Town unveils new four-year strategic plan

By John Watson Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Mayor Pat Fule introduced the Town of Strathmore’s 2026 to 2029 strategic plan during the March 18 council meeting, which was subsequently adopted.

The draft of the plan was developed during a series of workshops which took place during the January and February council retreat. 

During these, council worked alongside town administration as well as a third-party consultant to determine their areas of priority for the next four years. 

A new strategic plan is developed by council roughly at the start of each new term. Fule explained this is to identify initiatives council feels are important to residents, and from there, develop action plans. 

“Our vision is for Strathmore to be a vibrant and flourishing place where people love to live and be part of community,” he said. “Our residents feel, and we have seen it in our citizen satisfaction surveys, that people really do love living in Strathmore. There is something about this town that makes it special. Our mission is to foster a dynamic and vibrant community where residents can fully participate and thrive.”

Council has identified six values which they aim to achieve as a municipality over the course of the current term. 

As keywords, these values consist of striving to act with integrity, caring, collaboration, solution-focused, innovative, and with a focus on sustainability.

The strategic plan outlines six priorities for the ongoing term, being to emphasize community connection, manage growth, maintain financial resilience, support economic growth, protect water and green spaces, and to improve community safety and wellbeing. 

Success in community connection aims to be measured by tracking awareness of town events and increasing participation on bodies such as municipal boards and committees, as well as through advocating for post-secondary opportunities.

The town’s goal relating to managing growth is summarized as being to provide a sustainable, grassroots-oriented community both for present and future residents. 

“I know (financial resilience) is important to many of our residents because you want to make sure your town is on strong financial footing. Strathmore will apply best practices which enable resilience against unforeseen financial impacts, while sustaining momentum on strategic priorities,” said Fule. “(With economic growth), we want to implement intentional strategies and actions to increase job opportunities and improve the living standard for the residents of Strathmore.”

The town maintains an objective to balance the local tax base by moving to a 70 per cent residential and a 30 per cent non-residential, which Fule has advocated for previously. 

Responding to regional water challenges, the town aims to prioritize water security and environmental management, including the purchase of new water licenses, increasing emergency storage, and implementing more conservation technologies to local infrastructure. 

Success indicators for the improvement of community safety and wellbeing will include increasing the number of local family physicians per capita and maintaining high resident satisfaction with emergency services. 

This may eventually include the construction of a new fire hall, as previously mentioned is on the town’s radar.