SPRD invites feedback on strategic plan

Sisters Park & Recreation District (SPRD) wants to hear from the community before they finalize their new two-year strategic plan. To that end, there will be two public meetings on Wednesday, December 4; one during the day, 11 a.m.-12:30 p.m., and one in the evening, 5:30-7 p.m., both at SPRD.

After receiving public input through a needs-assessment survey several months ago, the board and staff have been busy identifying top priorities on which to focus over the next two years, 2020-2022.

The draft of priorities is what SPRD is asking the public to review. This is the community’s opportunity to say if they agree, or to point out anything they think should be included or excluded.

“We really want to hear from the community. We value their assessment,” said Jennifer Holland, SPRD executive director.

A subcommittee consisting of two board members, the executive director, and one line-staff member will meet once before the public meetings to process information gathered at both board and staff retreats and organize it into themes/categories. After the public meetings, the subcommittee will analyze the draft and all public input, rank the priorities, identify the objectives and actions, and determine the budgetary impact of proposed priorities. All of that information is what will be used to make the final recommendation to the board.

The process started by looking at the previous strategic plan to evaluate how they did and what was accomplished. That plan was being implemented during a very turbulent time for the district. Over the past year, interim Director Courtney Snead put SPRD on a firm footing organizationally and functionally, and the new permanent executive director, Holland, brings 17 years of parks and rec experience to her position and is prepared and able to move the district forward with a new strategic plan.

The previous plan had six goals with 47 objectives/actions. To date, 13 have been accomplished, 25 are in progress or will continue indefinitely, and six are not started. Those six will be reviewed to see if they are still priorities.

In their retreats, the staff and board have looked at the organization’s strengths and weaknesses (internal factors) and their opportunities and threats (external factors). They have also reviewed the mission statement to see what’s good and what might be missing, as well as discussing where they want to be in two to three years.

The goal of this entire process is to have a new strategic plan for 2020-2022, adopted by the board at their January 2020 business meeting. For more information, contact SPRD at 541-549-2091.