SECOND LAST BLOG ON BILLS MOST RECENT LETTER TO THE EDITOR

For those of you who can't remember, here is a link to recap Deputy Mayor Bill Hill's (Mayoralty Candidate) letter to the editor, doing battle with a ratepayer/declared candidate:
http://www.citizen.on.ca/news/2010-04-22/Mailbox/Suggestions_not_correct.html

Over the past few blogs I have been taking select lines and quotes and doing a play by play analysis.

Bill states in this letter:
"The Official Plan has to comply with Provincial legislation. Council and the public want to have their say as well. The suggestion that we aren’t putting our vision on the report is not correct.

Once the review is done, input digested and
incorporated as the law allows, Council will be able to articulate the views held by them and the ratepayers and it will form part of the plan.

To do it before the report has been reviewed and revised is premature. "

SNAP...

I have done a little bit of research on line (actually in 5 minutes with google and anyone can find this stuff) and most of the sophisticated municipalities, large or small know the strategic (vision) plan process. And with all due respect, Bill has it backasswards.

So here it is broken down step by step:

DEFINITION:
Strategic planning is an organization's process of defining its strategy, or direction, and making decisions on allocating its resources to pursue this strategy, including its capital and people. "

A council is elected.

EARLY in their term, usually within weeks of being sworn in, they have strategic planning meetings to each put forth their vision/mandate/plan for the municipality. You know, to formulate the reasons why they ran and what they want to accomplish in their mandate.


Staff and public input are sought as part of the process.

A facilitator works with them to moderate the session and the group comes to a consenus. There are usually 3-5 priorities, under which objectives/action plans are initiated and budget implications are calculated

For instance, lets say for argument's sake one priority agreed upon would be to have THE best agricultural community in Ontario based on specialty soils.

Every report with a recommendation to Council (note to Melancthon: most municipalities do not read the correspondence/requests out loud, staff provide WRITTEN reports with recommendations upon which Council needs to vote) sets out how it ties into the Strategic Plan and the financial implications.

Pretty simple actually.

The strategic plan/vision statement becomes the overarching high level "map" for lack of a better word for the term of Council

That would ALSO mean any Official Plan would be tied into the Strategic plan, NOT the other way around.

Don't believe me? Take a look at the City of Windsor's links. They set a strat plan, THEN did their OP review.
http://www.citywindsor.ca/002167.asp (note the date, 2006)

http://www.citywindsor.ca/DisplayAttach.asp?AttachID=10375 (note the date, 2007)

The City of Barrie even has their strategic priorities laminated and on the walls throughout their municipal building.

The point here is COUNCIL is to set the direction/policy with input from staff and the public-not the municipal planner, lawyer, staff, public or Highlands and everything ELSE, including the OP, ties into that.

Maybe I am interpreting Bill's letter incorrectly, but he seems to be saying that AFTER the province, the planner and the lawyer tell them what they have to do, then each one of Council will put their "own" vision forward and somehow out of that will come forth a plan for Melancthon.

I have to ask again, if the planner and province are going to tell Council what do to, what do we need Council for? And seriously, FIVE individual councillors are each going to put forth their own vision, as opposed to coming on a consensus as to what the ONE vision for the township should be.