Puslinch councillors seem to be in favour of developing a strategic plan for the township, but at least a few are concerned with the timing.
Last week councillor Don?McKay outlined the process for developing a plan, which he estimated would cost about $5,000 to $6,000. He said other municipalities have taken 10 to 12 months to produce the document, though it could take less time, considering Puslinch’s size.
“I think it’s important,” McKay said of the strategic plan. “It would bode us well to have a plan in place … at the end of the day we’ll all be better off.”
McKay explained the next step in the process would be to develop visions and goals for the plan.
Councillor Matthew Bulmer said he thinks having a strategic plan is “a great idea,” and noted Friends of the Mill Creek recently went through a similar process. A plan would, he said, help identify wants versus needs and save time and resources.
Bulmer asked who would be the staff support for the process, and McKay replied county planners as well as department heads within the township. McKay envisions a committee of about four or five people helping to develop “a living document,” which would rely heavily on input from the public.
Bulmer said there exists a great opportunity to bridge the process over this fall’s election so the incoming council can put its stamp on the plan.
But councillors Susan Fielding and Dick Visser expressed concerns about the timing of the strategic planning process.
Fielding said she thinks 12 months is a more realistic goal for the plan, considering the township’s small staff and the upcoming election. She agreed the township does need a strategic plan but wondered if it would be best suited as a long-term project.
Visser said he doesn’t know why the township is planning for the future when it doesn’t seem to know what it is doing right now. He thinks council has more important things to concern itself with, including restoring the democratic process to council.
“If the present’s anything like the future, it will never get implemented,” Visser said of a strategic plan.
McKay said a strategic plan would have addressed many of the concerns specifically mentioned by Visser, including the Aikensville gravel pit application and council’s input on roads expenditures.
The idea of a strategic plan, McKay added, is not just to look to the future but to first develop an understanding of current circumstances and then move forward.
There is “never a right time” to develop such a plan, McKay said, but it’s something the township needs to do.
Mayor Brad Whitcombe thanked McKay for his work and said council could consider the plan – including costs – at its next meeting. He said it also may help if council had a copy of strategic plans from other municipalities, including Centre Wellington and Guelph-Eramosa.
McKay said he would return to the next meeting with all the pertinent information.
