(Beaver Dam) The city of Beaver Dam is developing a strategic plan. The common council recently approved the hiring of a GWB Professional Services to create the comprehensive framework at a cost of no more than $5000. The intent is to ensure that priorities set by elected officials are clear to employees, goals are laid-out to respond to the priorities, and objectives are achieved to meet those goals. GWS Planning Consultant Gary Becker says the process starts by examining the trends being experienced in Beaver Dam and looking at which trends will be likely to have a high impact. He says that means looking at the current environment and what the environment might look like in the future. From there, thought would be given to those trends and how they might unfold in the city.
Becker outlined a process that involves working with department heads to explore city operations and asking residents about city services. Approximately three dozen people would participate in workshops, identifying trends. He says the likely participants would be council members and department heads looking at strategic priorities for the operation of the entire city, as opposed to individual neighborhood planning. The workshop participants will then have to decide on a planning horizon, meaning will the plan look two years into the future, or five years, etc. Consideration would also be given to current project priorities and the indicators that measure that success. Developing the strategic plan is expected to require two-to-three workshops about four weeks apart, which Becker says translates to an approximately three-month process. Mayor Becky Glewen hopes to have answers by the time the city officials begin budget deliberations.
