TAMRMS#: B06
10.3
REQUEST FOR DECISION
title
Updated 2022-2025 City of St. Albert Council Strategic Plan
Presented by: Mayor Heron
label
RECOMMENDED MOTION(S)
recommendation
That the updated version of Council Policy C-CG-02 City of St. Albert Council Strategic Plan, including the updated Schedule A and B, provided as attachments to the April 1, 2025 agenda report entitled “Updated 2022-2025 City of St. Albert Council Strategic Plan” be approved.
body
SUMMARY
The purpose of the report is to present the updated City of St. Albert Council Strategic Plan 2022-2025 for Council’s approval.
ALIGNMENT TO COUNCIL DIRECTION OR MANDATORY STATUTORY PROVISION
AR-23-483 City of St. Albert Council 2022-2025 Strategic Plan - Key Indicators
On October 10, 2023, Council passed the following motion:
That the Council Priority Results attached to the Agenda Report dated October 10, 2023 entitled “City of St. Albert Council 2022-2025 Strategic Plan - Key Indicators” be endorsed for the development of Council Strategic Plan Measures.
City Council Policy C-CG-02 - City of St. Albert Strategic Plan states that:
a. Council is responsible to develop a strategic plan and identify strategic priorities to Administration for their term.
b. The City of St. Albert Strategic Plan shall be recognized as the primary resource in the development of a corporate business plan, performance metrics and budgets.
c. Council shall review this policy following a general election, or more often at its discretion.
d. Priorities outlined in the St. Albert Council Strategic Plan shall be used to plan and prioritize projects and initiatives in the Corporate Business Plan and Mid-Range Department Plans to achieve Council established strategic priorities, and to inform the proposed Financial Plan and Budget. Council shall review this policy following a general election, or more often at its discretion.
e. The Chief Administrative Officer is responsible for ensuring that the Corporate Business Plan and supporting budget reflect Council’s strategic priorities outlined in the Strategic Plan. The Corporate Business Plan shall be presented to Council for information when the strategic plan is brought forward for approval.
BACKGROUND AND DISCUSSION
As per Council Policy C-CG-02, Council is responsible for developing a strategic plan which, in addition to the Council approved Services and Service Levels Inventory, serves as direction for Administration during Council’s term.
The Council Strategic Plan is used to identify, prioritize, and plan initiatives that are documented in the Corporate Business Plan to indicate how Council established strategies will be advanced. The Corporate Business Plan is then used to inform proposed budget to ensure that Council priorities are advanced and achieved.
Council held a strategic planning session on January 14th and 15th 2025 to review and validate the Strategic Plan. Administration attended the session to provide information and to understand Council’s priorities for the remainder of their term.
Overall, Council confirmed the Strategic Plan with changes made only to reflect the completion of planned initiatives under related strategies.
Following Council’s strategic planning session, Administration reviewed, validated, and sequenced to continue to advance Council’s priorities. The Corporate Business Plan was updated and is shared with Council for information in a separate agenda report.
The Policy was reviewed and updated with minor edits required and with performance measures for key strategic priority areas approved by Council in 2023; Schedule B information was added.
STAKEHOLDER COMMUNICATIONS OR ENGAGEMENT
Not applicable.
IMPACTS OF RECOMMENDATION(S)
Financial:
Funding requirements, if any, for the strategies identified within the Council Strategic Plan will be identified through the annual budgeting process and funding requests brought forward to Council with the proposed 2026-2027 budget. Advancing and completing some initiatives may be subject to the approval of capital charters and/or operating business cases.
Emergent initiatives that started or are starting in 2025 that may require funding outside of the 2025 approved budget may be brought to Council for funding sooner.
Compliance & Legal:
None at this time.
Program or Service:
Council’s Strategic Plan provides focus and prioritization for some of the programs and services delivered to the community.
Organizational:
Council’s Strategic Plan is the primary mechanism to direct the Administration in preparing and prioritizing initiatives outlined in the Corporate Business Plan and budget requirements to advance Council priorities. An ongoing review of the Corporate Business Plan is conducted to ensure that Administration is working on the right initiative at the right time and to align the plan with the organizational capacity.
Risks
The risk of competing priorities and organizational capacity will be managed with continued rationalization, prioritization and sequencing of projects to balance the resources between initiatives planned to advance Council’s Strategic Plan, on-going delivery of services to the community and Council’s requests through motions.
ALIGNMENT TO PRIORITIES IN COUNCIL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
The report brings forward the 2022-2025 Council Strategic Plan that provides information required to show the alignment of the agenda reports to Council priorities.
The Corporate Business Plan outlines initiatives planned over the next two years to continue to advance Council’s Strategic Plan, which provides further details for the alignment to priorities in Council’s Strategic Plan section of the agenda reports.
ALIGNMENT TO LEVELS OF SERVICE DELIVERY
Strategic Planning - Facilitate the development of Council’s Strategic Plan and steward the plan on behalf of Council. Council’s Strategic Plan is developed following the municipal election and updated annually at Council’s discretion.
Corporate Business Planning - Steward the Corporate Business Plan and work with all Departments to ensure that they have the knowledge and tools they require to align their business planning processes to the strategic planning framework. The Corporate Business Plan is amended at the request of Executive Leadership to ensure Council priorities are achieved.
Corporate Performance - Assessment of how well the City of St. Albert executes its desired outcomes at strategic, corporate, program and department levels. Performance measures are developed at the strategic, corporate and department levels and are integrated into business planning and organizational reporting processes.
IMPACTS OF ALTERNATIVES CONSIDERED
None at this time.
body
Report Date: April 1, 2025
Author(s): Darija Slokar, Manager, Strategic Services
Department: Financial and Strategic Services
Department Director: Anne Victoor
Managing Director: Diane McMordie
Chief Administrative Officer: Bill Fletcher