BONNYVILLE - On Jan. 25, during a regular council meeting, Bonnyville’s Town council approved the 17-page 2021-2031 Strategic Plan.
At the meeting, Wayne Rothe, an associate from Bloom Centre for Municipal Education, presented the Town of Bonnyville's new strategic plan for consideration, which was approved by council as presented.
The goal of this strategic plan is to sustain Bonnyville’s family-friendly lifestyle and vibrant community atmosphere while continuing to build a strong economic climate that is welcoming to new and current entrepreneurs, summarized Rothe.
The 10-year strategic plan prioritizes five focus areas that include Economic Growth, Recreation and Wellness, Communication Strategy, Value Added Services, and Service Excellence.
“The work that you do today – you're planting the tree – and the work that you do in the next four years will determine the kind of community that you will have 10, 20, 30 years down the road,” Rothe told council. “So, we're planting that tree.”
Each of the five priorities is supported by objectives with the intent to lay the foundation for action by council.
In the strategic plan, council offered a message to the town’s residents: “Council has come together to prepare this strategic plan for the Town of Bonnyville with the goal to sustain and improve the high quality of life for its citizens.”
The statement continued, “Our vision is to foster a high quality of life in Bonnyville that welcomes new residents and allows businesses to thrive. We will achieve this by thinking about today and the long-term to foster economic growth, provide essential services and those extra services that make Bonnyville a liveable community. By revitalizing the downtown, repurposing existing amenities and facilities, and promoting and growing our recreational programs, Bonnyville will continue to be the location of choice for residents and businesses.”
The Strategic Plan will require council to develop a more detailed action plan and follow through in order to see the 10-year plan be realized.
The Town’s administration will be tasked with developing specific implementation plans that will further enable council's strategic vision for the community to reach the objectives outlined in the 10-year plan.
“While the vision is largely based on needs, wants and hopes for the community, it will ultimately be assessed against the capacity and capabilities of the municipality from both an operational and a financial perspective,” stated the strategic plan document.
Through the five areas of focus, the plan looks at the opportunities for growth and includes some of council’s goals to capitalize on potential opportunities.
Under objectives for Recreation and Wellness, the strategic plan lists some projects and improvements that council hopes to realize in a 10-year window.
Over the next decade, council will prioritize generating more use of current facilities with events, activities, and programs, “Explore the replacement of the town indoor swimming pool with a new multi-purpose aquatic centre... Create a larger and welcoming skatepark for the community's youth. Grow the Bougie ballpark area for expanded recreation use. Improve and maintain the green belt along Jessie Lake as a recreational and fitness area” and create spaces such as an amphitheater to encourage outdoor gatherings.
The plan also notes that it is council’s intention to repurpose existing facilities and provide additional recreational amenities.
Under Communication Strategy, some of the objectives include continuing to use traditional media such as local print and online newspapers and radio to deliver messages to the community, in addition to the use of the Town’s social media accounts and through the development of a Town app.
Through the communication plan, the town intends to share services and programs available to residents and business owners with the goal to provide a better understanding of "value for tax dollar.”
The strategic plan also aims to improve the efficiency and expediency of communication from Town administration to residents, local businesses and the Town’s partners.
The listed objectives for Value Added Services include the potential for new events and the enhancements of current events.
Council identified that it is their intent to pursue opportunities to add to Bonnyville's “culture footprint” in consideration of the arts.
Council also would like administration to explore opportunities associated with internet-based services, which includes the “possible development of an online school hub allowing youth to pursue secondary education in Bonnyville.”
The final focus in the Town’s 2021-2031 Strategic Plan is Service Excellence.
The document states that it is council’s priority to “Provide municipality staff ongoing professional development and training so they can develop and deliver great programs and services.”
Objectives that fall under service excellence include creating a culture that sees municipal staff “Strive to listen and be responsive to resident and business concerns and questions,” as well as creating “a Long-Term Tax Strategy that balances high quality services that meet the needs of the community, while being efficient with taxpayers' dollars.”
Following Rothe’s presentation, Mayor Elisa Brosseau said, “We really had a great strategic process, and it was exciting to see as a council how our priorities really meshed and what our values were... hopefully we get through these four years and end up on the other side the same.”
The 2021-2031 Strategic Plan can be viewed on the Town’s website.
