are any adjustments needed to achieve the goals set out in the plan and find any possible efficiencies to reduce the tax burden on residents.