The mayor of Whitby, Ont., is putting together a strategic plan to drive the next four years, and the city is now asking for the public’s help to craft what their priorities are.
It’s the first strategic plan in decades — the last one was put out in the ’90s.
Mayor Elizabeth Roy says it’s something that needs to be addressed.
“We’re talking 20 or so years where we have not had what the community wants us to concentrate on,” says Roy.
“I think as a whole as council, we are all in agreement that we should work with the community to say what we have accomplished, where are we at.”
Roy says she wants to plan out the next four years — and involve the public’s opinion in the process. With it, council will focus on priorities, highlighted from a public survey happening now.
The top concern so far is health care.
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“We’re starting to look at community safety, health care, the hospital and physicians, our open spaces.
Discussions about how we bring initiatives for development in the community,” she says.
“Community events, diversity. They have also expressed a need and a want for health care and a new hospital.”
Whitby’s chief administrative officer, Matt Gaskell, says often they don’t hear from the public unless it’s an issue specific item or budget concerns. Gaskell says the information will help them craft plans around their strategies to help improve the town.
“This is an opportunity for the community to weigh in and share their thoughts and the feedback to inform on the vision, the strategic pillars and action items for the plan,” says Gaskell.
More than 1,300 people have filled out the survey, which asks residents about government, inclusivity, green spaces and other issues in the area.
“Concerns about the town and taking the next steps on the hospital, protection of our green space, we’ve heard about. And homeless issues, lots of issues and we’re still crunching data,” says Gaskell.
“As Whitby is continuing to grow, the pressure is on the town to deliver services,” he says. “Really what we need now with this plan is we can align our priorities and help us fashion our investments and where we put our tax dollars.”
Once complete, the town says it will provide a shared vision, goals and objectives for how staff and council will run the Town of Whitby for the next four years.
“Next steps are to have that all captured together. March 12th is the closing date for the survey.
And pulling together that information for the next process where we will be going to our stakeholders, out to our community.”
Every completed survey is entered into a draw as well.
Council will engage with the public and approve the priorities later this year.