Strategic Planning Panel Presents Draft Report To BOS

By John Voket

Newtown’s ad hoc Long Range Strategic Planning Committee (LRSP) attended a special meeting of the Board of Selectmen May 15, and presented a draft report, which is the outcome of its collective work since being seated in 2007.

The panel consists of six volunteers: Geoffrey Dent, Michael Floros, Kathy Fetchick, Peter Marshall, Gerry Robilotti, State Representative Julia Wasserman, and Anna Wiedemann.

The committee’s initial charge from the previous Board of Selectman was to recommend a process for creating and updating a Strategic Long-Range Plan that considers the town’s financial capabilities as well as other funding sources.

According to the draft, long-term planning generally creates a vision and long-range goals for a desired future. What long-term planning does not take into account is how will the goals be attained and the consequences of inadequate funding.

Strategic planning, on the other hand, involves analyzing the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (known as SWOT analysis) of an entity, the report states. This type of planning will set goals, identify actions to attain those goals, and track progress toward those goals.

Strategic planning will attach budget requirements to the agreed-upon goals — often called performance budgeting.

Ms Fetchick, who presented the draft, was accompanied by Ms Wiedemann and Mr Marshall at the recent selectmen’s meeting. She explained that the ad hoc group focused on the question of who and what Newtown wants to be in the next 10 or 20 years.

“This vision should be created with input from town leaders as well as town citizens, and the vision statement should be reevaluated every five years,” Ms Fetchick said, referring to the draft report.

While a sample mission statement was included in the draft, everyone on hand at the meeting agreed that an action team incorporating volunteers and town employees will be needed to develop the eventual adopted mission statement, as well as goals for each planning area.

“The action team should be no larger than 12 to 15 members,” Ms Fetchick said. The mission statement should relate back to the town vision and set the stage for the next two years, she continued, and those goals should relate to the attainment of the mission.

In developing the mission and goals, the draft stipulates there will be a need to collect data about the planning area. The action team can make use of surveys, specifically the Paul Lundquist survey, a buildout study currently under development by the Board of Finance, and town meetings. Other resources should include Connecticut Conference of Municipalities, HVCEO (Housatonic Valley Council of Elected Officials), National League of Cities, and Connecticut Economic Resource Center (CERC).

Ms Wiedemann detailed many different reports and studies that the panel reviewed and considered since convening last October.

Among those documents were: a report from Rep Wasserman outlining the state’s long-range planning efforts; strategic plans from Wethersfield, Berlin, Cheshire, Farmington, Bridgeport, and Milwaukee, Wis.; a 1994 MIS Report incorporating Santa Clarita, Calif.; Winchester-Frederick County, Va.; Eugene, Ore.; Sioux City, Iowa; Red Wing, Minn.; Lexington-Fayette, Ky.; a Waterford (Conn.) Public Schools Strategic Planning report covering 2001–2006; a strategic Plan for Montgomery County (Md.) Public Schools; a strategic plan developed by the Portland, Ore., Fire and Rescue service; and the Newtown Plan of Conservation and Development.

Selectman Paul Mangiafico said he was impressed at not only the scope of documentation committee members considered from across the state and nation, but with the amount of information contained in the Newtown Plan of Conservation and Development.

Ms Fetchick said ultimately, strategies that are developed should be evaluated on a yearly basis. And ideally, the responsible party should be a town employee.

“Making progress on strategies should be part of the town employee’s responsibilities,” she said. Ms Fetchick pointed out that in the ad hoc group’s review of other town plans, there was a noticeable absence of the Board of Education functions.

“This may relate to the special nature of state governance with respect to educational requirements and functions,” the report says. “However, given the significance to Newtown, both in terms of impact and cost, including the Board of Education in the long-term strategic planning process should be considered.”

The committee concluded that long-term strategic planning is a worthwhile venture that can provide the means of establishing a well defined, disciplined, and agreed upon process for the future direction for Newtown.

The report states that the community must play an integral part in the planning, it is important to develop a system to report progress back to the townspeople.

“We highly recommend employing a facilitator to provide a neutral party who would keep the process moving,” the report states. “A facilitator can also help identify national and local trends in planning. In order for the plan to be a living document, it is imperative that the plan is tied to our yearly budget and to the performance of our town employees.”

The next step for the ad hoc committee will be to provide a similar presentation to the Legislative Council in the coming weeks.