D. Chapman, Chief Administrative Officer addressed Council regarding the 2023-2026 Strategic Plan Development - Strategic Foresight and Community Engagement Update, noting this is the fifth development review of the Strategic Plan with the first session occurring on March 23, 2022. D. Chapman noted, five strategic goal areas have been developed from feedback provided by Kitchener residents and Council.
K. Dever, Director of Strategy and Corporate performance noted the City of Kitchener is in phase two of the Strategic Plan, Foresight and Community Priorities, indicating a timeline of October 2022-February 2023. K. Dever outlined Council's governance role in Strategic Planning and feedback received from Council in August 2022, including focusing on what the City can influence within its' mandate and, addressing key trends impacting Kitchener such as belonging, placemaking, sustainability, housing affordability, innovation, technology, and institutional trust. K. Dever noted the proposed strategic goal areas highlight themes important to the community which the City can address.
The Corporate Leadership Team introduced the proposed goal areas: belonging and participation; housing, land use and mobility; environment and climate action; economic prosperity and opportunity; and, good government.
K. Dever requested Council feedback on the following questions:
- Have staff accurately summarized Council and Community priorities in these five goal areas?
- Within these goal areas, where would you like to see particular emphasis placed as we establish term-of-Council priority actions?
In response to questions about how the City would ensure accountability to Kitchener residents, D. Chapman noted further discussion will be held with Council to set targets and indicators of progress towards achieving the proposed strategic goal areas.
Council discussed the importance of purchasing and procurement from local businesses and suggested this be emphasized in the economic prosperity and opportunity goal area.
In response to questions regarding advocacy to the province about areas that do not fall within municipal jurisdiction, D. Chapman noted a government relations strategy aligned with the Proposed Strategic Plan will be brought forward to Council for discussion and consideration.
Council suggested that climate action and an equity lens be applied to all the proposed strategic goal areas to create a more holistic approach for service delivery. Further, Council requested that Staff provide a comparison between the previous strategic plan and the current proposed plan, including information on whether previous goal areas were accomplished and what was not implemented well.
Councillor A. Owodunni left the meeting at this time.
Council suggested that collaboration with peer municipalities, businesses and community leaders be included in the strategic plan. In addition, it was suggested that the creative arts industry be emphasized within the economic prosperity and opportunity goal area.
Councillor A. Owodunni re-entered the meeting at this time