The MD of Bonnyville will hold their first-ever strategic planning session in 2018. MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk recently proposed the meeting, in an effort to get council to take a more holistic look at the future of the region.
The MD of Bonnyville will hold their first-ever strategic planning session in 2018.
MD Reeve Greg Sawchuk recently proposed the meeting, in an effort to get council to take a more holistic look at the future of the region.
"It's something brand new to us, but it's done by nearly every corporation out there. I just felt it was important for us to look towards the future as a unit. We want the MD to be sustainable, not only in the next year, but in the next three to five, or even 10 years," detailed Sawchuk.
Everything from allocation of services, to selecting infrastructure replacement and where to focus capital dollars will be on the table during the session.
Councillors will be given the opportunity to share and discuss what they feel the best direction for the MD is going forward.
"This is about what the MD wants to do. Are they strictly to look after services, or do they want to put a lot more into the recreation side? Council will hear what everyone wants to include, then take a look at it to see if it's practical," said MD CAO Chris Cambridge.
How they will handle providing services will be one of the major focuses during the session. Council will break down each service in detail in the final plan.
They will re-assess the funding for each service, deciding on the most cost-efficient way for the MD to operate.
"They may decide to change service levels. For example, taking snow away faster or waiting longer to save money; the same thing goes for garbage. They could decide to only tackle primary routes and not secondary routes, there are all kinds of things they could decide to do," Cambridge explained.
While council will be planning ahead by a decade, they will still hold a similar session to update their strategic plan annually. The first meeting is expected to be in-depth and cover every angle the MD could take in their future development.
"This will be an annual look at where they are and what they want to do, but this one will be a little bit bigger because this is a relatively new council. They will be able to look at what they can do in their four years, and what they will be handing over to the next council," detailed Cambridge.
Council has yet to finalize a date for the meeting, which is expected to take place in late January.
