By the end of this year, if all goes as planned, the new municipality of Tantramar will have a new five-year strategic plan.
Community and corporate services director Kieran Miller told council on Monday that staff have recommended hiring Strategic Steps Inc. to run the process to arrive at a new five year plan, including running consultations with staff, council and members of the public.
Strategic Steps is based in Alberta, but has an Atlantic office based in St. Johns, Newfoundland.
Eight different companies bid on the project, including Porter O’Brien, the Fredericton-based company who led consultations about Tantramar’s new logo and brand last year. On Monday, Tantramar Mayor Andrew Black expressed support for staff’s recommendation, but also asked Miller if consideration was given to companies who had worked previously with the town.
“I’m glad that this is happening just to set the tone for what our municipality will be looking at for the next five years,” said Black, adding that the “comprehensive public consultation process” included in the project is “vitally important, considering our new boundaries.”
Black also asked, “was there any consideration in the matrix for companies that may have worked with our former municipalities in the past?”
Miller said that the scoring considered experience working with municipalities in general, and not specifically direct experience with Sackville, Dorchester or Tantramar.
Councillor Michael Tower asked if the climate change lens was applied to the evaluation, in terms of additional transportation requirements for the work to be completed, but Miller said climate change impacts did not figure in.
Miller will be the town’s lead on the project, which will cost the municipality just over $42,000 including HST, under the maximum approved budget of $50,000.
The town of Sackville had a strategic plan in place previously, but this will be a new process for the village of Dorchester and the former local service districts that now make up Tantramar. Miller told CHMA in March that the strategic plan will help inform other more specific plans in future.
“I think that a strategic plan really sets the goals for the municipality and a path for the municipality to follow,” said Miller. “And ideally, you get the consultation from residents and staff and council, so that it’s a really well-rounded document, and it really captures the vision that people have for the community.”
Community engagement is expected to include a variety of methods for the public to weigh in on priorities for the town, and with the project expected to begin as early as May, Miller says it’s time for residents to think about what they will bring to the table.
“People can start thinking about, what do I want to see in Tantramar in the next five years, what things are most important to me?” said Miller.
Tantramar council will be asked to approve hiring Strategic Steps Inc. to lead the development of a new five year strategic plan for the municipality at its next meeting on May 14.
