The Bellingham City Council recently adopted a vision statement that identifies long-term goals and strategies to reach those goals, as the first steps in the City's new strategic planning and performance measure system.
The system approved by City Council has as its basis a set of twenty- to fifty-year goals, or "legacy statements," that are supported by six- to twenty-year "strategic commitments."
On Monday, July 13, after seeking public feedback in a variety of ways, Council adopted City of Bellingham Legacies and Strategic Commitments (PDF). These high-level policy statements are intended to be visionary, reflecting the priority and emphasis of city government programs and services.
The legacy statements adopted by City Council include the following:
"We are working today so future generations will benefit from..."
City of Bellingham
Legacies and Strategic Commitments (PDF)
Video of City Council Presentation Jul 13, 2009
Next steps in this three-year project include aligning these goals with expenditures in the 2010 budget and identifying community and City government measurement data that will help tell City leaders, and the community, if the City is meeting its commitments. Identifying performance measures is expected to be complete by early 2010.
The Bellingham City Council established as a priority for 2009 that the administration develop a city-wide performance measurement system to increase alignment between long-range strategic goals, department and program budgets and work plans, and employee work plans and performance reviews.
City staff initiated the Performance Measures Project in January 2009. After staff review of a number of programs adopted by other cities across the nation, in March 2009 the City Council approved staff's recommendation to use a system similar to that used by King County, which is based on Association of Government Accountants (AGA) best practices.
Using this system, City officials have initiated a multi-year project that will result, by 2011, in City programs and work plans that are aligned with high-level policy goals, and structured to improve and communicate performance and project effectiveness.
Preparing the City for Improved Performance Reporting: Presentation to Bellingham City Council, May 19 2009
Updated: Jun 28, 2010
