City Council of Cathedral City Unanimously Approves Five-Year Strategic Plan

The City Council of Cathedral City unanimously approved the 5-Year Strategic Plan at the regular meeting on Wednesday, April 13, 2023. The plan will provide a longer-term perspective for service delivery and budgeting as well as operationally addressing current needs and priorities. Approval of the Strategic Plan also adds structure and provides context for future policy and budget decisions.

On June 22, 2022, the City Council authorized the City Manager to enter into a contract with Moore Iacofano Goltsman, Inc (MIG) to provide facilitation services for preparation of the City of Cathedral City’s 5 Year Strategic Plan. As part of MIG’s work on the 5 Year Strategic Plan, a community survey was unveiled at the Special City Council Meeting Strategic Planning Workshop on Saturday, Jan. 28, 2023. Fairbank, Maslin, Maullin, Metz & Associates (FM3) performed the Community Survey.

A Strategic Plan is an important planning document to help organizations maintain focus on the future in addition to operationally addressing current issues and needs. Over the past 4 months, the City has undertaken a series of activities to solicit input from the community, City Council, and city staff for development of the City’s 5-Year Strategic Plan. The Strategic Plan expands beyond previous goal setting performed by the City since, in addition to annual goals, it also identifies longer range priorities and initiatives.

Similar to the City’s Biennial Budget process, 5-Year Capital Improvement Project (CIP) Plan, and the Parks Improvement Project Plan, the Strategic Plan will not be a static document. It will be reviewed, updated, and revised annually to reflect City Council priorities, business imperatives created by evolving customer needs and expectations, technology, and emerging legal and regulatory requirements.

The proposed Strategic Plan is the product of a thoughtful and inclusive process of education and solicitation of City Council thoughts and priorities, City staff review and collaboration, and community opinions and preferences. The broad outreach and collaborative process of gathering important inputs and data which informed development of the Strategic Plan included:

• 2023 projects and priorities identified by City Staff
• Updates from the 2022 City Council goals and Department Work Plans
• City Council interviews conducted by MIG Consulting
• December 2022 Strategic Planning Workshop with Executive Management Team
• January 2023 Community Survey conducted by FM3 6.A Packet Pg. 89 Cathedral City Page 2 of 4 Printed on 4/6/2023.
• January 2023 City Council Strategic Planning Workshop
• March 2023 Strategic Plan Workshop with City Management Staff
• March 22nd City Council Strategic Plan Study Session

The City’s Executive Management Team appreciates the leadership and support provided by the Mayor and City Council which allowed staff to engage in a very inclusive and thoughtful process for development of the City’s 5-Year Strategic Plan. Residents can check out the full plan below.